Satworks St3618 firmware

[markbone100]

Are firmware upgrades available for this anymore? I have never even upgraded the firmware at all and from searches it seems the company has gone belly up. This thing seems to be getting quarkier and blind scanning is horribly slow. That and the "engrish" is wonderful ​

 

[Mr Tony]

dang havent seen one of those in years. I honestly dont know where software is for that. I know the 3618 can be flashed to a 3688 too (3688 gave it motor options...the 3618 does not)

 

[turbosat]

Maybe it just needs a good cleaning out, delete all unused transponders/channels, and factory reset. Memory may be full or corrupted.

 

[Mr Tony]

blind scanning is horribly slow

the blind scan wasnt fast even when brand new

 

[Diamond Jim]

I had a 3618 and a 3688 for a few years. Ice is right, they are known for slow scans. Before I got the 3688 I flashed the 3618 with 3688 firm ware and it worked pretty good. I gave both of them to a friend and he is still using them. I got the down load from DMSI. I haven't been there for quite awhile, but you might check. I agree with Turbo, try a master rest, or default is what I think it's called on that receiver.

UPDATE: Here is a link to download 3688 software. You can change a 3618 to a 3688. The one dated 06/08/04 is the last one offered, it will do everything listed.

http://www.roxsat.com/download/SATWORKST3688SOFT.htm

The only problem is that the 3618 remote does not match the 3688 format. It does work, but you have to play with it until you figure out what button does what. After I bought the 3688 I discovered that the 3618 remote does work, but I had to relabel it. This gave me a second remote that I used in a different room.

 

[Mr Tony]

Jim
All those links are dead

 

[Mr Tony]

well thanks to the "way back machine" I was able to get the 3688 software and the loader. I have uploaded it to the downloads section
Satworks ST3688 - Downloads - SatelliteGuys.US

By the way, I tried to download the 3618 software from the way back machine and my anti-virus software says there is a virus (on all of them) so I didnt download them. If you want to try that site (wayback machine) here is the link

 

[markbone100]

Thanks for the link, ill keep that one saved for now. Does the 3688 firmware increase the blind scan speed? (EDIT - the virus thing ill see about using a spare junk PC and upgrade from that so it doesnt infect my main computer)

Actually this thing has been acting funny for a while now since we had a power flash during the big ice storm about a month ago. Everything else is normal but this seems to have gotten brain damage. Done a master reset on it and started new with everything but it still is a bit strange. Maybe it might die and then I could use that as an excuse for the wife to let me get a new one (she does use it too once in a while)

When the time comes to get a new one, those AZbox's look really nice especially the one that does hardware blind scanning. The dish might be too small for S2 though according to some responses online but the 4.2.2 sounds interesting.

 

[Diamond Jim]

Jim
All those links are dead

Sorry about that, I didn't go into it far enough. It looked just like it did when I used it back in 06.

 

[turbosat]

I ran that file through ClamAV , negative there. Just for grins I submitted it to VirusTotal, which runs it on about 20different AV programs, including Norton, Sophos, Symantec, Avast and a bunch I never heard of, all came up clean. The file I checked was on that list Iceberg avoided due to the warning he got, it was the newest file listed for the 3618.

 

[Mr Tony]

turbo
If you saved it, could you be so kind as to zip it and upload to the download sections

My anti-virus wouldnt even let me save it

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the link, ill keep that one saved for now. Does the 3688 firmware increase the blind scan speed? (EDIT - the virus thing ill see about using a spare junk PC and upgrade from that so it doesnt infect my main computer)

I think the 3688 basically gave it the option to use a motor

Otherwise if you are looking for a simple receiver to replace it, check Ebay. There are a few models that can be had cheap and are good
-Pansat's (any model other than the 9000/9200 which are hD) are cheap
-Fortec Ultra, Classic or Merc II
-Coolsat 4/5/6000 (awesome blind scan...very speedy)
-If you can find one...Visionsat or Coolsat 7000/7100...they have a PVR option

 

[markbone100]

The 3618 will be replaced sooner or later but when I do I would really like one to blindscan S, S2, 8psk (?), and HD. So far the Azbox comes close but dont know of any others that can. I dont really have a use for a PVR so wonder if that could be left out of one for a cheaper unit?

 

[turbosat]

Ice-file uploaded as ZIP, somebody with windows computer will have to try and unzip it. I zipped it in Linux with the archiving utility, as zip file rather than bz2 or tar file. If you run across any more on dubious sites , let me know, since linux is fairly impervious to windows malware. In fact, I've never had anything infect or tamper with my linux OS in 10yrs of using it!!