SuperUniti 4.9 firmware update tip

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Hi,

since Saturday I have unsuccessfully tried to update the firmware on my SuperUniti from version 4.8 to version 4.9. This was with a Lenovo laptop under Windows 10, using a 150 cm long USB cable. The updater would always successfully download the ARM firmware (step 1) and DSPDAC firmware (step 2), but then fail to connect to the unit again and download the streamer firmware (step 3). I had no choice but to cancel the process and restart the SuperUniti. It would work after the restart, but the Radio menu would be empty.

I have mailed Naim support with a screen capture of the full update process including all error messages but received only one generic “switch the unit off for 30 minutes and reset your presets” reply. On Monday I answered that the problem is with the firmware update process itself, haven’t heard back from them since.

Various things I tried before repeating the firmware update (which I have attempted MANY times during the last days) include:

  • removed all stored radio stations
  • switched active input from iRadio to analogue
  • used a different cable
  • tried both the wired and wireless network connection of the laptop (SuperUniti connection is wired)
  • changed IP address of the SuperUniti from static to DHCP
  • reset the SuperUniti to factory settings

None of this made any difference whatsoever.

Today as a last resort I borrowed an older Intel MacBook Pro and tried with the Mac version of the updater (and the same cable). The firmware download was a lot slower, but it actually succeeded!

I wouldn’t have expected this to make a difference, but as it did I’m documenting this here for others.

HTH, Michael

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This could have been caused by the silabs cp210x virtual com port driver; obviously these are different between windows and Mac, and there are multiple versions for windows. The one linked in the Naim documentation is not the most recent version and I wonder if the most recent driver is more stable.

Assuming you did this bit? Otherwise that’s why it didn’t work.

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Robert,

thanks for your tip.
Yes, I followed the links in the documentation and installed the linked driver on both operating systems. Did not check whether there were any newer versions, but both laptops and their OS (and the SuperUniti) are several years old at this point, and I did not expect the driver version for the serial port to be an issue.

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It was just a guess.

Sometimes there are unpredictable incompatibilities in computers. I remember trying to install a card in a pc and it would not work, pc refused point blank to install the drivers. Turned out there was an issue between the motherboard and the via chipset on the card. Found an alternative one based on Broadcom, installed with no issues whatsoever.