Makerbot 5th Gen Firmware update to 1.0.0.2

[Owen Tien]

Has anyone successfully completed this firmware update? When you did, did it change the displayed firmware on the machine itself? How long did it take? Mine seems to hang on the update, I'm trying over USB.

[Jetguy]

It takes a LOOOOOOONG time.

You are NOT just doing a simple firmware update.

5th gen machines run an entire Linux OS you are transferring over USB and then unzipping and then transferring to flash inside the bot.

So again, it takes a few minutes to transfer about 70mb of the firmware, then the bot STILL has to unzip that, and then it STILL has to write it to internal memory.

If you copy 70mb to a flash drive it takes a while on a good day, this is slower than that with even more steps to complete beyond the basic copy operation.

[Owen Tien]

Finally got it to go through. Just needed to be more patient I guess!

[Brett Wagner]

Any problems once the fw was installed, I'm always hesitant to upgrade firmware if I haven't run into any problems.

[Jetguy]

I would honestly say exactly opposite. Given the state of the firmware and given half the features you paid for don't work, you be insane to not update to the next version hoping they enable some of the stuff you paid for.

 

Sorry if that comes off harsh but this is coming from someone who has looked at the very firmware you are running on a technical level.

I would say for the next 6 months, I would watch every day for a firmware update.

 

Nothing wrong with being careful and you did ask a very valid question. I just don't encourage you to get into the mindset of "I'm not having problems, then I shouldn't update".

That is a false premise in this hobby. The entire thing improves by leaps and bounds nearly every update. If you wait a month you might be seriously behind everyone else.

From one week to the next might make a huge difference.

[Brett Wagner]

It's absolutely true, and I'll be happy to upgrade my firmware once I don't have a list of parts I need to get out of the printer ASAP, I always like to give it a couple of days first to see how loud the cry of 'broken' are.

[Jeremy Rosser]

Where on the MB site can you see what the current firmware is for the Gen5?  I searched everywhere and I am unable to see what the current version is.

Thank you,

[Jetguy]

They have never in the history of the company been good bout posting a current version.

The only way to know is to keep looking here, check the blog (usually they announce a release), or just attempt to update via the software and compare versions.

 

Broken I know, but good luck getting them to change.

[Tiffany Diorio]

Hi all, 

  We suggest rebooting your printer and making sure that when you click on the tab 'Devices' in MakerBot Desktop that you select your printer listed under connected devices. You should see a little check mark or blue dot next to it. Once you see that, you can then update your firmware. If you still experience issues please reach out to us in support by e-mailing support(at)makerbot(dot)com.

On Sunday, March 23, 2014 1:26:24 PM UTC-4, Owen Tien wrote:

Has anyone successfully completed this firmware update? When you did, did it change the displayed firmware on the machine itself? How long did it take? Mine seems to hang on the update, I'm trying over USB.

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[Dan Newman]

On 26/03/2014, 9:48 AM, Jeremy Rosser wrote:
> Where on the MB site can you see what the current firmware is for the Gen5?
> I searched everywhere and I am unable to see what the current version is.

MBI isn't big on release notes. At least when they were open source, you
could look at the comments associated with the changes and get a feel for
what was new or fixed. Your Makerbot Desktop, when started, will check
the download site and tell you if there's a new firmware. Current
appears to be 1.0.0.18 with 1.0.0.2 as the predecessor (i.e., you
didn't miss anything between .2 and .18).

Dan

[Sascha Willems]

Makerbot Desktop shows 1.0.1.18 as the current version btw ;)

[3DwannaB]

Seriously... who with a 5th gen is currently happy as it currently is? It will not be a stable product for 6-12 months. Given MBI's history... maybe longer. Sad. I was hoping... but no... pigs can't fly.

On Monday, March 24, 2014 12:03:00 PM UTC-7, Jetguy wrote:

[JFR]

I own a Makerbot Replicator 1 with over 1,000hrs of operation and I'm quite happy with it.  However, the company I work for just received their 5th Generation Makerbot and it's been a big disappointment.  The "smart extruder" has already been sent back with stuck filament.  It's been more than a week and a new one has not shipped yet.  As near as I can tell, the 5th Gen is noisier, slower and much more expensive without any observable improvement in quality.  True, there are more bells and whistles on the 5th Gen but so far they don't work.  To be fair, maybe the numerous firmware updates yet to come will solve a bunch of problems.  We can only wait and see.  I thought the removable extruder was slick because I've had to take my extruders apart on my Replicator 1.  Then we found out that the 5th Gen "smart extruder" cannot be worked on by the owner, it must be sent back.  Fortunately, it broke so fast that we're covered under warranty but it sure feels like a design intended to generate revenue.  Again, we'll see.

 

During unboxing, the silver disc on the LCD knob fell off.  It just glues on, no big deal except it makes me wonder about quality.  Some of those discs appear to have the words "PUSH TO WAKE" on them.  Again, the writing makes no difference but I wonder how they got built differently without anyone noticing.  The "assisted leveling" script never worked properly but we've been reassured that a new "smart extruder" will likely fix that issue.  Support at Makerbot told me that some of the hall effect sensors involved in that process got damaged in shipping.  Hmmm, starting to look like the cure to a lot of ails is a new "smart extruder."  Good thing they're removable.