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Stuart Sweet

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Pub Member / Supporter Cutting Edge

Aug 17, 2023 · posted in The Solid Signal Blog

How to upgrade or recover your DIRECTV/AT&T AIM Meter

The AIM meter from AT&T is one awesome piece of gear. From top to bottom it's designed to make the job of a satellite installer easier. It has a guided mode that helps you figure out where the problems are. It can help with aiming and setup. It's the only meter out there that will help you align today's SWM dishes and commercial installations.

For DIRECTV installers, it doesn't get any better.

Where can you get firmware for the AIM meter?

AT&T has closed their satinstalltraining site, which hasn't been updated for a few years. For that reason, we've taken a copy of the latest AIM firmware and put it here. We don't claim any copyright on this data and it was taken directly from the AT&T site. We made no changes to it at all.

Here's how you upgrade the AIM meter. Again these guidelines come directly from the AT&T site.

On your computer:

Insert the memory stick (supplied with the meter) into a USB port on the PC.
Delete all files from the memory stick.
Save the zip file you downloaded above to the root directory of the memory stick.
Double-click on the zip file to open, then extract all the files to the root directory of the memory stick. IMPORTANT: Make sure the files are extracted to the root directory and not extracted into another folder. Uncheck the "Use Folder Names" option if displayed.
Remove memory stick from computer.

On your meter:

Power on the AIM meter.
Press CONFIG > Firmware Upgrade.
Insert memory stick into the USB port on the AIM meter.
Press "OK".
This upgrade process can take up to a few minutes to complete.
When the upgrade is complete, press OK to reboot.
The AIM meter will then upgrade and reboot. (If AIM does not power back up, press the power button).
Verify that the AIM meter received the new code.

How to troubleshoot AIM meter issues

Here are some steps found in other troubleshooting documents that have helped other users:

"AIM HAS DETECTED A CRASH" error

Reboot meter
If that doesn't work – Follow "AIM Recovery Instructions" below

"ENCRYPTED SCRIPTS ARCHIVE NOT FOUND" error

Be sure that the unzipped files are in the root directory of the USB stick and not in any subfolders (some unzipping applications create a separate folder that it unzips to)
Sometimes the USB Drive doesn't "seat" well in the port and basically you just need to remove and re-insert the drive and try it again- take care not to move or jostle the meter during the update process
Although Its strongly recommended to use the USB drive that comes with the meter for updates you may need to try another USB drive

Here are the AIM recovery instructions

This is the information you need to correctly recover a crashed AIM meter. Again this information comes straight from the old AT&T site and has worked for other people.

Recovery files are included with the firmware update link
Make sure USB thumb drive has the latest upgrade installation files copied. This includes:
- Application_Upgrade folder
- Database_Upgrade folder
- scripts.tar.en file
- aim_recovery_kernel
Make sure that the recovery mode file is also copied to the USB thumb drive. This file is labeled aim_recovery_kernel. Make sure all files are in the root directory of the USB drive (not in a subfolder)
Insert the thumb drive into the AIM.
Make sure the AIM is off.
Perform the 4-button press (1-3-Back-Fn simultaneously) and press the POWER button.
The AIM will make a beep.
Release the 4-buttons.
The AIM should start of series of beeps (beeping every ~500 ms.)
A screen will be displayed asking the user to perform the installation. Press OK to continue.
A screen will be displayed showing the progress of the installation.
Once the installation is complete, press OK to restart the AIM. Don't remove the thumb drive yet.
Once the AIM restarts, confirm the version of the AIM software by selecting Config| Firmware Versions.
Remove thumb drive.

Share your experiences

If you're an installer who has had a bad experience with an AIM meter, leave a comment below! This a great way to share your solutions and help other installers make it through some potentially rough issues.

Still having problems?

Solid Signal can help you diagnose meter issues to some extent. If you are having issues that might be hardware related, check out the manufacturer's web site. To find out how we can help, call us at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.

The post How to upgrade or recover your DIRECTV/AT&T AIM Meter appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply 30 minutes ago · posted in What's Cooking?

What's For Lunch?

We have a Breakfast and Dinner thread so...

Continuing from the Breakfast thread, found Cornbread mix so ...
Yellow Cornbread Mix
2 Hatch Green Chiles -diced
1 Egg
2/3 cup of milk
add to greased pan
Bake for 400f 20-25 minutes(From instructions)
now to put together and try... this to go with pinto beans...

5449 Replies · 336090 views

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TRG

Oct 19, 2026

Club sandwich and corn chowder. Iced tea.

Reactions: Bobby, Mr Tony and dfergie

dfergie

Oct 19, 2026

Chili dog bowl, water… (homemade chili)

Reactions: TRG, Bobby and Mr Tony

TRG

Monday at 2:53 PM

Leftover wanton soup and pork fried rice. Water.

dfergie

54 minutes ago

Sweet tea…

Reactions: Bobby and TRG

TRG

30 minutes ago

Tuna salad sandwich on toasted honey whole wheat bread with a handful of kettle chips. Water.

Reactions: Bobby

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iJustine

59 minutes ago · posted in iJustine

iPhone Duo's First Concert! Revis!

Time for another AWESOME video from iJustine!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yj3f7ab5pBI

Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo's First Concert! Revis!
The official iJustine Website's Website
Buy her book!

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

59 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

New iPad mini Announced... at $699?

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7NJXMnbT1Mk

Direct YouTube Link - New iPad mini Announced... at $699?
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply Today at 12:33 PM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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dishstaller

Today at 10:32 AM

I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith

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Bobby

Today at 10:51 AM

98.6 - Keith

harshness

Today at 11:25 AM

I'm Easy - Keith Carridine

Reactions: Bobby and RaiderPower

gms49ers

Today at 11:41 AM

It's Easy - Boston

RaiderPower

Today at 12:33 PM

Take It Easy On Me - Little River Band

Reactions: dishstaller

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reubenray

Last reply Today at 10:36 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Laptop Shutting Off When On Battery?

Lately my eight year old Dell laptop has been shutting off even when I have a full battery. I have had to keep it plugged up all the time to keep this from happening. Any idea what is causing this? I replaced the battery about three years ago.

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arlo

Today at 10:09 AM

A recalibration might be needed. Even if it shows full, the individual cells may have become unbalaced. And the BMS chip in the battery reports false information to the pc.
Try this. Start it up in the bios/uefi and leave it there until the battery dies and it shuts off.
It might just keep running longer than in Windows. Or run for a short while and shut off.
If it's the first case. Probably just needs a balancing. If the latter, the pack might just be dead.
Not throwing stones but perhaps just a cheaply constructed battery with substandard cells. Could be.

Patience. Keep restarting it in bios/uefi until it won't fire up anymore.
Then plug the charger in and let it complete a full charge. And see what happens. If it's better.
Do the same thing one more time. Run it until it dies dead-dead. Then just let it charge, pc shut off.
When charged, it might be better. It might not be.

There are bench jigs that read the actual BMS and override it to let a tech manually monitor and charge the separate packs. They can also reset any "time bombs" in it that cause an otherwise good pack to show bad.
Maybe Santa will be good to me some year.

You might just need a new battery. Maybe the PC power management chip is going. A Dell common thing.
Leaving a laptop plugged in with a full battery is known to reduce the life. Asus for one recommends that you don't leave the charger plugged in all of the time even when shut down. And setting Windows to charge the battery to 85% instead of 100% increases life.
That's all I got.

dishstaller

Today at 10:36 AM

arlo said:
That's all I got.

That was quite enough....I definitely learned something from your post. Thanks

TRG

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in Computers and Gadgets

Starlink Router question

I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

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b4pjoe

Saturday at 2:12 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

If you can't get into the router to reserve an IP address just don't use DHCP on the device that needs connected and assign it to a specific IP address in the network settings.

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HipKat

Saturday at 11:07 PM

TRG said:
I set up a music server for my brother a few years ago. It's basically a small headless computer but it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

They are not. Your best bet is to set up a third-party router, attached to the Starlink for your server, that you can get into, like a Linksys, etc

Reactions: Foxbat

Foxbat

Sunday at 12:44 AM

TRG said:
…it needs to have a DHCP IP address reserved for it in the router settings. This was easy to do in his DSL router. He's switching to Starlink now and I was wondering if these setting are easily accessible in the Starlink router. I'm pretty sure he will be getting the latest V5 router.

The Starlink V5 Install Kit I just got comes with the Mini Router. It is pretty limited in what it can do. For example, it can provide only one IP subnet at a time, no Guest Network, but it does support the pass-thru to a third-party Router. You can also split the Wi-Fi into separate 5 GHz & 2.4 GHz SSIDs to help some IoT devices that don't support 5 GHz bands to work.

The larger Starlink Router that still comes with the V4 Kit does support a Guest Network with separate IPv4 Subnet, but it's $120 from Starlink. And it still won't do DHCP Reservations.

harshness

Sunday at 11:46 AM

If you can restrict the DHCP address space to assign addresses to one end of the subnet (i.e. x.x.x.50+), you can manually assign the IP address on pretty much any operating system. This is a default behavior on several popular routers. As the Router Mini only supports 235 devices, I expect that's already done.

Another option is to use a router that supports PoE to power the antenna. This article discusses that option (under PoE Power heading):

Starlink V5 Is Here: What RVers Need to Know

Overview of the new Starlink V5 model along with comparison to the previous V4 model along with a recommended setup for mobile internet users.

mobilemusthave.com

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Foxbat

Today at 10:27 AM

Now that I've had the v5 kit with the Mini Router, it's not as bad as I first thought. Yes, no DHCP reservations, but you can set up multiple SSIDs that have separate IPv4 subnets, and like the big brother, you can select from 192.168.x.0/24 or 10.x.0.0/16 (where "x" is 1-4).

You can also split a subnet and have different SSIDs for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz channels to handle some IoT devices. I haven't discovered what subnet the 2nd NIC on the router assigns, I'm guessing it's the first subnet.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:27 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

I think we could all use a laugh - Rodney Dangerfield on Carson

Good...simple humor. Enjoy

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E92AtfTLge4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJy0WnejlF4

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Jimbo

Today at 12:37 AM

Not Rodney, but a laugh ...

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WHEcmortfK0?feature=share

dishstaller

Today at 10:27 AM

Sorry for posting the wrong link. Just corrected it.

dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 10:17 AM · posted in The Chit Chat Club

At least 64 dead in Spanish passenger train collision

Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

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Jimbo

Yesterday at 11:24 AM

dishstaller said:
Terrible tragedy. You would think that they would have safe guards in place that would prevent something like this from happening. I guess if you are going to ride in a passenger train it might be best to get a car near the rear.

At Least 64 Dead After Two High-Speed Trains Collide In Spain | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

They will have to look at the switching sections to determine WHY 2 trains were on the same track ... at the same time.

dishstaller

Today at 10:17 AM

Thought this article might be of interest to some of you who might travel via train.

The safest seat to sit on in a train

Safety experts have shared top tips on train safety after a fatal railway crash in Spain killed 69 people, including where the safest place is in an emergency.

www.dailymail.com