Hi Sawmill Creek,
LONG STORY (skip to below for firmware downgrade instructions)
I thought I would write this article to help people for the future. I have an old Speedy II unit, basically a 2003 Speedy 300, its the same thing but I guess some of the components are older but 95% of the machine is the same. Apparently this 5% of difference extends to firmware and something is different in the motherboard and/or the motors, the CPU boards are the same (verified)(top circuit board for motor) and im pretty sure, but not certain, that the print boards (bottom circuit board for motor) are the same too. Anyways I have been dumb and thought that this machine was a serial only machine for nearly 8 months and have been thinking of upgrading the motherboard to get USB. Well after this work looking at getting a new motherboard, I bought another laser that was suppose to be for parts (it had the new motherboard) and went to transplant and found that the Speedy II unit has USB, but there was no cutout on the back. So easy work for my jigsaw and I opened up a spot on the back for the USB and I feel like an idiot. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the parts unit was in very very good condition, so now I'm refurbishing that. So the whole point of wanting USB was because Trotec said that Job Control 10 was the highest software available to serial only units and that software would no longer be supported for this. So I find the USB, and got a copy of Job Control 11 online at Trotec and upgraded as I was excited for the new features of JC 11. As with every JC update there are firmware updates, I update the firmware on everything and call it a day. Well when going to cut something, the machine was not firing the laser and after about 10 seconds I would get a "firmware x-axis tracking" error. So apparently I'm probably out of luck on JC11 and am happy I didn't pay the $1900 for the updated motherboard as I doubt that would have allowed me to upgrade to JC11 anyways. So new problem, did this firmware update just turn my Speedy II into a very big and heavy paperweight? I will say I wrote in to Trotec on a Saturday about which firmware was proper, but really asking if it was Speedy 300 BL or Speedy 300, I didn't know what the BL was or not but after a little research I found thats a newer motor. Trotec did respond on Monday and say, you can't upgrade the firmware of the Speedy II unit to at least 11.0.4, as there are firmware errors. I have been told by Trotec multiple times that firmware cannot be downgraded once its been upgraded. I have an enormous amount of experience in firmware updates across many many many circuit boards, computers, whatever you name it. I have seen where companies lock firmware downgrades and just assumed when Trotec said that it couldn't be done they were right... long story short they are wrong and their firmware can in fact be downgraded and if anyone else gets in this situation ill explain below how to do it. I thought this would be valuable as I was the equivalent of biting my nails the whole time during downgrade as I had an ok chance of "bricking" each item needing a firmware downgrade, and I can report that I would not sweat to do it on subsequent machines now that I know it worked successfully. Verified full downgrade from 11.0.4 to 10.36.5 on each firmware holding board of a Speedy II, including Rotary. Anyways, I hope it helps someone.
Firmware Downgrade Instructions:
Prerequisites: The file for the firmware for your machine in the version you want. Your Job Control installer (USB, CD, Download) has the corresponding version in "_Firmware" directory in the root. (its easy for anyone to find) If you need a specific version ask Trotec, if you do not have it.
1. Open Job Control (Most any version should work)
2. Connect the Machine to JC
3. If the firmware doesn't match the machine, it will have a popup, just click no or cancel or whatever that gets out of it.
4. Click "Settings" at the top, then click "Update Firmware" (this is a separate application, even though it will look like its part of JC)
5. Under the "Load" part, select your file (mentioned in prerequisites), it MUST match your machine type, but whatever version should be acceptable.
6. Make sure the machine is connected
7. Verify that there are no errors and only warnings along the lines of, the current firmware is XX.XX.XX and the proposed firmware is lower XX.XX.XX do you wish to downgrade.
8. Press "Send", if you are not on a dedicated circuit make sure nobody messes with anything that could disrupt power. MAKE SURE POWER WILL NOT BE DISRUPTED OR YOU WILL HAVE AN EXPENSIVE PROBLEM.