what firmware are new KPS arriving with?

    I am just about to order a Kemper black toaster head and controller package. I am seeing some problems being reported on the forum with 4.0.6.


    If I order a Kemper, assuming the KPA has been sitting in a warehouse in the U.S., what firmware could it arrive with?


    I suppose it really does not matter. I'm diving in and will order anyway; and, will attempt to upload the new firmware. Should be fun!!


    I should add that I owned a rack unit for one week some time ago, but returned it. I am hoping this will be a keeper :)

    Both Justin and formar only just received theirs with 3.3 on them, Sonic.


    As one of the mods told you in another thread, this is quite-normal.


    Mine arrived with 2.7 on it last year, which was a fair bit behind the current-at-the-time 3.x OS too. It was shipped from Germany and the wholesaler immediately sent it directly to me upon arrival in Australia, further evidence that this is par for the course.

    Thanks Monkey. But I think you may be getting my prior question on DSP date confused with this OS version matter.


    How do you come to the conclusion regarding Justin and formar? Clearly it appears they did not just receive units, rather according to the entries it was many months ago - August timeframe. So I would expect those to have v3.3 since the next version was released immediately prior at the end of July. Their units had already been built. All that makes completed sense, and follows what someone would expect. What makes no logical sense whatsoever is a product allegedly built in the Oct/Nov timeframe STILL having v3.3 on it - when the v4 series had long released 3+ months earlier. Actually, if I'm reading the release notes correctly there were two revisions in that span (4.0x and 4.2x)


    So far I'm not getting any explanation whatsoever for this. Not only does it not make sense, it flies in the face of the classic support troubleshooting manta of always updating to the latest OS. Think about it, the OS has to be loaded at some point in production, so why in the world would a newly built product be loaded with a very outdated OS when at least one major revision was released 3+ months prior to the build? :huh:

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Thanks Monkey. But I think you may be getting my prior question on DSP date confused with this OS version matter.


    How do you come to the conclusion regarding Justin and formar? Clearly it appears they did not just receive units, rather according to the entries it was many months ago - August timeframe. So I would expect those to have v3.3 since the next version was released immediately prior at the end of July. Their units had already been built. All that makes completed sense, and follows what someone would expect. What makes no logical sense whatsoever is a product allegedly built in the Oct/Nov timeframe STILL having v3.3 on it - when the v4 series had long released 3+ months earlier. Actually, if I'm reading the release notes correctly there were two revisions in that span (4.0x and 4.2x)


    So far I'm not getting any explanation whatsoever for this. Not only does it not make sense, it flies in the face of the classic support troubleshooting manta of always updating to the latest OS. Think about it, the OS has to be loaded at some point in production, so why in the world would a newly built product be loaded with a very outdated OS when at least one major revision was released 3+ months prior to the build?

    D'Oh!


    My bad on the post dates, Sonic; I thought both peeps had only-just posted. So sorry mate! X/


    That said, I do think you're barking up the wrong tree here, mate. AFAIK, the Kemper either runs the software properly, or, failing a reinstallation due to a corruption / glitch or whatever, doesn't run at all. IMHO, full, 100%-accurate functionality is uniformly the experience of the end user, with the exceptional caveats I mentioned.


    So, unless you can point to obvious / unnatural / intolerable / exceptional distortion, even on clean sounds, strange, flickering behaviour of the screen / LEDs (perhaps indicating power-supply fluctuations), input or output-jack failures, whether intermittent or permanent and so on, I firmware... I mean, firmly believe there's nothing wrong with your unit. This is regardless of how long it might've sat in a warehouse, back room of a store, on display in a store or indeed, as you alluded to in another thread, been through the dirty mitts of another owner, be he / she above or below-board.


    I can honestly say that close to 100% of the board here would agree with this assertion - these things either work or they don't. Occasional gremlins are quashed by the mighty reset procedure or re-flashing of the FW, whether this be to a legacy or current version.


    IOW, I'm trying to convince you to not worry about this! Heck, most of us could probably justify doing exactly the same thing for one reason or another, but where would that get us?

    Quote from SonicExporer

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    So far I'm not getting any explanation whatsoever for this. Not only does it not make sense, it flies in the face of the classic support troubleshooting manta of always updating to the latest OS.

    This really begs the question, if you still didn't register your KPA, you clearly haven't spoken with Kemper Support so you clearly have no idea what their support trouble shooting manta is and the question is, how come you still didn't register your KPA? This flies in the face of ..... you name it.


    I don't know why that's the case, but I do remember you had mentioned in one of your posts that that there was some issues with the dealer you bought from etc which doesn't answer anything.


    If there's something preventing you from registering your Kemper and getting official customer support, then there's something really wrong. I suggest you return it and buy it from a dealer who's on the up and up as we say here in the states so you're able to get full customer support ;)

    Thanks Monkey & Dean, however realize this is an outstanding concern from the onset that merits an answer but so far there has been no explanation. My unit was built in October and received by merchant in late November, there wasn't much lag time involved. A revision disparity attributed to a few weeks difference crossing paths on a release might be understandably, but not 3 or 4 months. I actually chatted with somebody who received a unit one week after mine from the very same merchant and it had v4.2x on it, as would make logical sense. And thus far from what I've gleaned pretty much everybody who purchased a recently built unit had reasonably current firmware.. Anyway, point being this isn't a merchant side matter it's a production side matter. My regret in hindsight was buying from a large retailer. Too much bureaucracy and layers. I should have instead gone with a Mom-n-Pop shop where the guy selling the gear is the same guy ordering it and interacting with the manufacturer.


    The KPA's aren't $99 stomp boxes, they are $2000 computing devices that are neither disposable nor self-serviceable. If a consumer buys a new 2017 item and it arrives with 2016 firmware dating back many months prior to the alleged production date then they have a right to seek an explanation. And they should be provided one. Any position to the contrary is just plain nonsense.


    FWIW, I'll again ask the question: Has anybody purchased a new KPA within the last month or so and it came still having v3.3 on it ?

    Quote from SonicExporer

    ...


    FWIW, I will again ask the question: Has anybody purchased a new KPA within the last month or so and it came still having v3.3 on it ?

    I recommend that you register the KPA and direct these easily answerable questions that Kemepr Customer support are able to quickly answer instead of relying on hacks like me when it come to this stuff. I won't speak for MM because i know he ain't no hack :D

    Quote from SonicExporer

    Thanks Monkey & Dean, however realize this is an outstanding concern from the onset that merits an answer but so far there has been no explanation. My unit was built in October and received by merchant in late November, there wasn't much lag time involved. A revision disparity attributed to a few weeks difference crossing paths on a release might be understandably, but not 3 or 4 months. I actually chatted with somebody who received a unit one week after mine from the very same merchant and it had v4.2x on it, as would make logical sense. And thus far from what I've gleaned pretty much everybody who purchased a recently built unit had reasonably current firmware.. Anyway, point being this isn't a merchant side matter it's a production side matter. My regret in hindsight was buying from a large retailer. Too much bureaucracy and layers. I should have instead gone with a Mom-n-Pop shop where the guy selling the gear is the same guy ordering it and interacting with the manufacturer.


    The KPA's aren't $99 stomp boxes, they are $2000 computing devices that are neither disposable nor self-serviceable. If a consumer buys a new 2017 item and it arrives with 2016 firmware dating back many months prior to the alleged production date then they have a right to seek an explanation. And they should be provided one. Any position to the contrary is just plain nonsense.


    FWIW, I'll again ask the question: Has anybody purchased a new KPA within the last month or so and it came still having v3.3 on it ?

    OK.... What the heck is it you're worrying about here????? That you've received a magically deficient box because there's a couple-months discrepancy in firmware versions that could likely easily be explained by common production process flows?


    What exactly is your concern??

    Quote from Michael_dk

    OK.... What the heck is it you're worrying about here????? That you've received a magically deficient box because there's a couple-months discrepancy in firmware versions that could likely easily be explained by common production process flows?
    What exactly is your concern??

    I think I've very clearly explained the situation above, if you have specific information that explains why an OS that is (at least) 3 months stale is loaded on a new production unit then I'd welcome hearing the explanation.