is outlaw shipping new units with the firmware updates installed?

good question ric...I believe they are but may not be. Not sure. You can download it or not.

Not.

I received a new 990 last week with version 3.07

I downloaded 3.11 but have not installed it yet.

Really?!?! Although they are apparently not, I expect them to ship with the latest firmware. It's been, what, a year since 3.11 was released? Although many of us are heavily involved in this hobby, and are aware of firmware releases by reading this and other forums, not all are.

Also, it can be a bit of a pain to do the download process, as many users have commented. This adds more problems for the user of a new piece of equipment. palmer, if you have trouble with the USB download, I'd suggest switching PCs if you are able.

Anyway, I'd encourage Outlaw to start shipping new 990s (and other applicable products) with the latest firmware. This will give the new user the best result for their new investement, and a solid feeling for the product and company.

They don't ship with the latest firmware because they'd have to open the box. As soon as the box is opened it becomes a B stock unit.
This is pretty much true for all manufacturers for all equipment. Few people would accept a new unit in a resealed box.

Many companies will open a sealed box to make repairs to unsold units. This is necessary when an engineering change is made to the assembly line, they will try to catch all units in the pipeline and update them. This is better than having to recall units from customers or accept returns to fix a known problem.

The company I work for has intercepted shipments from our factory and reworked them with known engineering changes before repacking them and shipping them to customers. As long as the box is re-sealed while on company location in original condition (use a new box with new packing material if necessary) this is NOT fraud and the customer is NOT being victimized. (If Ford just started using new brakes on all cars made after a certain date because the current ones didn't work all the time wouldn't you want the factory to change out the ones on the car you just bought, but hadn't taken delivery on?)

I would expect that there have been brand new 990s manufactured since June 2006, which is when the latest firmware was released. Those devices should surely receive the latest firmware.

Perhaps I'm wrong.

Nonetheless, I'm not sure about them not wanting to do it for the reason of having broken the absolute original tape. I'll accept a device with the latest known firmware, and I would definitely not consider it a B stock if they had to open the box to download it.

maybe we can get someone from "outlaw" to chime in on this?

I just got off the phone with Jennifer, who was really nice by the way. I ordered a 990/7125 and asked her if I could get one with the 3.11 update. She checked and said they have some there and the box will have a "U" sticker on it to show it's been updated. Now alll I have to do is wait for Fed-ex!!

Just my two cents but I had bought my 990/7700 last June at the Home Theater show in LA and was told that it had the latest updates.
Even If I did not have the latest version this processor is amazing.
I would not want to take any chances trying to fix something that is not broken.

Hats off to all who undertake this the challenge. I read from enough people that they had problems.
Frank

I received my 990 this afternoon and the first thing I did after unpacking it was to take in in beside the computer and install the firmware update. My laptop has Vista installed and Outlaw claimed that Vista is not supported, so I used the desktop that runs XP. The upgrade took about 15 minutes using a USB2 connection and the instructions from the website covered the steps exactly (save one minor omission). Tomorrow the amplifier (7500) and subwoofer (LFM1+) are scheduled to arrive, so I'll hook it all up and configure it tomorrow night or Saturday.

Steve

PS. The omission was that the instructions did not say to press the "upgrade" button when it was obvious that it was the next step. Separate message sent to tech support, so the instructions should be amended shortly.

How can you tell what firmware is installed?

Pressing "SELECT" and "INPUT" on the front panel at the same time while the unit is in standby displays the version number, but be careful because "SELECT" and "MENU" will reset the unit to factory defaults.

Allowing for the fact that ...

1) the 990 update software is not officially supported for use on the Vista OS,

2) your experience my be different from mine for various reasons,

... In my experience it is possible to successfully perform the upgrade to version 3.11 using a USB cable and a PC with the Vista Home Premium operating system.*

Other than clicking the 'update' button (later in the process) as mahansm mentions, I had only one thing to contend with that was not already covered in the instructions. When it was time for the installation software to find the .inf file, I could not successfully find the folder containing the file by merely using the 'browse' button in the software installation prompt window. In a separate window I opened, I checked to make sure I could view hidden folders and navigated manually to the correct folder. After finding the proper folder on my own, I merely copied the location character string from my separate window and pasted it into the installation software prompt window. I then closed my separate window and continued with the installation process.

Edit: *The PC was Intel Core 2 Duo based, Vista running 32-bit, not 64.