How Do I Flash Upgrade My 2GIG GC3 Alarm System?

You can flash upgrade your 2GIG GC3 firmware by downloading the latest firmware to your computer, putting it on a USB flash drive, inserting the flash drive into the GC3 System and applying the firmware update. The 2GIG GC3 Security System will then reboot to complete the process.

GC3 Panels can be firmware updated using a USB drive or OTA (over the air) through an Alarm.com cellular communicator. OTA firmware updates are the easiest method, since they do not require any local actions from the customer. You will need a compatible Alarm.com cellular module to do this. This method will incur a small one-time fee, so check with your alarm monitoring service provider for pricing details.

Whether you have Alarm.com service or not, flash upgrading your GC3 via USB is free. The GC3 uses a standard USB connection on the top side of the panel. This is a welcome change from the GC2, which required a proprietary USB cable with a special connector. Just get a USB stick, and follow our step by step instructions:

1. Download the firmware. We have a new GC3 firmware landing page where you can download the latest firmware. We will proactively upload the latest firmware available to this page so it is readily available to any 2GIG GC3 owner.

There is a note on 2GIG's website that states: "The computer must be a PC running Windows XP or later (MacOS is not supported, but you can use VM Ware or parallels) and one available USB slot (USB v1.1 or later)."

However, we tested the download on a machine running MacOS X, and it worked fine. MacOS is not capable of opening the file, but all you need to do is click and drag the GC3 firmware file to the USB drive.

2. Save the file. We provide this file in a ZIP format. Extract the firmware file then save it to the root directory of the USB flash drive. The file name will be gc3.3.x.x.xxxx-update-prod.2gig, where the x's indicate the current version number.

Note: The USB flash drive must have only one partition. Ideally, remove all other files on the stick before downloading the firmware to it.

3. Eject the USB. Safely eject the device from your computer, and insert it into the USB port on the top side of the GC3 Panel.

4. Confirm the update. A prompt will appear on the screen asking you to confirm that you want to upgrade the firmware on the panel. Select "update", and allow the process to execute. The system will reboot after the update has completed.

5. Check the firmware. Confirm the panel is now on the latest version stated on the firmware landing page by pressing "system info and usage." Then select "system info."

6. Learn more! Learn about the advantages of flash upgrading your GC3 by reading through the release notes.