SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

jimcpl

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SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« on: August 08, 2009, 22:02:22 PM »

Hi,

I've had my SMCWAPS-G for awhile now, and it had always been a little "flaky", occasionally stopped working. Usually, if I powered it off, then on, and it'd be ok for awhile.

However, a couple of weeks ago, it just kind of died. At first, I figured that I'd have to trash it, especially after contacting SMC and being told that it was no longer supported, but in a spare moment, I started to check it out.

It turned out that the power adapter (the one with the EU plug) was shutting off as soon as I plugged it into the SMCWAPS-G.

I checked around, and while I found an exact replacement on Ebay, I wasn't sure that I wanted to get that, as I always suspected that the one that came with the SMCWAPS-G was kind of not very good.

Then, I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-NEW-Power-Supply-Adapter-AC-DC-5V-3A-for-D-Link_W0QQitemZ170323709101QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27a8158cad&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

and, I took a chance.

The new adapter arrived this week, and I was pleased that the connector was an exact match, and it powered up the SMCWAPS-G fine. It also seems to run cooler than the original adapter, plus it's got a US connector, so no more falling out of the wall

!!

The other thing that I've always suspected is that the SMCWAPS-G itself was kind of overheating, so, this weekend, I figured that I'd do a little project:

What I did was take an old DC adapter (from a Uniden phone, 9VDC/1A), an old 80MM case fan, and an old shoe box (yes, a shoe box). I connected the +/- from the DC adapter to the +/- of the 80MM fan, cut a hole on one end of the shoe box, and attached the fan to the inside of the shoebox. Then, I stuck the SMCWAPS-G in the box and closed the cover.

I've been running the SMCWAPS-G like that now for over a day, and it's been running fine. This is with two USB hard drives, plus an old 2.5" drive attached directly. Previously, I was never able to run the SMCWAPS-G with an internal drive for any length of time, so this is (to me, at least) amazing

!!

Now, for my question(s): I've found some references that the firmware for the Airlive WMU-6000FS can be flashed onto the SMCWAPS-G.

Is this accurate?

If so:

- I found the "C3" version, "20071114_Ovislink_WMU-6000FS_R400c3.rar". Is this the correct firmware?

- How to flash the SMCWAPS-G from that file?

- Is it worth it to do this? What all does the firmware enhance above the SMCWAPS-G firmware? Is it just the Bit Torrent capability?

Sorry for all the questions, but I hope that my suggestions above are helpful.

Thanks,
Jim


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Ernst

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Re: SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2009, 11:29:34 AM »

Hi,

If you did you get the SMCWAPS-G new from SMC it should have come with the "Sino American SA115B-05G" AC Adapter. (Info here: http://www.sac.com.tw/DB/pdf/SA115B-XXG.pdf). Which actually looks like a rather good product; especially when compared to the cheap adapters that come with some other electronics. I have several of these and they haven't failed on me.

But any 5V adapter supplying at least 2A with a 5.5/2.1 mm plug will do. They are all so called switching power supplies that do differ a lot in quality however, especially at the AC side on filtering, whether a fuse is present etc. and at the output side also on filtering (keeping harmonics out produced by the switching circuits). Unfortunately this quality is hardly visible from the outside and most of these cannot be opened.

I bought a WAP-0007 (SMCWAPS-G look-alike from Level One) on eBay that came with a cheap Chinese adapter that more or less exploded a few minutes after turned on... I was amazed how awful it looked inside (I am a BScE so I know my electronics); soldering joints with live AC just fractions of millimeters apart, no fuse, no filtering. One of these soldering joints had sparked across the PCB leaving a carbon trace. Got a replacement but haven't opened it yet. Clearly a weird product with a different maker of the PCB, some unclear label on the outside and definitely faked UL certification marks.

These are a lot better: http://www.sunny-euro.com/HTML/PRODUCTS/POWERSPL/SYS1308_W2E.html (type 1505).

I can't understand why your SMCWAPS-G needs cooling; external USB harddisks (when powered from the USB port) take their power from the SMCWAPS-G AC Adapter directly (there are no internal circuits in the SMCWAPS-G involved; within the box there is a PCB trace directly from the DC in port to the appropriate USB pins) so they will not cause any extra heat. And if you power these drives from some external source it is the same story.

What is your ambient temperature? Do you live in Salk Lake City perhaps Grin

?

Any firmware from any supplier (Amit, Conceptronic, SMC, Pearl, Level One etc.) can be flashed to the SMCWAPS-G; have a look at the wiki; it explains all. The hardware of all these suppliers is 100% equal but you have to take some extra precautions when burning firmware between brands; see the wiki.

C3 is the latest version (probably there will be no more firmwares released since the box is more or less end-of-life). It adds solved bugs (and probably introduces some new ones), torrent etc. See release notes of Airlive. But more capable versions are available from pagano or schufti. Read this forum and the wiki and all will be revealed.

Don't be afraid to ask questions but don't expect lengthy answers on questions that have been answered already elsewhere. First look, then ask is the motto here.

Ernst


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jimcpl

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Re: SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2009, 17:17:41 PM »

Ernst,

Thanks for the extensive response.

I got my SMCWAPS-G awhile ago, from geeks.com. I think that it was new at the time, but sounds like about the time that SMC stopped selling them, based on some emails from SMC support (EOL'ed).

The power adapter was a non-US type, and came with an adapter for U.S., and it was very loose, both between the connection adapter and the power adapter, and both kept "falling out". I've seen some posts (e.g., on fatwallet.com) that this was common for U.S. users.

I'm also a EE

... I think that the original power adapter definitely had some kind of circuit breaker or resettable fuse in it. If I unplugged it from AC for awhile, then plugged it back in, I could measure +5V, but as soon as I plugged it into SMCWAPS-G, the LEDs would blink for a second, then would go completely off.

We're on the U.S. East coast, and it's warm here, but it was having the "hang" problem since I got it, over a year ago, so I don't think it's because it's too hot here.

Maybe the original power adapter was marginal, and even when it wasn't tripping, the adapter couldn't supply enough current. I don't know, but the new adapter + the cooling seems to have worked. I'm really glad about that, because I was using it as an FTP server, and it was kind of inconvenient when I was away from home and it stopped working

.

Re. the firmware: I kind of suspected that this "branding" thing would be an issue. I've already been looking at the wiki, plus the Rapidshare, but quite frankly, it's all a little confusing, and I didn't want to brick this SMCWAPS-G since it's the only one that I have, and they're getting harder to find (yes, I know that there are a couple on Ebay, from HK), so I wanted to have some good idea that I knew what I had to do before proceeding.

I'll re-read again, and see if I can make sense of it, but what would be really helpful would be a couple of lines about the procedure.

Thanks,
Jim


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jimcpl

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Re: SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2009, 19:13:27 PM »

Hi Ernst,

BTW, I forgot to mention, but I can confirm that the original adapter was the one you pointed out:

http://www.sac.com.tw/DB/pdf/SA115B-XXG.pdf

As I said, I'll re-review the info on the wiki, etc. and post questions.

Also, BTW, I just added an internal WD 320GB drive, so now I have the internal drive, plus two USB-attached drives. It kind of scared me when I powered it up the 1st time. It didn't recognize any of the drives, so I unplugged the two USB drives, and re-powered. It then saw the 320GB drive, and I was able to format using the web interface.

After that, I powered off, plugged the two USB drives in, and powered on. When I looked, it recognized the 320GB drive and one of the USB drives, but then I refreshed, and it saw both USB drives.

I'll let this run for awhile, in my "shoebox with a fan" and see how stable it is.

Later,
Jim


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Ernst

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Re: SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2009, 20:19:23 PM »

Jim,

Are these external USB drives powered from the SMCWAPS-G?

If so; the start-up current might be too high for the AC Adapter. I have a LaCie mobile disk that doesn't work (makes clicking sound) when powered from my MGB100 but a freecom mobile disk works fine... this is all rather weird. There is no current limiting circuitry within this box; I followed the PCB traces and apart from some capacitors the USB +5V comes directly from the external AC/DC Adapter plug. Which in my case can deliver 3A but still the LaCie doesn't work. I also tried powering a small router from the USB port of my MGB100; this caused a spike that reset the MGB100's power also. I reckon these devices draw a large surge current because of the elco's on their DC input lines... I don't have a scope here so I can't check.

Switching Power Supplies can be flaky in the sense that the oscillator circuit in them might refuse to start properly. Or perhaps in your case there was some loose contact as you pointed out...

Why your device came with an European plug I don't know; must have been old stock...

I fumbled with one of these eBay WAP-0007 (Level One version of this box) which came with a US style AC Adapter and a converter for an European plug. Took some time to convince the Chinese seller that it actually was the version for South Africa Grin

("Sorry sir; we never had complaints" was their reply.)

I experiment quite a lot with these boxes so I bought a couple of spare ones from eBay. JTAG is my friend so that I can always restore them to sanity.

Try and understand schufti's advice on rebranding; there is a zip file in his archive containing small firmware parts that can rebrand any box. You can then load the firmware of that brand. But indeed; if this is your only box, be careful if you don't have JTAG. It is possible to ruin the box by faulty firmware. The designer firm (AMIT) messed up here. The recovery loader depends on the first part of the Linux kernel starting fine. If it doesn't you're screwed.

JTAG schematics are in the wiki and the software as well. So not all is lost if you mess it up.

Success!

Ernst


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jimcpl

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Re: SMCWAPS-G: A couple of improvements + a firmware question

« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2009, 20:35:50 PM »

Ernst,

Both USB drives are powered from the SMCWAPS-G.

I'm assuming that when I had all 3 drives hooked up, then powered on, that initial surge/current draw was the problem. Scared the heck out of me, because the 320GB was a drive I *just* picked up this morning, and it was "clicking" (always, NOT a good sign/sound), so I was thankful when it came up with the 2 USB drives unplugged.

What's strange (not explainable) is why, after I used the web admin to format the 320GB drive, the SMCWAPS-G powers up fine, even with all 3 drives, including the same two USB drives, plugged in. Weird!

I do note that after power up, only one of the 2 USB drives shows "mounted", but if I refresh the screen, then the 2nd drive also shows "mounted". Maybe one of the USB drives is taking longer to come up-to-speed?

As I said, I'll continue to review the WIKI, but I also want to use the SMCWAPS-G awhile, to make sure everything is stable now that I have the new 320GB drive installed.

Later,
Jim


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