ryan_carr59•9d agoProlific Poster

Flashed a panel firmware mid-install and lost 30 zones in 10 seconds

I was out at a new build in Sandy Springs last Thursday, middle of a rough week. Had this DSC PowerSeries Neo half wired, everything looked good on the keypad. Then I decided to update the firmware through my laptop while the system was live, big mistake. Dropped all 30 zones in like 10 seconds, the keypad went blank and started cycling. I spent the next two hours on hold with tech support while the homeowner's wife kept asking if we were gonna finish before dinner. Turns out the installer software and the panel version didn't match up, so I had to hard reset everything and reprogram from scratch. I pulled my hair out but finally got it back by midnight. Has anyone else bricked a panel mid-job like this or am I the only dummy here?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinn_nguyen9d ago

Man that story hurts to read because I've been exactly there with a Vista panel a few years back. The keypad going into that endless boot loop is the worst sound when you know you're already behind schedule. What gets me is how the installer software and panel firmware versions not matching up is such a common problem but nobody warns you about it upfront. Honeywell had a similar issue with their 128B panels where if you flashed the wrong version it would nuke all the dialer programming too. Now I always keep a backup of the original panel config saved to a USB before touching any firmware updates. Learned that one the hard way after a long night in someone's basement.

felix_thomas739d ago

Yeah the 128B dialer wipe was brutal, I had a customer lose 20 phone numbers off their central station list because of that exact bug. Backing up configs before updates is basically job security at this point.