AX3500 Bad data received

I've been trying to get our AX3500 to work for a while. We were having problems reading encoders, so I thought it made sense to upload the latest version of the firmware.
I downloaded roboup17b-021105.obj and roboenc17-020105.obj. I ran the roborun utility with roboenc17-020105.obj first. It loaded fine, but during verification, it spit out a strange error about a verification failure.
I then updated the 17b-021105.obj. That worked fine. However, where I was previously able to use the roborun utility with a joystick to move the motors back and forth, the utility tells me that I've received bad data. When I try working under the run tab, the returned data is just the mc's name and version number.
I read a previous post where it was suggested that this could be a power problem. I've tested my batteries with a multimeter, and they are fully charged and the appropriate voltage.
Please tell me what I can do to get this to work. Thanks.

<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Uploading v1.7 of the encoder firmware over a good v1.7 causes the firmware to keep crashing.
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Using hyperterm to view the raw RS232 data, you should see the Roboteq prompt repeating itself as the controller keeps resetting. Verify that this is indeed happening in your case.
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px">You will need to upload a modified version of the v1.7 firmware that you can download from <A href="dev.roboteq.com/dev1/files/software/roboenc17to17fix-020105.zip" target=_blank>www.roboteq.com/files/software/roboenc17to17fix-020105.zip
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px">You will not be able to use Roborun to install the new firmware.Below is a description on how to upload new software using Window's <FONT color=#ff0000>Hyperterm</FONT> utility. These steps can be adapted to Linux/Minicom.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- launch the RoboteqCOM1 <FONT color=#ff0000>hyperterm</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- click on the disconnect button (looks like a phone off hook)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- select the File Properties menu</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- click on the Settings tab</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- click on the ASCII setup button</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- type 10 in the Character Delay box (this will cause the data to be sent to the controller to a slower rate to allow for the programming delays)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- Click OK, OK.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- click on the connect button (looks like a phone on hook)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- press the Caps Lock button</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- press the controller's reset button. Type the letter Z several times as you release the reset button. You should see "ISP" on the terminal window</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- select the Transfer:Text File menu</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- select the encoder firmware file</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- You will then see a series of + characters followed by a new line every 10 seconds. Wait until it stops (there will be 4 underline characters). This will take several minutes.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- reset the controller.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

Cosmo,
I\'m having the same problem, could you fix the above link for me.