Where can I find the system firmware version in the .NEI file? (KB583) – Knowledge Base

Question Detail

Where can I find the firmware major and minor versions in the .nei file? The Minor version is usually 0, but for firmware 13, there is also a minor release 13.1. I want to check the minor version to confirm which version of firmware the device is running.

Solution

This solution assumes a 3150 Neuron Chip. The major version is located at 0x0001, and minor version is located at 0x3FFC.

Here are the corresponding lines from the .nei file.

:2000000010753B910180218575F02658EEA350A63EA67F58EEA350E63FE67F58EEA350A6F9
...
:203FE000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020207500CC0000AE3F53

To better understand the format, see below:

:20 0000 00 10753B910180218575F02658EEA350A6 3EA67F58EEA350E63FE67F58EEA350A6 F9
...
:20 3FE0 00 00000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000020207500CC0000AE3F 53

Because the .nei file is in Intel-Hex format, it should be decoded as follows:

The first letter, ":" is required for Intel hex format.
The first byte in each line, 0x20, refers to the length of the line.
The following two bytes (4 characters) refer to the offset address. In the above example, 0x0000 or 0x3FE0 corresponds to these.
The next byte is for record type. 0x00 is data record, 0x01 is end record, etcetera. In the example above, it is 0x00.
Then the data field (32 bytes per line or 64 characters) appears.
The last one byte is the checksum.

Therefore, in the above case, the major version is 0x10, which is 16 in decimal, and the minor version is 0x00, which is 0 in decimal. This makes the version "16.0".

A corresponding position is highlighted below:

:2000000010753B910180218575F02658EEA350A63EA67F58EEA350E63FE67F58EEA350A6F9

:203FE000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020207500CC0000AE3F53

If the device is using firmware version 13.1, the minor version located at 0x3FFC will be 1, as shown below:

:203FE000202020202020202020202020202020202020202020202020207500CD01009D3F82

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