Please note that Aries Support Tool 3.1.0 has a Terminal Emulator screen.
When connected to the Aries with power on, with a red flashing LED, you will see the letter C to start to appear in the Terminal Emulator screen.
This means you are connected correctly to the Aries.
If you are not seeing the letter C, double-check the RS232 wiring.
On a standard 9pin PC Com port, pin2 is the computer's receive and should be connected to Tx (pin26).
On the 9pin PC Com port pin3 is the computer's transmit and should be connected to Rx (pin25).
Pin5 on the PC is Ground and should be connected to Gnd (pin24).
To confirm you are connected to the COM port, perform a loop back test to confirm you're connected to the COM port.
Perform a "Loop Back" test to verify that your serial cable is working:
1. Disconnect Rx and Tx from the Aries
2. Short Rx and Tx wires together
3. On the Aries Support Tool, click on the Terminal Emulator screen
4. While these two connections are shorted, type any characters
5a. If you do not see any of these characters: Either you have a bad cable, you chose the wrong COM port, or your COM port is damaged.
5b. If you do see characters, but not able to connect to the Aries, then Rx and Tx are swapped. Reverse the Rx and Tx wiring connections.
When the Aries has a red flashing LED, the Com Connections test on the main screen in the Aries Support Tool will not work. (Note that the only way to get to a red flashing LED, the drive would've had to been connected at some point.)
Under Operating System Update, click Download Operating System. Locate the .ops file. It's a good idea when running this, that this file reside on your PC and not on a network server.
A status bar is shown as the operating system is being updated with both the yellow and red led's flashing. The AST reports when this is complete that the operating system was successful.
Don't interrupt this download. However, if this is interrupted on accident, such as an intermittent serial connection, the status bar won't be increasing and the leds are still red and yellow. Cycle power on the Aries. You will then have a red flashing led. Then start the operating system download again.