PM5 update

[reuben]

The Ergdata on my phone is 2.2.33 (296).

My PM5 is at firmware version 207 - relatively old per this page, and released around January 2024. I should be somewhere in the 400s, preferably 457, which seems to be the latest.
https://www.concept2.com/support/monito ... e-timeline

Per this page I should be able to update my PM5 from Ergdata on my phone. Wirelessly. Bluetooth and all that jazz are turned on in my Android phone.
https://www.concept2.com/support/monitors/pm5/firmware

"When you open ErgData and connect with your PM5, you'll be notified if your PM5 needs a firmware update. Tap on the PM5 ID, then tap on “More Info” for instructions on how to proceed with the wireless firmware update. PM5s with firmware above the minimum threshold firmware version will be able to update wirelessly. For PM5 monitors with firmware below the threshold, the ErgData app will instruct you to use the Concept2 Utility to update firmware."

Similar from this page.
https://www.concept2.com/blog/pm5-firmw ... got-easier

However, after turning on my PM5 and pulling the handle a bit to wake it up, I get no prompt in Ergdata to update my PM5, and no notice that I need to use the C2 Utility, either. Is my PM5 so far behind the times that this won't work? Or am I just doing something stupid? Or - perhaps both? Not sure why I've never received a notification, but today I decided to just look it up online, as it seems to have been a long time.

If I can't do this using Ergdata, it appears that my best option (per the first link) is a USB flash drive - 2.0 or 3.1, 16GB or smaller, FAT or FAT32, with nothing else on the drive. Harumph. That's a bit of an ask.

The other option is to connect the PM5 to a Windows or Mac computer via a USB cable. Lugging the C2 upstairs or somehow lugging the desktop PC downstairs is... daunting. I don't want my neighbors to find me at dead and bloated at the bottom of the stairs with a C2 on my chest.

I've never gotten any Ergdata notifications that my PM5 is out of date. In any case, maybe I'm so far behind that I'm hopeless.

Thanks.

[MPx]

The other option is to connect the PM5 to a Windows or Mac computer via a USB cable. Lugging the C2 upstairs or somehow lugging the desktop PC downstairs is... daunting. I don't want my neighbors to find me at dead and bloated at the bottom of the stairs with a C2 on my chest.

The wire connected PC option has been reliable for me for well over 20 years - well can't actually remember doing the PM2 but certainly from 2+ through 3 to 5. I know I'm a dinasaur, but reading on here about connectivity and speed issues with wireless connections has not encouraged me to try to move on. Nothing's broke - so I wont try to fix it for now. (NB all of my PMs so far have had the USB B port incl my PM5).

Although I see your issue with heavy kit movement, I think you've forgotten how easy it is to remove the PM5 from the erg. Just undo the bolt, unplug the jack, and take the PM5 to your desktop. Plug it in to your desktop and use the C2 utility....simples

[Carl Watts]

The PM5 comes off the rower with a single bolt and thumbscrew nut and the tach cable unplugs it takes like 20 seconds, you move the monitor to a Windows PC for best effect or you have a Windows laptop and move it to the rower without even removing the monitor.

The USB cable is by far and away the best way to update the monitor firmware.

Wireless is a last resort.

[reuben]

Although I see your issue with heavy kit movement, I think you've forgotten how easy it is to remove the PM5 from the erg. Just undo the bolt, unplug the jack, and take the PM5 to your desktop. Plug it in to your desktop and use the C2 utility....simples

Ack. You are correct. Thanks to both of you for being my brain. I had, indeed, forgotten how easy it is to remove the PM5. I guess that's what happens when I don't do something for a long time (and start to get old as well). I just forget.

I removed the PM5 and updated from 207 to 215 using the C2 utility on my computer. So far so good. I let the PM5 shut down. Then, when I ran the utility again to install a more recent version than 215, it told me, "V215.000 is the current general release version of PM5 firmware." - contrary to the link above (should be able to get to 457 eventually). On the other hand it also said, "Updates are available." And in this C2 video it shows version 363.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14djiQmOvNM

Not sure what I need to do at this point to get up to v457 or thereabouts.

[Carl Watts]

The Utility will let you update to the latest version of PM5 Firmware that matches your HARDWARE version.

There are now FIVE hardware versions for the Erg so looks like you have the 3rd version so you will not get a 4XX version.

215 is the latest from the look of it.

https://www.concept2.com/support/monito ... a_3L4MLvso

[reuben]

Yes, I noted that page above. It doesn't show a mapping of hardware to firmware, however. I have hardware version 903.

It was never my main job, but I wrote some firmware in years past.

Anyway, it'll probably still be working when I'm dead.

Thanks for your help.

[nick rockliff]

Mines one of the very first PM5, HW 340 FW 37. Never missed a beat.

[Carl Watts]

Mines one of the very first PM5, HW 340 FW 37. Never missed a beat.

Just look after the batteries in that one, the first version was the only one that doesn't have a battery acid leak proof rear case.

They changed the design from the 2nd gen onwards to a sealed case. The Bluetooth hardware changed after that one as well, its not as compatible but its still a good monitor for as long as it works.

[H2O]

I run Linux on all my computers but the system requirement for the Concept2 Untility is Windows or Mac.
What am I supposed to do?
Why do I need a Utility to get the firmware onto a USB stick?
All help greatly appreciated.

[Carl Watts]

I run Linux on all my computers but the system requirement for the Concept2 Untility is Windows or Mac.
What am I supposed to do?
Why do I need a Utility to get the firmware onto a USB stick?
All help greatly appreciated.

Find someone with a Windows laptop and a USB printer cable. Its not like you need to update it all the time, most people don't even know it can be updated as most of the monitors I see come in still have the original firmware on them.

[JaapvanE]

I run Linux on all my computers but the system requirement for the Concept2 Untility is Windows or Mac.
What am I supposed to do?
Why do I need a Utility to get the firmware onto a USB stick?

I usually update via my Android Phone (current ErgData app allows that).

[H2O]

I am relating my experience here for the benefit of Linux users.
My PM5 is hardware version 620 with firmware 159.0. Therefore it cannot be updated via phone.
I want to update it since ErgData complains that the monitor may have connection problems and in fact I get bizarre heart rate readings
where the heart rate fluctuates wildly (by 20-30 beats in brief periods, usually on easy rows).

Now on Linux there is an app called Wine which installs the Windows API with which you can run Windows applications directly under Linux. I was able to run the Concept2 Utility Version 7.14.0 (Windows executable) and the GUI appears to be functional allowing me to click through to the update screen where the monitor types are displayed.

Clicking on updating the PM5 monitor I was urged to connect a monitor or insert a USB stick. I inserted a USB stick and the Concept2 Utility complained that it did not have a FAT file system as required. Thereupon I reformatted the USB stick to a file system of type FAT32 but the same complaint persisted.

The next step will be to connect the monitor and try again. However I am weary since this may result in a dysfunctional monitor.
Therefore I will wait until after the Holiday benefit challenge so my 2 dollars can get into the pot.