E-MU Ultra Sampler Updating Woes

[fatbenelton]

Any E-MU Ultra sampler guru’s on here??

Tearing my hair out trying to upgrade it! Got a NOS E4XT Ultra which has the very first OS 4.01 installed. I’m trying to get to 4.7...

I’m hearing mixed news on whether you have to upgrade to 4.02 first but the consensus seems to be you don’t have to but you do have to install the flash prep.

I bought 3x discs off eBay (and got sent replacement ones during my woes in case they were faulty) - flash prep, 4.6.2 and 4.7. Booting with the flash prep disc in triggers boot mode. I click yes to the question, it does its stuff but then just boots into 4.01. No opportunity to put a 4.6.2 OS or 4.7OS disc in. It just does some updating but then boots as normal into 4.01 - no prompt, no message, nothing...

I then switch off and put the 4.6.2 or 4.7 disc in but nothing...boots as normal as presumably the flash prep is negated by the power cycle.
So, what should I expect from the flash prep? Is the issue that I can’t go from 4.01 to anything without first updating to 4.02 which is vapourware!
I have trawled the net, downloaded files (I’m on an M1 Mac so my options to burn new discs are limited). I can’t update via MIDI as that only came in with 4.10 and I can’t use the aftermarket EOS tools (which looks ace and works in a browser) as you need 4.10 or above!!
I could just stick with 4.01 but there are bug fixes aplenty and FAT drives might be useful!

[BJG145]

"Evidently there are two different versions of Flash Prep, one for Ultra machines and the other for the Classic models. I wasn't aware of that."

http://samplersonacid.com/legacy-emus-o ... 4.php.html

"EOS 4.0 through 4.10 users need to load Ultra Prep to enable your sampler to read compressed files."

https://www.harmonycentral.com/forums/t ... u-sampler/

Are you up on these apparently different Flash Prep editions...?

[fatbenelton]

Thanks for the reply. Wasn’t aware but got the ultra prep.

[arkieboy]

I flashed my E5K to 4.7 a decade ago. I don’t remember any hassles doing it. I’ll keep an eye on the thread just in case I have any insights …

[N i g e l]

I flashed my E5K to 4.7 a decade ago. I don’t remember any hassles doing it. I’ll keep an eye on the thread just in case I have any insights …

As far as I can remember I also did that but as the internal drive was IDE I just opened the machine and transfered the hard disk to the IDE on my PC and transfered the necessary files. That wouldnt be a viable option for me now as I now dont have an IDE on my motherboard - thats progress !

[BWC]

There are still ways of connecting such things...
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-5-25-INC ... 0758RP5V8/

[FrankF]

I've had a 500GB SATA laptop drive (quieter, less current draw) in my E5000 for several years with no problems - def. worth it if you can get the OS upgraded.

There are also SCSI options, i.e. an SD card via SCSI, but they're not cheap.

https://samplerzone.com/collections/storage

[fatbenelton]

Cheers folks but you’ve ever so slightly gone off down the wrong rabbit hole. Talking about the OS which resides in the Flash ROM not the storage moving from SCSI/IDE to flash drives.

Updating the OS usually is quite straightforward other than for those few people like me stuck on the very first Ultra OS - 4.01. (not 4..10!).

Cheers

Jon

[FrankF]

This bloke has the 4.62 flashprep and other bits and pieces (yes, I know you've already tried it!):
http://francisfisher.me.uk/problem/2011 ... y-archive/

There's also a sticky on Emusonacid called EOS Upgrading, but I'm guessing you've already read that.

[BJG145]

I bought 3x discs off eBay...got the ultra prep.

It sounds like ultra prep is the way. If I'd had no luck with eBay (and I was resolved to use a hardware sampler instead of Kontakt), I'd be digging into the options for creating the media myself.

(Sometimes I don't miss my Akai S2000.)

[fatbenelton]

Thanks both - yes seem those. Looks like I might need to track down an old Win98 laptop or PC with a floppy drive! Big Sur on a m1 not so great at that!

[FrankF]

I'm not sure why you need a W98 machine to create the floppy - wasn't that just someone on one of the Emusonacid threads speculating?

Anyway, if it would help, I have an old floppy with "EOS 4.10a" on it. PM me with your address and I'll post it out.
I can't test it cos my old PC won't talk to its old floppy drive any more!

Do you also need a specific flashprep for each OS? Is it a separate file? (You can tell I've never done this before.) My E5K manual just says to stick the OS floppy in and power on, accept update, etc. No mention of flashprep.

[fatbenelton]

That’s very kind Frank _ I will PM you.

You are right re Win98 - I think you can also author the right DOS disc in XP too. I was going to try things like EOS link as well which made me think 98 might be better.

In terms of the flash prep, it was really for the later OS’s I think. For example, you could go from 4.5 to 4.6.2 or 4.7 without a hitch but 4.10 - 4.6.2+ needed some prep for the flash to receive the OS - something like that anyway.

[fatbenelton]

Just wanted to report back and praise the power of the community!

Frank sent me an old 4.10a disk and it worked! A step closer to the 4.7 upgrade as this now opens up MIDI updates!

Cheers all!

[zenguitar]

Andy

[FrankF]

Great to hear the 21-year-old floppy worked, squire! Onwards and upgrade-wards!

I was just wondering if there's somewhere the OS could be uploaded where it would be available for anyone who needs it, like a forum (ahem!) or a well-known blog, for example, even if you had to post the floppy to someone else to get it done?

Maybe the Yamahamusicians.com forum?

[fatbenelton]

It is out there on the web in various places, the issue is people being able to burn floppies! I’m on a M1 Big Sur Mac and formatting a DOS floppy is impossible! This applies to a lot of people on Macs and possibly W10 and above.

[FrankF]

Oh, OK, I didn't realise it was already out there.
Personally, I would've gone to my local computer shop and asked them to download it to create the floppy for a tenner or whatever.

[Thomas Martin]

Hi! First time user of the SOS forum. My e4xt uktra is currently running 4.02 and I'm struggling to find 4.10a online, would it be possible to send me the 4.10a floppy haha? email - thomas_martin89@hotmail.com - happy to pay for shipping. Thanks in advance. Tom