rpjallan Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 I run RailMaster on an Apple MacBook Pro using VMware Fusion. I have never had any problems with this generally. I want to update my Elite firmware to version 1.44 but there are only instructions for Windows 7 or 10. Not being much of a Windows expert, I'm wondering which instructions to follow. I'm guessing the Windows 10 one but just want to make sure.Thanks in advance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 The firmware updater file itself is the same regardless of the Windows version. The Elite upgrade instructions assume that the user is not a RailMaster user and has never upgraded an Elite before. Therefore in that scenario, the Elite USB driver has to be installed first. Therefore the instructions are Windows version specific to cater for the driver part of the installation that IS Windows version specific..However, the installation of the driver has already been done on your MAC because you are using RailMaster under VMWare, therefore presumably RM is already communicating with your Elite successfully via a driver of some form, that hopefully will be compatible with the firmware upgrader..The issue is (if there is going to be one) does your RM installation under VMWare use a MAC USB driver to communicate to the Elite or the Windows one. If it is using a MAC one, then maybe the Elite firmware installer won't recognise it..All you can do is try and see what happens (report your results back here either way for the benefit of others). As far as following the Elite upgrade instructions is concerned, then as long as you are using the MAC with the working copy of RM on it, and doing the Elite upgrade within a Windows emulation, then all you need to follow from the instructions is the procedure to follow that is common for all the different Window instruction versions. That is to say, the order of Elite button pushing that is needed to put the Elite in the firmware upgrade mode. Fail to follow THOSE instructions to the letter and the upgrade is 100% guaranteed to fail..One word of caution before you go ahead. In the past (before the release of the current firmware installer) it was very easy to 'brick' the Elite when the firmware upgrade routine failed. Obviously the risk of failure is higher if trying on a MAC rather than a natively Windows PC machine. Is there nobody you know with a Windows PC that you could visit purely to use their PC for the upgrade. I only suggest that to minimise the failure risks. Of course, if you follow that path, you will have to install the Elite driver on that machine first before you can run the firmware updater..In my own case, I bricked my Elite when attempting to upgrade my Elite (one of the earlier 'brick' prone updaters) and that was on a Windows 8 PC. I ended up going next door to use my neighbours old obsolete Windows XP desktop to recover the Elite back into a working condition with the new firmware installed. The point (moral) of this story is that with the early Elite firmwares, you couldn't guarantee to update the firmware without issue, even if using a later (than XP) version of Windows. Therefore what chance a MAC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpjallan Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 I have updated the firmware several times before but using an older virtual machine running Windows XP & have never had any problems so I guess if I just run the installer & follow the instructions everything will be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 The only problem I can see is picking a PC type that will emulate the Mac-Windows emulation. I.e. if you pick Type 2 will the Mac react as a Type 2 machine. The ‘types’ adjust the installer data flow speed to allow the PC to keep pace, e.g. send the data effectively word by word, or line by line, or page by page. If you pick the wrong type - too slow and it will either take forever but install all the same, too fast and it will zip along the progress bar and fail to a brick state. Just right and it will take between 3-5 minutes. If it bricks then just start again and pick a more appropriate Type.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpjallan Posted December 23, 2017 Author Share Posted December 23, 2017 It's a pretty fast computer. I don't think it would have any problem setting it to the highest speed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpjallan Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Ok, finally got around to giving this a go. I already knew the Elite was on com port 4 from using it with RailMaster. Just followed the instructions. Started Elite in update mode, ran the updater, no problems. Thanks for your advice. Just going to update RailMaster now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Good to know it worked without problems rp.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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