The Sercomm Update Utility can be used on a Windows machine to upgrade the firmware on an NSLU2 using upgrade mode, similar to the basic usage of UpSlug2. It has been tested with Windows 2000 (SP4 and above), Windows XP (SP2 and above) and Windows Vista.

Downloading

This utility used to be available from Sercomm web site (http://www.sercomm.com), but the old download link does not work since January, 2007 (http://www.sercomm.com/web/download.nsf/cd9678c311095856482566a5000aac9e/7f17bf7344cfc12f482566aa00389845/$FILE/Upgrade_207_XP.exe)

Other copies of the same utility were found at the web sites from other router manufacturers, since the same utility is able to upload firmware images to other embedded devices. The current know links are:

• http://www.everbesthk.com/8-download/sercomm/firmware/NU54/Upgrade_207_XP.zip (verified - 2009-02-05)
• http://www.everbesthk.com/8-download/sercomm/firmware/all_router_utility.zip

After downloading, open the zip file and run `Upgrade_207_XP.exe. This will install the utility. It will show up in the Start menu, under Programs | Ugutil, as Upgrade Utility.

If you want to check, the MD5 checksum of the original Sercomm_Upgrade_207_XP.exe file (from Sercomm web site, using the link that no longer works) is:

  534270510c7be84e5784646e8e5385a0 *Sercomm_Upgrade_207_XP.exe

There may be some old references to another utility, distributed on a file name ugtool.zip or something like it. This utility does not work, it usually crashes immediately on starting.

Running the Firmware Updater

First of all, make sure that you run the program using an user account with Administrator privileges. Also, in Windows Vista you will need to use Windows XP (Service Pack 2) Compatibility mode. Right click on the exe file, go to Properties, select Compatibility tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for", and then select Windows XP (Service Pack 2).

1. Check (again) that the slug is in upgrade mode (or it won't be found).
2. Start the Upgrade Utility. If you have more than one network card in your PC, it will show a list of interfaces and ask you to select one. Choose the Ethernet card that is connected to the same network as the slug.
3. Open the Browse menu and select Browse Targets..., it will go look for a slug on the local subnet.
4. Select your slug in the Devices List box, then click on the Files button.
5. Select the firmware file to be loaded. After you select a file and click Open, the program will show a window with some extra information about the file, simply click Ok to confirm.
6. Click the Upgrade button. This will start the upgrade process.

During the upgrade, the program will show some progress messages, as it erases the flash, uploads the new firmware and verifies it. When finished, the program will show a success message and reboot the slug. After that, you can close the program and proceed with the configuration of the new firmware.

Additional SerComm notes: When starting Upgrade.exe I kept getting an error message telling me to run RmDrv.exe, and then rerun Upgrade.exe - unfortunately doing so had no effect, I still kept getting the error. Then by sheer luck I discovered that the "Adapter Cards Lists:" was actually listing each of my network cards 3 or 4 times. By using the up & down keys and trial & error I eventually managed to select the correct network card, at which point it all worked flawlessly. - Lurch. I had a card disabled (a 1394 card) and got the same behavior until I enabled it. - Gunnar

More additional SerComm notes: The behaviour mentioned above happened to me too. For me the solution was to run the Sercomm utility with Administrators' rights - ABE

More additional SerComm notes: Under Windows Vista i got repeatingly blue screens (page fault in non paged area), The solution: Set the properties to compatibilitymode "XP sp2" and run the Sercomm utility with Administrators' rights - Wouter

More additional SerComm notes: In windows vista I couldn't discover the device for a long time, everything worked when I disabled Norton's firewall and windows defender - Ari

The SerComm-Utility sees the slug with firmware 4.x and higher after putting him into upgrade mode. The SerComm-Utility left the ethernet devices on two of my machines dysfunctional after browsing for slugs and another time after starting with "erasing flash" and stopped updating. seems unstable. suggestion: switch to upslug on linux/knoppix. worked reliable.

Another alternative is to have a direct connection to the slug. Down grade the link speed to 10mbps half duplex. After that, the updating goes on smoothly after "erasing flash" - Cozi

You can also put your slug manually into Upgrade mode by giving it the upgrade command in Redboot.

More additional SerComm notes: I added the URL reference to all_router_utility.zip and the first two don't work for me at all. Once the file was unzipped, i had to down-length the directory name to < 8 chars as the installer seems to be of the 16bit kind! - hjw 2008-10-14 I had the installer problem also, had to shorten the utility name also. rf

Unslung 6.10: I successfully used Sercomm to upgrade my slug to Unslung 6.10. Sercomm runs on XP SP3 (!). No sweat - BenMcDui

File access error - I get this message when selecting the firmware files to be updated, the files are not set to be inaccessible.