Allen & Heath Qu-32

I have an Allen & Heath Qu-32 board in my school auditorium. The software needs to be updated. I have downloaded the file to a USB memory stick and then plugged that into the board but the software will not update. I get a message that indicates the file or USB stick isn't formatted properly? I have formatted the USB drive on my computer, erased everything, formatted again and then made sure that the file is in the main folder of the USB drive (not in a separate folder, etc.). The file will still not work and upload the board.

Any suggestions or help on how to make this work? Thanks in advance.

What size of USB drive and do you know what the formatting is?
FAT32 is probably the most likely to be compatible with the desk or anything else, with a disk size < 4GB.

Mac or NTFS formats are more likely to create compatibility challenges...

Chris15 said:

What size of USB drive and do you know what the formatting is?
FAT32 is probably the most likely to be compatible with the desk or anything else, with a disk size < 4GB.

Mac or NTFS formats are more likely to create compatibility challenges...

Click to expand...

It is a San Disk Cruzer Glide 32GB -- and being formatted from a PC/HP laptop.

OK, so here's the instructions for updating firmware, you might already have them: http://www.allen-heath.com/media/How-to-Update-Qu-Firmware_5.pdf
One of the things it talks about is checking if the file system is supported or not.
If not, I'd reformat the drive (again) using the desk rather than the PC and then load the file on and try again.

Overall it seems like Qu and USB don't always play nice, don't know if any of this documentation might help:
http://support.allen-heath.com/Know.../774/0/understanding-qu-drive-and-usb-devices
http://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/qu-drive-compatible-usb-device-database

Luke Skerpon said:

I have an Allen & Heath Qu-32 board in my school auditorium. The software needs to be updated. I have downloaded the file to a USB memory stick and then plugged that into the board but the software will not update. I get a message that indicates the file or USB stick isn't formatted properly? I have formatted the USB drive on my computer, erased everything, formatted again and then made sure that the file is in the main folder of the USB drive (not in a separate folder, etc.). The file will still not work and upload the board.

Any suggestions or help on how to make this work? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Luke,

Can you PM me what school you are at? Did the school buy it from a local dealer?

We are a consultant in the area and have a good relationship with the Allen & Heath rep firm in CO. I can try to get you a support contact that could talk it over with you on the phone if you are interested.

My bet is there is something on the USB stick you can't remove by formatting - with SanDisc it has been their encryption software. It caused problems with other uses than our tiny industry because SanDisc used to have instructions on how to do a low-level formatting to remove it. If your Cruzer has *anything* on it, any feature or software I'd strongly suspect it.

Also note that Allen-Heath says to format the USB stick using the mixer's Qu Drive utility. It appears that formatting on a computer will not work.

http://www.allen-heath.com/media/How-to-Update-Qu-Firmware_4.pdf

Your USB drive must be formatted only using the Qu. A computer formatted USB drive will not work.

As others have said, you must format on the console itself, then load the firmware file onto the stick from your computer

rsmentele said:

As others have said, you must format on the console itself, then load the firmware file onto the stick from your computer

Click to expand...

That the way I update firmware on the QU32, via a San Disk Cruzer.

<hat action='doff' type='theatre'/>
<hat action='don' type='IT tech'/>
At 32GB, the stick is guaranteed to be formatted NTFS, and that's why the board ignores it.

Get a 4GB, or maybe an 8; they'll generally be VFAT or FAT32 already, and should work ok.

Or, if there's nothing else on the 32GB, reformat it to have a 4GB FAT32 or VFAT partition, and use it, and then you can reformat it back to NTFS after if you need to.

Note that, while their instructions will probably work, they are handwaving pretty hard there; I don't at all expect that you can't format the stick on your PC, you simply have to use the proper parameters.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I tried about 7 pocket thumb drives in our new QU-16 over Fringe weekend, and it either couldn't see them, or didn't like the format.

i'll format one in it in a couple weeks, when they're done with the floor, and see what they hell they're putting down.

For what it's worth, this is an indictment of A&H: they're violating Rule One: "Get the glue right".

Never make up your own stuff unless you have no other reasonable choice. There were *zillions* of reasonable choices for partition table layout and disk format on a USB drive for a piece of production equipment.