Simrad NSS (MFD) first generation update?

Chatham36

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I have a Simrad NSS 12 & 7 MFD (first generstion) on my 2005 Marlin that I purchased new and installed in 2013. I like the units but wanted to upgrade the sounder to chirp by adding the Simrad Sonar Hub module. I was told I would need to update each MFD. They have never been updated. I tried to update in 2017 with the 3.0 first release Simrad had available on their site, back then but it would not update. I have called and email Simrad but have not been able to speak with anyone that seems to know what to do (seems like their reading from a screen or just winging their answers) That was not my experience a few years ago when I spoke (a few times) with a guy that knew the answers to many of my questions off the top of his head. Does anyone have experience with this not updating issue? Do I need to get all off the software/firmware updates that have been made available in the past? I did see there was a RTM 2, RTM 2,5 & RTM 3 updates from information I pulled from Simrad’s site in 2017. Yes, they are older units, but there is no budget for new units. Do all of the updates that have been released need to be installed in steps in the correct order to get these update properly? If that is required, any idea where I can get the updates? Simrad only has one from 2019 available on their site and that was really just related to the clock issue, I believe. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Hope to be able to get the chirp sounder working to have more productive days fishing this season!
 

seasick

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Lots of those folks are 'working' from home. Getting a live tech may be challenging right now.
I am not familiar with your units at all but one thing I learned when updating an older Lowrance unit is that it could not use an SD card larger than 1 Gb. You can't find cards that small these days but I eventually was able to find a really old 1 Gb card. When I tried the smaller card, the update worked. I am not saying that may be your issue but read the manual to see in the specs what size memory cards are supported.
 
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Halfhitch

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I went through the same problem as seasick...finding an SD card small enough to be accepted. I found mine on eBay. New item.
 

seasick

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I forgot to mention that with a larger capacity card, I didn't get any errors or messages, the head unit just could not detect that a card with firmware was inserted.
 

Chatham36

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thank you very much for your information. I was finally able to get it update today. It looks like the browser change the file extension and we also put it on a smaller sd card like you suggested! Hallelujah!
 
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