How I finally got the extended firmware installed on my U1 without any drama

My first attempt at updating my U1 firmware was a nightmare. I figured I had everything right, FAT32 stick, file in the root, but I was using a cheap thumb drive I got from a big box store. The update would start, show the progress bar for maybe a minute, and then just hang indefinitely. I thought the whole machine had crashed, wich was terrifying.

I ended up pulling out the old 32GB SanDisk drive that came with the unit. That totally fixed it. It seems like the drive controller chip on those generic sticks just can't handle the data transfer rate or the required write cycles of the Snapmaker updater, even if they are formatted correctly. It's not just about FAT32, aparently. I had to schedule the update for a time when I knew I wouldn't be interrupted, maybe late at night. Even though I followed all the steps, I kept checking the screen, convinced I was going to lose power or something. Patience is key, defintely. Once it finished, the machine reset right up, and I immediatly took a screenshot of my current offsets just in case, beacuse I learned that lesson the hard way.

If you are having trouble and you've checked the formatting, try borrowing a proper USB 3.0 stick, like a SanDisk Cruzer Blade. It made all the difference for me.

Funny how everyone's got a different stick that works. Mine was the opposite problem actualy, the file name got mangled somehow when I unzipped it on my Mac and the machine wouldn't see it either. Didn't figure that out till I checked on a Windows laptop and noticed the extension was gone. Also heads up for anyone jumping several versions at once, check the release notes to see if there's a middle version you're supposed to install first. Skipped that once and spent a whole evening troubleshooting weird behavior that turned out to be a version mismatch.

I've had my machine for a couple months and haven't touched any updates yet because this stuff scares me a little. So once you copy that update file onto the stick, does the machine find it by itself when you turn it on, or do you have to go poking through the menus to start it? Also no idea what you all mean by offsets, is that something the machine saves on its own or do I need to write those numbers down somewhere myself before I try this? Watching the screen freeze up part way through sounds like my worst nightmare honestly.

Do the flash when the machine's cold, not after a long print session. I service industrial controllers for a living and flashing a hot board is just asking for a flaky write. Ran the last update on my U1 first thing in the morning, 3 minutes start to finish, no drama at all. Also plug the stick in with the machine already powered on and sitting at the main menu, don't boot with it inserted. Small thing but it's saved me a couple of headaches over the years.

Update: tried the cold machine thing from the guy who services controllers, and the flash itself went through in a few minutes with zero drama. Still stuck on one bit though, my saved settings file restored fine but the calibration offsets came back slightly off and I had to redo them by hand. Has anyone else had that, or is it just my machine being fussy?