April 28

Hardware: Kronos Time Clock SDCARD fix

You can save yourself a ton of money by repairing Kronos time clocks yourself vs replacing them or sending them in for repair. Over the years I have discovered the main thing to break on an Intouch time clock is the SDCARD. After a few years of use the SDCARD in the Kronos time clocks start to go out. As of this writing, the SDCARD that Kronos uses is an “industrial version”. The cost a little more and are mainly temperature rated a little better than a basic consumer version. Most name brand name flash memory has become very stable over the years and should work. I suggest that you test the brand and speed you choose in the time clock before buying several of them. I did run into one model that would not boot.

Replacement Hardware (My current preference):

Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 MB/s 16 GB SDCARD
The following is the method for repairing them the Kronos time clock SDCARD:

First, create a base image from a working time clock.

Process
Pull the SDCARD out of a time clock
– Unplug your time clock
– You will need a security torx wench to open the time clock
– Once open use a flat head screw driver to remove the SDCARD lock

Get SDCARD ID – Typically it is mmcblk0 unless you are using an adapter
Option A.
1. Insert card
2. From a terminal windows type dmesg
Option B. sudo fdisk -l
1. look for a drive that is the size of what you inserted
2. Example: /dev/mmblk0 ##.## GiB, ############### bytes, ########## sectors

Create a directory to house your image(s)
mkdir -p /opt/images
Bit-stream copy the image file to a new SDCARD
Images are stored in /opt/images
1. cd /opt/images
2. ls -l (If you want to see your images
3. sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 dd of=clock0000-firmwarenumber-dateofimagecloud.dd bs=4M
4. Once it is completed the terminal cursor will reappear
5. You now have a new base image for repairing time clocks

Time clock images are located in the directory:
/opt/images

Fixing a bad time clock SDCARD

Replacement Hardware:

Sandisk Extreme Pro 95 MB/s 16 GB SDCARD

Process

Get SDCARD ID – Typically it is mmcblk0 unless you are using an adapter
Option A.
1. Insert card
2. From a terminal windows type dmesg

Option B. sudo fdisk -l
1. look for a drive that is the size of what you inserted
2.Example: /dev/mmblk0 ##.## GiB, ############### bytes, ########## sectors

Bit-stream copy the image file to a new SDCARD Images are stored in /opt/images
1. cd /opt/images
2. ls -l clock0000-2.2.1.2-03092017cloud.dd
3. sudo dd if=clock0000-2.2.1.2-03092017cloud.dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M
4. Once it is completed the terminal cursor will reappear
5. Reinsert the new SDCARD into time clock

Setup Time Clock
1. Press the left side maintenance button
2. Select Maintenance Mode
3. Enter the password
4. Press anywhere on the screen
5. Select Settings
6. Select Communication settings
7. Select General
8. Select Device ID
9. Enter the ID on the top of the clock
10. Press the down arrow button until you see Review.
11. Press submit
12. Press anywhere on the screen
13. Select IPV4 configuration settings
14. Enter the correct IP information
15. Press the down arrow button until you see Review.
16. Press submit
17. Press The far right home button to exit


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Posted April 28, 2017 by Timothy Conrad in category "Hardware

About the Author

If I were to describe myself with one word it would be, creative. I am interested in almost everything which keeps me rather busy. Here you will find some of my technical musings. Securely email me using - PGP: 4CB8 91EB 0C0A A530 3BE9 6D76 B076 96F1 6135 0A1B