Yamaha RX-A800 firmware won't update

P

peleliu

Audiophyte
I just received my Yamaha RX-A800 and haven't been able to update to Firmware Version 2.05. I have tried about a dozen Audio CD's I burned. I've used two different CD burner programs and burners. I was successful about six months ago updating the firmware in my HTR-5063 (aka RX-V567) using the same Macintosh CD burner software and computer. So I don't know what is going on.

When I start the firmware update the A800 displays "Found Header" but after the update it says "Write NG!" Of course the original version 1.14 firmware was erased so I now have a brick instead of a receiver. I have my CD player set to output STREAM/PCM. I am still able to get the "CDDA Upgrader" display when I use the Yamaha recovery procedure so I am hoping all is not lost if I can find out what is wrong with my procedure. Or maybe the receiver is defective!

Yamaha Customer Support is sending me a Firmware Update CD in case the problem is with my CD's. They said there is a newer version, 2.06, now but the Yamaha website still has 2.06. So what does 2.06 fix that we don't know about?

Can someone tell me how they made their update CD? The Yamaha procedure just says to make an Audio CD, but there are some important details that affect the CD like what burner software is used and settings like "no text" and "no pause" between tracks that I select.

I would like to hear from anyone with who might be able to shed some light on this.
 
P

peleliu

Audiophyte
Yamaha Customer Support is sending me a Firmware Update CD in case the problem is with my CD's. They said there is a newer version, 2.06, now but the Yamaha website still has 2.06. So what does 2.06 fix that we don't know about?
This is a correction to the update version for the RX-A800 on the Yamaha website in my post. I should have said that the Yamaha website has version 2.05 (not 2.06) currently available for download for the RX-A800.
 
P

peleliu

Audiophyte
OK, RX-A800 update problem is solved and I thought I would post this to help anyone making Yamaha firmware updates. I ended up buying a Vizio VBR231 Blu-Ray/DVD player to see if the problem was with my old (2003) JVC HR-XVC33U CD/DVD player and sure enough when I tried the Vizio with audio out set to Stream HD the update worked. I had tried making the update CD with three different CD burner programs and two different CD burners and all resulted in failed updates. The reason I kept trying was that I had used the exact JVC CD/DVD player six months ago to update the firmware in my HTR-5063 (aka RX-V567) receiver. But it did take several attempts then before I worked out the right procedure and selected the right audio output though. So why the same setup wouldn't work for the RX-A800 I don't know.

Here are few comments:

1. If "Found Header" display doesn't appear on receiver display, stop the CD playback, turn off the CD player, turned it on, and start the CD playback again. It may take several attempts.

2. In the failed attempts I got the message "Write NG! Play again after 5 sec. Play again!" This isn't mention in the Yamaha procedure but it would be helpful so you know it is one of the error conditions. I never saw "Error" displayed that the procedure says you might see even though the update failed.

3. The choice of the CD player audio output is critical but not adequately explained in the procedure. The procedure says to make sure the the CD player digital out is set to "PCM". Well my old JVC has three choices: PCM only, Dolby Digital PCM or Stream/PCM. Now the Vizio has six choices: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1, PCM 7.1, Bitstream HD, Bitstream Legacy or Bitstream Mixed. Most of these have "PCM" in the name so which one are you supposed to use? Well the update worked with Vizio Bitstream HD (but not with Bitstream Legacy). A discussion of this in the Yamaha procedure would be helpful, rather than simply saying that "your BD/DVD/CD player may not be suitable. Try another BD/DVD/CD player or contact your local authorized service center..."
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
OK, RX-A800 update problem is solved and I thought I would post this to help anyone making Yamaha firmware updates. I ended up buying a Vizio VBR231 Blu-Ray/DVD player to see if the problem was with my old (2003) JVC HR-XVC33U CD/DVD player and sure enough when I tried the Vizio with audio out set to Stream HD the update worked. I had tried making the update CD with three different CD burner programs and two different CD burners and all resulted in failed updates. The reason I kept trying was that I had used the exact JVC CD/DVD player six months ago to update the firmware in my HTR-5063 (aka RX-V567) receiver. But it did take several attempts then before I worked out the right procedure and selected the right audio output though. So why the same setup wouldn't work for the RX-A800 I don't know.

Here are few comments:

1. If "Found Header" display doesn't appear on receiver display, stop the CD playback, turn off the CD player, turned it on, and start the CD playback again. It may take several attempts.

2. In the failed attempts I got the message "Write NG! Play again after 5 sec. Play again!" This isn't mention in the Yamaha procedure but it would be helpful so you know it is one of the error conditions. I never saw "Error" displayed that the procedure says you might see even though the update failed.

3. The choice of the CD player audio output is critical but not adequately explained in the procedure. The procedure says to make sure the the CD player digital out is set to "PCM". Well my old JVC has three choices: PCM only, Dolby Digital PCM or Stream/PCM. Now the Vizio has six choices: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1, PCM 7.1, Bitstream HD, Bitstream Legacy or Bitstream Mixed. Most of these have "PCM" in the name so which one are you supposed to use? Well the update worked with Vizio Bitstream HD (but not with Bitstream Legacy). A discussion of this in the Yamaha procedure would be helpful, rather than simply saying that "your BD/DVD/CD player may not be suitable. Try another BD/DVD/CD player or contact your local authorized service center..."
That sort of thing is a total disgrace. What a useless bunch of clowns thought that out!
 
J

jcmccorm

Audioholic Intern
I thought it was pretty clever. It's a slick way of upgrading a receiver that doesn't have an ethernet connection.

The OP is absolutely correct though. There's a lot of room for error in the delivery - it's all in how you set up the CD or DVD player's digital output.

Kudos to the OP for taking the time to chronicle the process, it's pitfalls, and success.

Cary
 
P

peleliu

Audiophyte
One additional note about burning the CD for Mac users. I burned the CD update disc that did work with iTunes on my Mac. And it was easy. Yamaha had told me that burning the CD with iTunes may be the problem. So here is the procedure:

1. Drag .wav firmware update file downloaded from the Yamaha website into the iTunes window or Add to Music Library from File menu. This copies the WAV audio file to the iTunes Music Library with the original .wav format and leaves the original on the hard disk. No changes to the .wav file are needed.

2. Now create a Playlist and drag the .wav file to it. Select the Playlist and in File menu select "Burn Playlist to Disc". This displays the Burn Settings window.

3. In Burn Settings window:

Select Preferred Speed: 8X
Disc Format: Audio CD
Gap Between Songs: none

DO NOT select "Use Sound Check" or "Include CD Text".

Insert blank CD and click on Burn.

That's it!
 
P

peleliu

Audiophyte
Here's more about my efforts to update the RX-A800 firmware. Yamaha sent me a CD with Firmware version 2.06 but it did not perform the update correctly. The "Found Header" display came up and the receiver firmware was erased but after burning what was on the CD the display said "Write NG! Play again..." Playing the CD again results in another "Write NG!" I tried the following audio settings on my Vizio VBR231 Blu-Ray/DVD player: HD Stream, PCM Stereo and PCM 5.1 and got the same failed result every time. So I successfully re-burned the receiver memory using the version 2.05 CD I made (see earlier post) and it worked the first time using PCM Stereo (previously I used HD Stream) audio out on the Vizio. So with the same setup the 2.06 CD Yamaha sent didn't work.

Yamaha subsequently sent me the FTP address/login to download the 2.06 .wav file. I burned a CD from that and successfully updated the receiver to version 2.06 on the first attempt. Is this a finicky process or what? So yes there is a 2.06, but not officially released. That's why it isn't posted on the Yamaha website. It is supposed to improve HD radio and other radio performance and what else I don't know.
 
P

P4man

Audiophyte
Necro bump.

I just registered here to thank the OP. Without his post I would have tossed my Yamaha in the dust bin. I had the exact same problem with a different Yamaha AVR, in my case it was a RX-V465.
I had tried 4 different DVD players with all possible audio settings, and have had nothing but errors. Ive seen invalid model, WRITE NG!, Play again, 00x0000, Ive seen the AVR turn itself off, or get stuck at some point.

I gave up and took it to my dealer. There we tried using the only CD player (not super audio cd) they still had, and it didnt work either.

Its only because I read here that these errors are not necessarily fatal, that I persisted. Otherwise Id had just thrown away a perfectly fine, and awesome sounding AVR.
But I ended up doing it through my PC. A regular mediaplayer didnt work, but I got it working under linux with this command:

aplay -Dhw:0,1 -f cd Vx65_TIdata1_ver2_08rL034_D_LR_R1_IFON_V3.2.wav

hw:0,1 is the SPDIF of my audio card, it may be different on a different PC. Vx65... is just the filename of the firmware for my AVR.

Using this it worked from the first attempt. The trick is the -f cd. This applies these settings:
16 bit little endian, 44100, stereo [-f S16_LE -c2 -r44100]
Default seems to be big endian. Whatever it may mean, this works.

YAY.

Just posting here in case someone else still has the same problem. This page is one of the first hits on Google searching for the error messages, so there you are.

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
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