Need Neato_4.5.3_189.tgz Firmware package

[fxfxfxfxfx]

Hi there,

thanks for providing the update files! Unfortunately i fail to upgrade my D7 (stuck at 4.0.0-1632).

Short history:
Robot was working since a couple of years, updated to 4.5.3 ota when it was possible. After a change in my wifi-setup i couldn't connect to the robot any more and did a total reset --> robot connected again to app but with the old 4.0.0-firmware.

What have i done trying to update it?
- cleared blackbox log with neatotoolio
- formated a 32gb usb stick with fat32 and 16kByte allocation unit size
- created a folder "RobotData" an copied "Neato_4.5.3_189.tgz" to this folder
- plug usb stick in otg-adapter (sold as original neato usb otg upgrade cable)
- remove dust bin from robot
- plugin otg-adapter with usb-stick to the robot
- the neato-app (on iOS) says after a few seconds, that the protocal data is copied
- after maybe a minute the robot does a powercycle and connects to the wifi and app again - but still shows fw 4.0.0
- the usb-stick is unchanged, no additional files (like log) on it, the tgz-file still sitting in the folder RobotDate

I tried the procedure many times, also with another usb-stick (4Gbyte).

Do you have any idea, what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!

Update: Tried a third USB-Stick, this time a 8Gbyte one formated with "default allocation unit size".
Now the time until the the robot rebooted was much longer an after that it's update!
Don't know whether it's been the allocation unit size, the usb stick itself or it's size - but it works!

Thanks for providing the files, much more helpfull than the useless neato-support!

[magnetchief]

I'm so happy to have zone cleaning back.
Was so close to selling this for parts at $50.

Good save. Now, if I could only find a way to back up this floor plan.

[Raex]

Hi everyone,

I'm also trying to update my D7 with an USB-Stick and an OTG-Cable.
I've already tried three USB Sticks (1GB USB 2.0, 4GB USB 2.0, 16GB USB 3.0) and followed the protocoll:
- Cleared logs and black box via Neato Toolio
- Formatted all of the Sticks above with FAT32 and standard allocation size
- Created a folder "RobotData" as the only folder in the root directory
- Placed the tgz file as is in this folder
- Connected the Sticks to my D7
=> Neato app says copying files and finishes in under 5 seconds, after that the robot goes straight back to "Problem: connect dust-bin" and does nothing....

What am I missing?

[eyespy]

Sounds like you have tried just about everything. You can try NTFS. As mentioned, I don't think it matters, but can't hurt. I'd go with the 4GB USB 2.

"Copying files" usually means copying the log files to the stick, so five seconds would be correct for a clean bot filesystem. The fact that it dumps out there would seem to indicate that the bot either can't see or can't use the firmware file. It might be interesting to run the bot a bit then try without a purge and see if you get logs on the stick.

Does the tgz remain untouched, or are you left with only the crt file in the RobotData directory?

Out of curiosity, what version are you currently running?

[Raex]

Hi,

my D7 is now on 4.0.0 and the stick (files) remains untouched, everything still there and no logs....
Will try if ntfs helps but I somehow doubt it....
Is there anything left to do for me or straight in the garbage bin? (unusable for me with all the functions missing)

[eyespy]

Yep. The fact that the app shows that it detects USB, but if the bot is not creating a RobotLogs folder on the stick, and not moving/decrypting the firmware file, it seems like it might be unable to read the filesystem. Doesn't necessarily point to the filesystem format, but could be. I've seen some people go through more than 3 sticks to find one that works as well.

[senyx]

It looks like I've hit a real snag trying to update my D7 from 4.1.1 to 4.5.3.

As everyone else, I changed my wifi credentials and subsequently ended up factory resetting the D7 that reverted back to its 4.1.1 factory firmware. The Neato support was useless as usual - they put my case on hold with no ETA, etc.

So what I've done up until now:
- Factory-reset from 4.5.3 back to 4.1.1;
- Successfully connected the robot to the new wifi;
- Cleared logs+crashes via Neato Toolio;
- Tried updating by placing the .tgz archive into /RobotData.

The update process takes about 15 seconds. After that, /RobotData is empty and /RobotLogs is populated with logs. But the end result is the same - nothing gets updated, still on 4.1.1. During the process, the app says "Copying log files..." which is correct as apparently no update takes place despite /RobotData becoming empty.

Tried two different SD cards (via an SD-card reader plugged into an OTG cable) and three .tgz archives - the original with an updated certificate posted here, the original (the one with an outdated certificate), and Vorwerk_4.6.3_3 _updated cert.tgz (from which the updated certificate was taken). All three archives are always consumed by the Neato from /RobotData during an update, so not sure where to go next.

First, I thought I might need to update to an intermediate version first like 4.2 or 4.3, but now since someone successfully updated directly from 4.0, I guess that's not the case. Any ideas?

[eyespy]

Have you tried the update while removed from WiFi and while removed from app?

[Raex]

Same for me now,

I managed to get the D7 to create the RobotLogs folder and read+delete the tgz file...but no update at all.
Just makes the "finished cleaning" chima and nothing else, no restart....nothing....
NTFS changed nothing, different USB Stick did the trick....but still no update

[Raex]

SUCCESS,

finally the D7 both read and applied the update, it seems it will read it with "the right" USB stick but to actually apply it it MUST be connected to the charging station.
First it was always connected to it but didn't like the two USB sticks i used, then (because it was more convenient) I took the D7 and placed it on the table with my notebook and used "the right" USB, making it read and digest but not apply the update...
Didn't need to take it off the wifi or app.

Thanks everyone, this made my D7 go back from a basic-function robot to everything i want....)))))

[eyespy]

Glad to hear it! It is definitely a “stand on one foot” process. It’s difficult to tell what works and what doesn’t because something changes and it works but never sure if the change made it work. I’ll add doing it on the charger to the troubleshooting steps. Thanks for the report!

[senyx]

Damn! I did all my updates with the D7 connected to the charging station.

I will try to remove it from Wifi. Removing it from the app will make no sense because if removed, it will then need to be right-bumper reset to enter pairing mode which in turn will not work on 4.5.3 because that was the reason I factory-reset it in the first place.

Btw, if /RobotLogs is created and /RobotData cleared, is this "the right USB stick" or should I keep looking for some other stick?

[eyespy]

I would think that if you have filesystem activity, the stick is recognized.

The reason I suggested removing from the app is in case there is some communication with Neato Cloud that is causing the issue. I was going to suggest a full left/front bumper factory reset as well.

[senyx]

The update process usually takes about 15 seconds and ends long before the robot establishes a wifi connection. I'll try that at least to see if there's interference with the app. I'll report back.

As for the full left/front bumper factory reset as well, do you mean doing it again?

[eyespy]

I'm not sure what you mean about it taking 15 seconds and ending before wifi. The bot should be fully booted up before you attach the USB drive.

We only have so many levers to move. If it won't cause you to revert to a version of firmware that you may not get back to, doing the left/front bumper factory reset after removing from app is the closest we can get to having a pristine, out-of-the-box bot. This takes other operating system, configuration, and cloud concerns off the table.

One other thing to check might be to load up Toolio and make sure all of your sensors work and none are stuck. It sounds like the bot is working fine on the old firmware, so I don't think this is it, but perhaps if a bumper button is stuck, or not detected, it would cause a self-check failure that might happen before update. You did mention having probs with right bumper network reset.

I'm obviously just guessing here. I only have a D3 to test with, but I'm pretty sure people have been successful installing on the full range of 3-7. I have a D6, but it actually does not work on that bot, because somehow it came with or upgraded to 4.6 at some point. I'm pretty sure that is the factory firmware, because it does not appear to reset.

While you are hooked up to Toolio, double-check the time that is set on the bot. This is a way out there theory, but the problem you are describing is almost like what the package with the out-of-date certificate would do. Make sure you are using this file https://www.dropbox.com/s/68zjvoaroq0p6 ... 9.tgz?dl=0. If you use the other one in this thread OR if the bot thinks it is some other year, the certificate will be expired and will go through all of the motions, but fail due to expired cert.

The way to make the old update work was to hack your local DNS into pointing NTP requests from the bot to a local NTP server that was set to the wrong time in order to fool the bot into thinking that the certificate in the package was still valid. If you happened to have set this up at one point and left it that way, the newer package with the valid cert would actually fail.

Like I said, only so many levers, and some wild exceptions. We are getting pretty far into the weeds now. Good luck!

[senyx]

SUCCESS! I owe you for your patience, eyespy! Thank you very much!

My mistake was that I plugged the USB stick into the robot while it was OFF yet on the base and only then turned it ON. This way, the robot would not update while still clearing /RobotData. I remember trying to plug in the stick while fully booted, but apparently there was no update files on it at that time. I guess it's worth mentioning in the initial post that before inserting a USB stick, the robot MUST BE:
1) on the base;
2) fully booted.

The update took just a couple minutes. The only weird thing is that despite the "Updating..." message in the app while updating (the wifi was on), the robot's wifi became disabled after it rebooted. I checked with Toolio - it remembers the wifi settings alright, runs a scan, etc. but the wifi status is "Enabled: no" for some weird reason. Well, it's not a big deal as I'll wade through this easily. I'll check if Toolio can simply turn it on or redo the whole thing over again.

Thanks again for the great work helping others!

EDIT: I successfully reconnected the robot to wifi in the app, so all good now. This is also very weird in itself because I was unable to connect to the robot's wifi before while in pairing mode. That was the reason that made me factory-reset the robot and revert from 4.5.3 to 4.1.1 in the first place.

[senyx]

Do you think it's worth trying to update the D7 to Vorwerk/Neato 4.6.3 firmware? Will it be able to connect to Neato servers? Because what's killing me is that 4.5.3 isn't the latest firmware...

[eyespy]

Hooray! Glad it worked out for you.

I don't know much about the Vorwerk update (other than the cert file works with Neato). You should be able to update to it but you will not be able to use the Neato app to control and schedule your bot. It will not register with Neato Cloud with the Vorwerk firmware installed. You will have to factory reset to get it to register again. So really not worth it to try if you got 4.5.3 working.

Despite being similarly named and taking the same code-signing certificate, you will notice that even where the firmwares appear to be identically named, the features do not appear to be aligned. When you think about it, the single 4.5.3 firmware covers 5 Neato bots, but they don't always release every firmware for every bot. It is quite possible that the non-aligned, unavailable firmware versions for the Vorwerk are only specific to the capabilities of the Vorwerk and not the Neato. All this to say, don't sweat it! 4.5.3 is the latest that Neato claims.

https://shopeu.neatorobotics.com/pages/ ... -update-d7

[senyx]

My D7 is on 4.6.0-72

Can't prove/disprove it, but take a look:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NeatoRobotics/ ... onnect_to/

Other than that, 4.5.3 works quite well for me especially now when I can also change wifi settings by connecting to the robot. Not sure what fixed it - a factory-reset, update, log purging or all of that.

[eyespy]

Yep, I definitely know it exists. As I mentioned above, I have a D6 that is on 4.6.0 and cannot factory reset to any lower. I got the bot about 6 months ago, and I think it came with 4.6. There are no release notes for 4.6.0 for any of the Neato bots. The Vorwerk notes for it say it fixes "disconnection from the server" for bots that "have not been previously reset, disconnected or removed from your account". This was "fixed" again in 4.6.1. 4.62 was "wifi improvements". 4.6.3 really seems to have the only feature update - the ability to have 49 no-go lines. That seems like about the only thing people could want between 4.5.3 and 4.6.3, assuming there is feature parity in versions between Vorwerk and Neato.

https://support.vorwerk.com/hc/en-us/ar ... hat-s-new-