I have a BladeRF from the original kickstarter some time ago. I have fired it up for the first time on a Linux system with recent software and I am getting a report that firmware needs updated but the current update process fails:
david@ping ~/Dev/SDR $ bladeRF-cli -p
[WARNING @ libusb.c:218] A bladeRF running incompatible firmware appears to be present on bus=2, addr=3. If this is true, a firmware update via the device's bootloader is required.
probe: No devices are available. If one is attached, ensure it
is not in use by another program and that the current
user has permission to access it.
david@ping ~/Dev/SDR $ bladeRF-cli --flash-firmware /usr/share/Nuand/bladeRF/bladeRF_fw.img
[WARNING @ libusb.c:218] A bladeRF running incompatible firmware appears to be present on bus=2, addr=3. If this is true, a firmware update via the device's bootloader is required.
No bladeRF device(s) available.
If one is attached, ensure it is not in use by another program
and that the current user has permission to access it.
Error: Either no devices are present, or multiple devices are
present and -d was not specified. Aborting.
I assume there is some extra step I need due to the age of my BladeRF?
Yes, there were some change changes in 2014 that required a newer firmware series.
Fortunately, the Cypress FX3 provides a nice bootloader mode that you can always use to reflash firmware. You can find instructions here on how to use this.
