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APPENDIX D: Updating the Summit’s Firmware
Appendix D: Updating the
Summit’s Firmware
The ServSwitch™ Summit Update Utility is a 32-bit Windows
®
based program that
handles the transfer of new firmware to Summit Base Units and USMs. If you need
new firmware for your system, Black Box Technical Support will tell you where to
get the firmware-distribution file and the Update Utility (both in .zip archives).
Download these, copy them to a PC (not one of the switched CPUs attached to the
Summit system!) that can be placed close enough to your USMs and Base Units to
reach them with the Summit’s included 10-ft. (3-m) serial cable, unzip the archives,
read the firmware distribution’s release notes (very important—these might
describe new or changed procedures!), and you should be ready to proceed with
the firmware update.
NOTES
All Summit components and attached CPUs can remain powered on
during a firmware upgrade. The Summit’s modular, redundant design
assures that devices can continue to operate unaffected during the
update process.
It might be possible to use a high-quality DB9 extension cable to
extend the total cabling distance between a USM or Base Unit and the
PC running the Update Utility up to 50 ft. (15.2 m), but we can’t
guarantee that this will work in any given situation.
First, to use the downloaded files and Update Utility to upgrade the firmware of
your USMs, take these steps unless the current release notes specify otherwise:
1. Run one of the serial administration cables included with each Base Unit (or,
if that has been lost, an equivalent DB9 male-to-female straight-through-
pinned [not null-modem!] serial cable), between the DB9 female
administration port of an active USM and a DB9 male serial port on the PC
with the firmware files and Update Utility installed on it.
2. If you haven’t already done so, log into the Summit system at the user station
attached to that USM that the OSUI’s Selection Menu is on screen at its
monitor. Press [F12] to switch the display to “Selection Menu by Name”
rather than the standard channel-ID ordering.
3. At the PC with the Update Utility installed on it, launch the Utility by double-
clicking on its icon. The main window shown in Figure D-1 should appear.
