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DMX Core

Firmware Updates

Firmware releases are on the PoeControl-Public releases page on GitHub. Each release has one .uf2 file per target: poecontrol-osc-w5500-<version>.uf2 for a DMX Core 100 or any OSC server, poecontrol-symetrix-w5500-<version>.uf2 for a Symetrix DSP, and poecontrol-qsys-w5500-<version>.uf2 for a Q-SYS Core. Copying a different target’s file is how the controller is switched between them; the device settings are kept and config.txt changes to that target’s keys. Files named for other boards (w6300) are for development hardware and are refused.

Updating

  1. Plug the controller into a computer over USB-C. The POECONTROL drive appears.
  2. Copy the .uf2 onto it. It takes about a second.
  3. About a second after the copy, the controller restarts on its own: the drive disappears for a moment and comes back.
  4. status.txt shows started = updated from <old version>, on trial for the first ten seconds, then started = updated from <old version>, and the new version on the firmware line.

Settings are kept across updates. The drive lives in RAM, so the file does not stay on it.

What protects you

The new firmware is written into a second copy in flash, next to the running one, and the controller restarts into it on trial. It keeps the new firmware only once its Ethernet chip has answered and it has run for ten seconds. If the new firmware crashes, hangs or does not start, the next restart is the old firmware, and status.txt reports update = <version> did not start properly, so this device went back to <old version>.

Files that are refused, with nothing written and the reason on the update line of status.txt:

  • A .uf2 for a different board - the file names the board it is for.
  • A file that is not PoE Control firmware.
  • A copy cut short - the cable pulled, the copy cancelled. Copy it again.

A firmware that works, then misbehaves a week later, was kept on the first day. Copy the previous release’s .uf2 back on; a downgrade installs the same way.

Recovery

If a unit will not take an update through the drive, the RP2350’s own bootloader is behind a pinhole in the lid. Hold BOOTSEL with a paperclip while plugging in USB-C: a drive called RP2350 appears. Copy poecontrol-partition-table.uf2 from the release onto it, and when the drive comes back, the board’s .uf2. That reinstalls everything from scratch; settings survive it.