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User Forum » Can't set date

Author: Oyaji
17/07/2020 08:05:03
My Argo-Navis hasn't been used since last autumn, and the batteries ran down. I replaced the little lithium battery and the AA batteries, and when I went to set up the date and time, the unit reports November 29, 1999 as the date and won't let me change to July 17, 2020.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Perhaps a firmware update?

Author: wildcard
17/07/2020 20:15:19
Thanks for the post.

By way of background, there is an internal bit within the real-time clock (RTC) that determines what century it is set at.
If the coin cell becomes depleted, this bit can then go to zero which represents the last century.

However, each time it powers on, Argo Navis checks for this condition and sets the time to 1 Jan 2000 which includes setting the century bit to a 1.

Obviously it has not done this in this case.

To be honest, it is a strange condition and armed with a deep understanding of how all this works, one that would seem logically impossible,

However, we did have at least one report of it from a customer in December 2019 and they resolved it for themselves by upgrading the firmware,
the act of which in itself magically set things right. So it remained a mystery why it was not automatically being set at power-on otherwise.

If you have an Argo Navis serial cable and USB Adapter, you could try a couple of things.

Firstly, ensure the serial port you are connected to is running with a STARTUP command of 'navis' and a BAIUD rate of 38400.
Then start Argonaut and connect to the unit.

You should get a % prompt in the Argonaut terminal window when communication is established or if you press the PC enter key in the terminal window.

Then using the Argonaut Date/Time pulldown menu, select Set Date/Time. That will transmit the date/time from the PC to the unit and it might resolve it.

Failing that, use Argonaut and load Argo Navis version 3.0.4 firmware :-
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/firmware.html

That might also resolve it,

If it does not, email me at sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au and we can try and help resolve it. It certainly is unusual.



Author: Oyaji
18/07/2020 05:09:48
Fixed!

I took out the newly installed RTC (Lithium) battery, turned the unit on, and the unit reported January 1, 2000 as the date. And it let me set today's date. Of course, when I turned it off, the unit forgot the date because the RTC battery wasn't there.

So I reinserted the RTC battery, turned the unit on, it reported January 1, 2000 as the date, and it let me set today's date. And when I turned it off, it remembered the date.

Problem solved--without a firmware update, too.





Author: wildcard
19/07/2020 15:00:52
Good to hear you were able to resolve it in the way you described.

In any case we would have helped you restore the correct date one way or the other, but if the ends justifies the means, your prescription was simple enough.

I must admit it still leaves me with a puzzle how it was stuck in that state. The code explicitly checks for the condition that if the year is less than 2000 at power on,
it sets the RTC date to JAN 1 2000 and reads it back to check that the change was made and reports an error it is not. You can leave to me as an exercise. smilie




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