Final firmware release for Oxford 900 chip- Click here to download the Oxford Firmware data file for the Oxford 900 chip

v4.0 firmware for Oxford 911 chip- Click here to download the Oxford Firmware data file v4.0 for the Oxford 911 chip

firmware for Oxford 911+ chip- Click here to download the Oxford Firmware data file for the Oxford 911+ chip

v1.2 firmware for Oxford 912 chip- Click here to download the Oxford Firmware data file v1.2 for the Oxford 912 chip

v1.06 firmware for Oxford 922 chip- Click here to download the Oxford Firmware data file v1.06 for the Oxford 922 chip

Click here to download the Oxford utility (Windows utility included - windows_uploader.ini)

Mac OS 10.3.6 Firmware Fix for Initio 1394a 1430 chip firmware (WinME and WinXP utility also included)- Click here to view the Initio Firmware for Mac OX X.3.6 page

Note: To do this, you must run this utility on a Windows machine

1) Download the Initio firmware utility: - Click here to download the Initio utility
2) launch initio firmware tool
3) connect only the bridgeboard (and 1 drive connected )
4) click Configuration Editor button
5) click RAID config button
6) set number of drives to the number of drives you will be connecting to the board
7) set RAID type to SPAN
8) set devices:
- 1st device - channel 0 master (set pin config on hard drive to Master)
- 2nd device - channel 0, slave (set pin config on hard drive to Slave)

if you are using more than 2 drives connected to a board (such as the FWB-IDE-02) set the 3rd device to Master Channel 1 and the 4th device to Slave on Channel 1

9) click OK
10) click Apply Changes

Note: To do this, you must run this utility on an OS X machine

Note: we find the Windows utility (noted above) easier to use..

1) Download the Initio firmware utility: - Click here to download the Initio utility
2) Download the Initio firmware data files: - Click here to download the Initio data files
3) Have at least 1 drive attached and it is seen by System Profiler under FireWire
4) Double click on the app icon to launch and if any of up to 4 HDD's are mounted on the desktop, it will ask you to throw them away into the trash before going on.
5) In the app window you should see the bridge identified by the firmware version. Make sure this is highlighted
6) Click on the Select RAID Configure button and in the following window select what options you want from the IDE Connector Number, Disk Count and RAID Mode sections.
7) Then click on the Change button and it will write your settings changes to the NVRAM area on the flash on the bridge board.
8) It will warn you that you have to power off and on the bridge and drives and reboot the Mac for the changes to take effect. The restart is required because we have to unload the Apple FireWire drivers in order to communicate with the bridge and the restart reloads the Apple FireWire drivers

The drivers in XP-SP2 limit any S800 host to S100 speed (100Mbs). The rumor mill and some stuff mentioned on the Internet is that they did this to support CAT5 which can only run at S100 and that they may have done this for compatibility with older 1394a devices that only run at S100 like Digital Camcorders.

Both Initio and Oxford have released firmware updates to address this issue by basically forcing S800 (100/200/400/800Mbs) when the host only wants to run at S100.

The XP SP2 issue is host related. If you attach a FW800 device to a FW400 host, it will run at S400 speed. If you attach a FW800 or FW400 device to a FW800 host, both will run at S100 speed. There is info on the Internet about this (search Yahoo and Google for more details).

Initio has 2 versions of the firmware available:

Oxford 912 firmware data file for SP2 problem:

The Oxford firmware file can be downloaded here. This firmware file should be added to the Ox912 folder inside the Data folder that comes with the Oxford Java Upload utility (available below)

Oxford 922 firmware data file for SP2 problem:

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE THE OXFORD JAVA FIRMWARE UTILITY INSTALLED PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS FILE: The Oxford firmware file can be downloaded here. This firmware file should be added to the Ox922 folder inside the Data folder that comes with the Oxford Java Upload utility (available below)

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE OXFORD JAVA FIRMWARE UTILITY INSTALLED PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS FILE: The Oxford firmware file can be downloaded here. This is the complete download package.

The instructions for running these firmware patches is identical to any other patch listed on this page - see instructions below

Additional notes for the Oxford utility: Installation and Firmware Upgrade Information

• 1. Unzip the "xp_updater_1_64.zip" file and save the files on your local hard drive.
• 2. Go to http://java.sun.com and download the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE is included in J2SE).
• 3. Install the Java Runtime Environment.
• 4. Install the Oxford Updater Utility by double clicking on the "Win_Updater_Install_1_64.exe".
• 5. Restart your PC when prompted.
• 6. Copy the "versions1.bin" file and paste it into the data folder of the updater utility (by default this is C:\Program Files\Oxford Semiconductor\Oxsemi Updater Utility\data).
• 7. If it's the correct place, it will ask you if you want to overwrite an existing "versions1.bin" file, click YES and overwrite it.
• 8. Connect your device using the FIREWIRE port (Firewire 400 or 800) and turn on the power (HDD does not have to be installed).
• 9. Start the "Oxsemi Updater Utility" using the shortcut on your desktop.
• 10. Wait until your device is recognized, you should then be able to see the present firmware version.
• 11. Wait a few seconds for the new firmware to upload and then check the new firmware version
• 12. NEVER disconnect or turn off your device during the upgrade process!!
• 13. Run the Oxsemi Uploader utility to flash your firmware
• 14. after flashing the firmware, unmount the FireWire device and power cycle it (sometimes you may need to reboot your computer)
• This utility also enabnles you to modify various parameters on the bridgeboard DO NOT CHANGE ANY SETTINGS WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING - WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR USE OF THIS UTILITY OR ANY CHANGES YOU MAKE

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Use this utility at your own risk and be aware that your warranty might be void!
Do not distribute or post these files on the internet!
FireWire Depot can not be held responsible for any damage caused by misusage of this utility!
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READ AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW

There is no known problem with the Oxford 911 chip and any version of Mac OS X

If you have a problem drive and it contains data, DO NOT reformat the drive before trying Prosoft Engineerings Data Rescue program

DOWNLOAD FIRMWARE UTILITY FOR INITIO 2430 1394b CHIP If you have a problem drive and it contains data, DO NOT reformat the drive before trying Prosoft Engineerings Data Rescue program

Oxford Firmware flash utility: Mac OS X version (updated for OS 10.3.3

Download the file and unstuff/unzip the file. When you unstuffed the package, you should have a folder with the contents as shown

DISCONNECT ALL FIREWIRE DEVICES FROM YOUR COMPUTER - THAT MEANS DISCONNECT/REMOVE ALL FIREWIRE CABLES FROM YOUR COMPUTER - Turning off a device while it is still connected via a FireWire cable does not constitute disconnecting a device.

Connect ONE Oxford based FireWire drive to your machine - there should be NO other FireWire devices connected (that means disconnect ALL FireWire cables from your machine so only the ONE OXFORD device is connected

Double-click on the file uploadergui.jar - it is a java file which launches the firmware application - you will see the window as similar to below

The application will auto-sense the bridgeboard or enclosure connected to your computer and display the current chip firmware information similar to what is shown.

***Click the Upload/Upgrade Firmware button in the lower right corner of the application window***

DO NOT CLICK THE SELECT FLASH BUTTON- DO NOT CLICK THE ADD FLASH BUTTON- DO NOT CLICK THE GET IMAGE BUTTON

A dialog will (should) appear for you to locate the firmware file to use - the Data folder is located in the same folder as the application is located

If you are flashing an Oxford 922 chip, the file is located in the Data folder, UF922 folder inside the application folder (as shown)

If you are flashing an Oxford 911 chip, the file is located in the Data folder, FW911 folder inside the application folder (as shown)

Open the appropriate chip folder and select the .bin file inside - that is the firmware data file

For the Oxford 911 chip, the file is Data->FW911->fw20030721.bin

For the Oxford 922 chip, the file to be used is either Data->UF922->UF20030904.bin or Data->UF922->uf922release_1_06.bin

The application will now automatically reprogram the firmware on your enclosure

You can repeat the process for each Oxford FireWire enclosure - it is usually recommended that you reboot your machine after each use of the firmware flash application (but this is not a requirement - sometimes after flashing a board or enclosure, the device will dismount itself, you will receive an error msg, and then the drive will remount itself)

DO NOT use the 922 firmware on a 911 enclosure

If you need to modify the configuration of your existing firmware, click the Modify Configuration button - you will see a window similar to below

From this screen, you can modify the Master and Slave options (if you have 2 devices connected to your board) - you should select the appropriate Device Type for each channel. The Device Type "Unknown" should recognize any type of device connected to each channel, but sometimes you will need to specify the exact type of device (hard disk drive, generic Win98 drive, CD/DVD drive, MO drive, Tape drive) - Do this for both the Master and Slave devices connected to your board.

Sometimes, you need to make more changes to accomodate some of the newer devices on the market.

For this, click the Advanced button (after clicking Modify Configuration Inf... You will see a window similar to below

We recommend turning on ONLY the following options:

We DO NOT recommend using any other settings - LEAVE THEM OFF - if you do not heed our instructions, we are not responsible for supporting your board

Windows Firmware Utility - the Java Windows utility instructions are identical to the Mac version above (other than the obvious differences in navigating paths for selecting files) - Windows users should use the Windows Java Uploader utility