I am helping out a friend who got a hand me down Niles GXR. I have successfully connected to the unit using my laptop and I am trying to update the firmware. During the Master Chassis Update the firmware update crashes with an Unhandled Exception error. I have tried the latest version of the software R143 and I also tried R142. I am running Windows 7 on the laptop that I am using to connect to the GXR. I tried turning on compatibility mode for the program - setting it to Windows XP SP3 as this often resolves these sorts of errors - but no luck. I read that a Niles dealer control device is required to program the unit - is the lack of this causing these errors? Thanks.

Probably. If your not using the intellifile 3, your not going to have much luck

+1.
I believe all you can possibly do is program one zone, so basically you'll need the Intellifile 3 unit to do anything

Thanks for the response. I program Crestron and other control systems but never worked with Niles. Can I confirm that the Intellifile 3 is the Niles IR-CS (Capture Station)? I guessed that it was looking for this but it didn't give me any warning messages or anything? Can anyone confirm that this is the issue before I tell him to go buy one or talk to a Niles installer? Thanks.

I am almost certain you can not do any programming or firmware updating without the intellifile 3 and the software. And you can use the intellifile 3 to capture and test IR

You must use the intellifile 3 station. The other capture station will not let you program.

OK, thanks. Before I tell him to trash the unit - does anyone have one of these Intellifile 3 stations that they would like to sell? They are remarkably absent from the usual places - ebay, etc.

They only sell them to authorized dealers for what I hope would be obvious reasons... I'm sure your friend can find someone to program it for him for a reasonable amount.

Thanks, I am well aware of the reasons they sell only to dealers. I think this is more than he bargained for when he was given the free unit. I advised him to buy something simpler and install it - that doesn't require external programming. I will just lurk on eBay and other places as one of these units is bound to come up for sale - especially as this product gets older. For now, I will just put it on the shelf in my workshop! As I said, if anyone has an Intellifile 3 and wants to get rid of it let me know.