DCM SR300 installer keeps failing at firmware step - part 2?

[MPryo]

I have been using the SR300 for over a month now without too many issues. I did have a power management issue that I fixed through Device Manager by turning off the option for the USB controller to be turned off to save power. I shared my steps to fix that issue, and others were able to use those steps to troubleshoot their device.

The company I am working with needs to be able to install the 3.0.24.59748 driver (below, the image is of the 3.2.26.6137 driver because I was hoping to install a newer version of the firmware and then install the old version). I had installed the 3.0.24.59748 driver several times without issues prior to this morning. Now, I am unable to install any firmware changes to the device when I try to run DCM installers. I have tried installers from 3.0.24.59748, 3.1.25.2599, and 3.2.26.6137 without success. The only driver that is able to install, I assume because the firmware it uses is already on the device, is the version pre-packaged in Windows: 3.3.27.5718 installs successfully.

I am having a similar issue to that described in

I have a 6th generation Intel processor - Intel i7-6500U - on the system I am trying to install firmware from.

[MPryo]

These are not supposed to be retail devices, though. I'll admit that they do seem to be advertised by third party companies more like a retail product than a developer product, but they're marketed by Intel as developer kits. As such, Intel should understand that developers tend to have very different needs than average consumers. While Intel may not provide direct backwards compatibility with certain products, a developer should have the option to do so within reason. I was not using any tools outside of the Intel software, so I was not violating the initial terms of purchase: "The Camera is intended solely for use by developers with the Intel® RealSense SDK for Windows solely for the purposes of developing applications using Intel RealSense technology."

Because of the firmware limitation, I am no longer able to use this as a testing sensor on the tablet targeted by the company I work for. The 20 firmware update/downgrade limitation prevents me from installing the Intel® RealSense SDK because I can no longer install the SR300 Intel® RealSense DCM on that tablet. That is a pretty big limitation.

[idata]

Hi Xilnik,

We understand your frustration at not being able to downgrade and upgrade the firmware on your SR300 camera as needed for your development efforts. Note that the 20 time FW update limit only applies to downgrades, you can still upgrade the FW to a newer version as often as needed and continue to use your camera. The RealSense line of cameras were originally designed to be embedded in PCs to be used by consumers. In fact, the camera hardware that is inside all of the developer peripherals is the exact same hardware that is inside the PCs with RealSense you can still buy today. The only difference in the peripherals is the chassis and added hardware for audio. Otherwise, the RealSense camera in the SR300 Developer Kit is the same RealSense camera you will find in the lid of a PC. Like Marty explained, the 20 time FW downgrade limit is meant to prevent accidental or purposeful functional degradation of the camera. This has important security implications as well. A perfect example is Windows Hello functionality. The FW that comes with DCM 3.0 is not Windows Hello Certified. Microsoft does not allow DCM 3.0 on Windows Hello PCs with SR300 camera. Only DCM 3.1 and above is allowed. With each successive DCM and FW version, new functionality is added, bugs are fixed, etc. It is not in the best interest of consumers, and application developers, to have a bunch of RealSense PCs out in the market with older FW and drivers that do not function as well or are not as secure as PCs with current FW and drivers. In short, the FW update limit is necessary for the consumer usage of the cameras, which, after all, continues to be the main usage of the camera.Best Regards,-Jose P.