Tag Archive: maintenance

Factory Reset Series 3 JNIOR

Unlike the Series 4 JNIOR, the Series 3 JNIOR’s do not have a command that can be used to factory reset them. To get a Series 3 JNIOR as close to factory reset is to follow the steps below:

Step 1: Delete the Registry

On every JNIOR is a jnior.ini file. This file is the saved registry values on the JNIOR. To reset the registry we will need to remove this file from the JNIOR. Two ways to remove the file is to either right click the JNIOR in the support tool and go to Tools/FTP to access the files on the JNIOR, or make and command line connection and remove the file using the command line. Thing is, the JNIOR automatically backups the registry every couple of minutes, so even though we delete the jnior.ini file, it will repopulate after a few minutes. To make sure the registry does not regenerate, we have to delete the jnior.ini file, and then quickly after pull power from the JNIOR for 30 seconds. This will prevent the a backup of the JNIOR from being created. Below is how to get to the jnior.ini file by using FTP.

Use FTP from support tool and go to the flash folder
Delete jnior.ini file and pull power from jnior for 30 seconds

Below is how to remove the jnior.ini with the command line:

In the picture below we use the Series 3 Java applet configuration page to send command through command line. To open the Java applet, right click the JNIOR in support tool and select Tools/Open Classic Monitor, Configure, Control Application. Then go to the Command Line Tab and that’s where you’ll enter the command rm flash/jnior.ini. This removes the jnior.ini file in the flash folder from the JNIOR.

Go to the Command Line tab once you login using jnior, jnior
Enter the command rm flash/jnior.ini and hit enter, then remove power for 30 seconds

Step 2: jrflash -f

After resetting the registry, we’ll then want to reformat the flash memory. To do this, if you haven’t already we’ll need to make a command line connection to the JNIOR. Once a command line connection is made, you’ll enter the command jrflash -f. Let this command run, and once this is done you’ll re-update the JNIOR with the Series 3 All-In-One update project. In the picture below we use the Series 3 Java applet configuration page to send command through command line. To open the Java applet, right click the JNIOR in support tool and select Tools/Open Classic Monitor, Configure, Control Application. Then go to the Command Line Tab and that’s where you’ll enter the command.

Go to the Command Line tab once you login using jnior, jnior
Enter the command jrflash -f and hit enter, when command finishes update JNIOR using Series 3 All-in-one update project

Step 3: reboot -a

Once the flash has been reformatted and the JNIOR’s been reupdated with the Series 3 All-in-one update project, you’ll connect to the command line again the same way you did for the last step and enter one more command. Enter reboot -a, as this will reset the heap memory.  This clears up fragmented memory, so when memory is being allocated for applications or files to be moved on the JNIOR, enough space is available for them to exist.

After that, your Series 3 JNIOR should be as close to factory reset as possible!

By | On February 16, 2022 4:29 pm | No Comments |

Resetting a JNIOR to Factory (Sanitize)

Sometimes a JNIOR gets re-purposed.  A JNIOR was performing one task and now it is going to perform a new one.  You may want to clean up the JNIOR before configuring it for the new operation.  In this case we will want to sanitize the JNIOR.  To complete this task there will be two steps that will need to be performed.

First, we will need to “erase” the unit.  To do this we will execute the following command;

reboot -eraseall

After confirmation the JNIOR will erase itself.  It will be completely blank.  Only the operating system will be present.  All other software will be removed.  The title says reset to factory but the OS will still be the currently loaded version and will not revert to the version that was shipped.  The IP Address will also remain unaffected.  All other user configuration including the hostname will be cleared.

That leads into the second step.  You will need to get the software package that you wish to install and update the unit with that code.  Use the support tool and the Update tab to do this.

 

Support Tool 7.10 and the 2.1 All-In-One update project were the most recent versions when this picture was taken, please check for the latest versions before downloading.

After doing a factory reset, we recommend updating a JNIOR with the latest JANOS All-In-One update project. Updating this to your JNIOR will restore Web UI functionality for configuring your JNIOR, as well as return applications that came with the JNIOR when it was built.

By | On January 17, 2019 8:31 am | No Comments |

Afraid to Update? Don’t See the Need?

 
If it ain't broke... Don't fix it!

I fully understand this mentality. Believe me. I am still using the Summer 9 version of Altium to lay out PCBs here at INTEG. It’s like a half dozen years old. Meanwhile, that company continues to generate updates and new versions. They are also painfully charging for them. How many times have you paid for an update and except for the version number you don’t see any difference or don’t need what happens to be new? Meanwhile, Microsoft updates your PC overnight and the next day something isn’t working. And now you need to pay monthly for something that you had bought years before. I could rant on. But there is no reason to be phobic and roll back your JNIORs to older versions of JANOS just because you have not had the time to test.

But the Series 4 JNIOR updates are a different matter. In addition to the hardware, JANOS and its updates are my responsibility. Trust me there is a good reason we recommend that you update. Every new version of JANOS corrects a handful of critical bugs. There are often performance enhancements. New features augment what you already have. Everything that ran before will run now as legacy compatibility is paramount. And we DO NOT charge a dime for updates.

Just this morning I corrected a memory leak. A memory leak is when a piece of memory is allocated to store some information and once that information is no longer needed the memory is left to collect dust. Meanwhile the process repeats using up another block of memory. Eventually your JNIOR would run out of available memory and ultimately crash. In the short term everything tests out 100%. Your controller runs perfectly. But there is a ticking time bomb. Luckily, not everyone uses the function at fault in this latest leak. We discovered it in testing here. But if you believe that your JNIORs should be setting records for up time, you need to pick up these corrections. You need to update.

I wrote JANOS. I even coined the name. In fact there is no third party code in the entire OS. I did not even use the standard C Libraries supplied with the Renesas IDE. JANOS has its own C Libraries. There is a good reason for that. It puts us 100% in control. If there is a bug we absolutely can correct it. That’s a significant up side. The down side is that while I have decades of experience I can still create bugs as well as the next guy.

Fortunately as time passes the number of software issues decreases. Their complexity and obscurity increases. But eventually we exponentially approach a stable and reliable product. We are well along that curve now. Each JANOS update is critical in getting those improvements out to you.

As of this writing we have released JANOS v1.6.2 and v1.6.3 is in Beta test. Should you encounter an issue in v1.6.2 we can supply you with Beta or Release Candidate code. If the problem persists and we can replicate it then we will fix it immediately.

If you are concerned about running an update project because it may change all kinds of stuff and you don’t know what. I also understand that. But it is safe to manually update JANOS. Certainly you shouldn’t panic when you get new units with later versions of JANOS. They’ll work just as the older ones.

What Are Update Projects?

An Update Project is a procedure that can be executed using the Support Tool. The Support Tool is a Windows application that can be freely downloaded from the INTEG website Software Downloads Center (https://integpg.com/jnior-support-tool). The Support Tool lets you manage all of your JNIORs and allows you to update them singly or in groups. You would open the Update Project under the Update tab in the Support Tool.

The Update Project is actually a set of files including instructions for the update. These are contained in a ZIP library. While the update project has a ZIP file extension there is no need to extract files from the project or expand it anywhere. The Support Tool takes care of that for you.

Generally we use an Update Project when we are updating an application for you. Usually in that case we both need to update JANOS and perhaps its components like the DCP, and your application. So there are several steps involved. An Update Project is designed to handle all of that for you. You can open the Update Project and see the steps. That may help you to visualize what you are changing/updating.

It is possible to update JNIORs manually if you are not managing a large number of them and want to know what is going on. You can even disable parts of the Update Project and apply only the steps that you need.

By | On October 25, 2017 2:52 pm | No Comments |