FM3 Firmware Version 7.00

[Anejo]

Successfully loaded 6.02 / 7 and so far no glitches on the presets I use most. And the DynaCabs are really fun, and beautifully and intuitively laid out. Thank you Fractal!!!
What has changed is FM3 Edit.....in the past, I would disconnect the USB cable at the computer and Edit would show "disconnected", remain up on my screen, and then when the USB to the FM3 was reconnected, it would show "connected" and editing could immediately continue as normal.
With the new update, within a few seconds after unplugging the USB at the computer, FM3 Edit closes and disappears from the screen. Upon rebooting FM3 Edit while connected to the FM3, it takes a little over a half-minute to re-read (?) all the blocks before becoming functional. Am I missing a setting somewhere or is this the new normal?
Again, thanks to the good folks at Fractal and all the helpful (and mostly patient) folks on the Forum.

 

[unix-guy]

Excited for the update, unfortunately, I'm running 6.01 and when I update to 7.00 and reboot the device, it hangs on the FM3 screen, the progress bar never starts, and the device does not fully boot up. I can run the emergency boot utility to downgrade the firmware back to 6.01 and everything works again. I also get the same result if trying to update to 6.02. Anyone have any idea what's going on? I've tried installing 7.0 firmware a couple times and get the same result. I've also updated Fractal Bot, FM3 Edit, and made sure I'm using the latest Windows USB drivers. Thanks.

Try downloading the firmware again and then install it again.

 

[Lettuce]

Just when you thought this machine couldn’t get any better….
Thank you FAS!
Still have plenty to get thru before tackling this but have to appreciate the hard work.

 

[z0mbie_spaceman]

Try downloading the firmware again and then install it again.

Thanks. Redownloaded the 7.0 firmware and used a different USB cable. Unfortunately same result, even after trying a couple of times. Firmware upgrade completes successfully, then after power cycling, the FM3 gets stuck booting up on the FM3 loading screen and the progress bar never even starts. So odd, does not do this on any firmware pre 6.02.

 

[unix-guy]

Thanks. Redownloaded the 7.0 firmware and used a different USB cable. Unfortunately same result, even after trying a couple of times. Firmware upgrade completes successfully, then after power cycling, the FM3 gets stuck booting up on the FM3 loading screen and the progress bar never even starts. So odd, does not do this on any firmware pre 6.02.

Probably best to contact support.

Did you try loading using the standalone FractalBot?

What specific version of FM3-Edit are you using?

 

[Dutch]

Updated everything and it went fine.
Noticed a slight increase in CPU. Some of my presets are now overloading. I'd love some utility to find presets that are on the edge of overload and open them so I can edit them off the brink.

Several times I have had presets lock up on me during rehearsal and once during soundcheck. Scary! Fixing a CPU overload on the unit controls is not easy! The AX8 used to be more sensitive to high cpu when connected to USB so I could be sure it would not lock up when not connected. That seems to be reversed, oddly. I rebuilt every preset from the AX8 because their not compatible, using FM3-Edit via USB so I spent time on all of them with USB connected, but still it happened.

 

[z0mbie_spaceman]

Probably best to contact support.

Did you try loading using the standalone FractalBot?

What specific version of FM3-Edit are you using?

Yeah, I will e-mail them. I was actually using the stand-alone version the whole time. Also using FM3 Edit 1.06.02.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

Thanks. Redownloaded the 7.0 firmware and used a different USB cable. Unfortunately same result, even after trying a couple of times. Firmware upgrade completes successfully, then after power cycling, the FM3 gets stuck booting up on the FM3 loading screen and the progress bar never even starts. So odd, does not do this on any firmware pre 6.02.

Have you tried the first option in Recovery on p. 113 in the manual?

PROBLEMS DURING/AFTER FIRMWARE UPDATE
The FM3 has a built-in recovery system known as the “Emergency Boot Loader” to protect you against mishaps during firmware update. To boot from the emergency boot loader:
1. Power down the unit and wait five seconds.
2. Power on holding both PAGE LEFT and PAGE RIGHT buttons until the Emergency Utility page appears.
3. Update as normal using Fractal-Bot

Contact support if that doesn’t work.

 

[z0mbie_spaceman]

Have you tried the first option in Recovery on p. 113 in the manual?



Contact support if that doesn’t work.

Yeah, this is how I downgraded back to earlier firmware to restore functionality. The stuck loading screen is repeatable every time I try to run 7.0. Currently went back to 6.01 for now and unit is working.

 

[skolacki]

Seems like some issues with FM3 edit. I’ve never had a problem with updates. Still on the beta. Going to stay on it until this is wrapped up.

 

[aliena]

With fw7 this is how song section in 'manage setlist & songs' menu appears: the various fields are in black and it's very difficult reading or writing.

Me too, the same problem, I use fm3 edit on imac

 

[PatrickWD]

Updated to FW7 now. No problems at all so far. Tried the dynacabs on my jazz preset and after a quick scroll trough the cabs i found that the 2x12 65 bassguy with a ribbon gets me really close to the Ownhammer Deluxe reverb FN-axa IR i usually use. Looking forward to trying to create a new preset around the dynacabs from scratch. Find them very intuitive and easy to use so far.

 

[Vito Porkleone]

I'll throw this out there again. For the last 3 or 4 firmware upgrades, I have switched to an empty preset before installing firmware. I have no idea if this makes any difference, but I've had no issues with any of these things loading, hanging up, or anything of the sort.

Also - thanks team for enabling Fractal Bot from the Edit. Love this!

 

[unix-guy]

I'll throw this out there again. For the last 3 or 4 firmware upgrades, I have switched to an empty preset before installing firmware. I have no idea if this makes any difference, but I've had no issues with any of these things loading, hanging up, or anything of the sort.

Also - thanks team for enabling Fractal Bot from the Edit. Love this!

It makes NO difference.

As soon as the firmware starts loading the active preset is no longer running.

For doing backups, loading an empty preset first can improve the backup speed.

 

[eddyrox]

FW 7.0 beta 5 never any issues and using an iMac too!
Fractal is the best - no 6160 issues (and yes RANF)

 

[rglr]

@rglr

Ugh. I told the FM3 to upgrade its presets, and it failed and hung at approximately #70. It’s possible that there’s a problem child preset in the slot so I’ll try to get it to repeat. Will update when I know more.

---

Rerunning it again on the FM3 Mk 1, and #39, "The Brown Sound", hung, and after waiting a minute I cycled the power. A second attempt made it past there, and it progressed quickly until #74, which is probably where it hung before. It's proceeding slowly, ~2.25 sec/preset so it appears it's upgrading some stale presets. If it hangs again I'm going to reload the factory presets and see what happens.

To try and triangulate, I ran "upgrade" on the FM3-Turbo, and it flew through everything. I have recent backups from the Mk I that I can load into the Turbo to try to antagonize it and reproduce the problem if it reoccurs.

---

I ran it again and it completed. Then, out of perverseness I ran it again and it froze at #406.

I'll take a look at this. Thanks

 

[DougB415]

@rglr

Ugh. I told the FM3 to upgrade its presets, and it failed and hung at approximately #70. It’s possible that there’s a problem child preset in the slot so I’ll try to get it to repeat. Will update when I know more.

---

Rerunning it again on the FM3 Mk 1, and #39, "The Brown Sound", hung, and after waiting a minute I cycled the power. A second attempt made it past there, and it progressed quickly until #74, which is probably where it hung before. It's proceeding slowly, ~2.25 sec/preset so it appears it's upgrading some stale presets. If it hangs again I'm going to reload the factory presets and see what happens.

To try and triangulate, I ran "upgrade" on the FM3-Turbo, and it flew through everything. I have recent backups from the Mk I that I can load into the Turbo to try to antagonize it and reproduce the problem if it reoccurs.

---

I ran it again and it completed. Then, out of perverseness I ran it again and it froze at #406.

I’m still recovering from surgery and won’t get to the studio for another week or so. I’m confused by “I told the FM3 to upgrade its presets” - what does this mean, is it something new?

 

[fcs101]

I’m still recovering from surgery and won’t get to the studio for another week or so. I’m confused by “I told the FM3 to upgrade its presets” - what does this mean, is it something new?

See pg 109 of the manual. It's under the Utilities. I'm not sure when it was added; almost certain it's not always been there.

After updating the FW I thought some of the presets sounded off. I executed the procedure and it seemed to set everything right.

Good luck with your recovery.

 

[Beecher]

See pg 109 of the manual. It's under the Utilities. I'm not sure when it was added; almost certain it's not always been there.

After updating the FW I thought some of the presets sounded off. I executed the procedure and it seemed to set everything right.

Good luck with your recovery.

Page 102 in my manual. It's an older version. The new is 109.

 

[Greg Ferguson]

I’m confused by “I told the FM3 to upgrade its presets” - what does this mean, is it something new?

See pg 109 of the manual. It's under the Utilities. I'm not sure when it was added; almost certain it's not always been there.

After updating the FW I thought some of the presets sounded off. I executed the procedure and it seemed to set everything right.

It was added to only the FM3, and occurred in v.4.01.

This has nothing to do with sound, only loading efficiency.

• Added “Presets” Utilities page to upgrade Presets stored in flash to the currently installed firmware version. When executed, all presets stored in flash with an older version of the firmware will be upgraded to the currently installed firmware version and automatically re-saved to flash. This process can take up to 20 minutes but will speed up preset changes.

IIRC, presets contain an internal “fingerprint” of the firmware version that was in use when they are edited. There can be multiple fingerprints, and they are helpful to the modeler, but can slow the preset changes, so the “Upgrade” process cleans those out to improve the efficiency.

There’s a manual way to accomplish the same thing, which I think was to simply run a backup and then reload the backup over the top of the original bank(s). That won't do it, so maybe it was by exporting and reimporting?