Unknown Device

[Hayvosh]

Ok, so I got my mainboard replaced on my Taranis Rev.B, since the old one was faulty.

When the new mainboard was in place, the radio starts up as normal and working, I then shut the radio off plugged in the USB and started up c9x.
Downloaded latest firmware (as the firmware that shipped with the mainboard was oooold), and then told c9x to burn to TX... this is where the problem happens.

The progressbar goes to maybe 50%, then it failed.. and I did not touch or do anything with the computer during the flash.

And now when I plug the radio into any computer (tried 4 different computers (both mac and win) and cables ) and I get it as "unknown device", and when I power up the radio nothing happens..
I have checked the usb socket solderings and all are OK

[MikeB]

Try checking the continuity of the USB data signals. They go to pins 70 and 71 of the processor, so one pin of the USB connector should connect to pin 70 and another should go to pin 71.

Mike.

[Hayvosh]

Try checking the continuity of the USB data signals. They go to pins 70 and 71 of the processor, so one pin of the USB connector should connect to pin 70 and another should go to pin 71.

Mike.

Will check as soon as I get home from work, thanks!

[Hayvosh]

Would this be the correct? http://www.st.com/web/en/resource/techn ... 237391.pdf page 40.
Am I correct to assume that the CPU orientation on the datasheet is the same as orientating the radio this way? http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attac ... 130_13.jpg

Meaning that the pin 70 and 71 is on the right hand side of the CPU on the picture?

[MikeB]

In the picture, pin 1, marked by the dot, is the bottom left corner, so pins 70 and 71 are across the top, the left most pin being pin 75.

Mike.

[Hayvosh]

Ok I did the test, and the pins are all measured individually for each of the two signal cables of the USB.
Seems like the small resistor on the left side is weird?

[MikeB]

I forgot those resistors are there. According to the information I have they should be 50 ohms.
So, the USB signals should each go to one side of one of those resistors.
The resistors should measure 50 ohms.
The other side of each resistor should go to the processor pin.

Mike.

[Hayvosh]

I forgot those resistors are there. According to the information I have they should be 50 ohms.
So, the USB signals should each go to one side of one of those resistors.
The resistors should measure 50 ohms.
The other side of each resistor should go to the processor pin.

Mike.

Correct, measured the right one to 50ohms

[Hayvosh]

Any ideas what to check next? :/

[MikeB]

Only the power and ground connections to the USB connector.
Make sure the ground get to ground on the main board, and the power gets to R91, which connects to pin 94 of the processor.

Mike.

[Hayvosh]

Only the power and ground connections to the USB connector.
Make sure the ground get to ground on the main board, and the power gets to R91, which connects to pin 94 of the processor.

Mike.

GND is OK.
Power gets to R91 beep on one side but not the other.

[MikeB]

All seems to be correct. I'm not sure what else you can check, other than the main +3.3V supply is 3.3 volts. All the USB hardware and DFU firmware is in the processor.

The only other thing would be the main crystal is connected (and working).

Mike.

[Hayvosh]

All seems to be correct. I'm not sure what else you can check, other than the main +3.3V supply is 3.3 volts. All the USB hardware and DFU firmware is in the processor.

The only other thing would be the main crystal is connected (and working).

Mike.

Where do I check the crystal and how?

[bertrand35]

Any progress on this problem? I received a mail from Wayne relating the same problem

[Hayvosh]

Any progress on this problem? I received a mail from Wayne relating the same problem

Nope, no progress :/
Sent mainboard back to Microtechnics and got it replaced a second time.. waiting for it to arrive

[Kilrah]

Bad luck

Just got your mail too, was abroad for work...

[rotozuk]

Hayvosh - Have you tried a different computer to burn the firmware? I suspect this may be a computer issue, not the Taranis.

The other day a customer picked up his new Taranis and wanted to use Companion with it. Well, after many hours of messing around on 4 different computers he could not get Companion to work right, and was ready to return the radio. He was sure something was wrong with the radio. I sat down with him, and I installed Companion on his laptop (computer #5), set the preferences for the Taranis and it worked right away. I showed him some things in the software and he was very happy. I then decided to update his firmware and this resulted in a bricked radio. The Radio would not turn on. DEAD. I tried the firmware install again, and still nothing. No errors were reported by Companion. I had noticed some signs of malware on his computer, so I decided to update the firmware from my computer, and the radio was working perfectly after the install. Customer is happy, and I suggested he cleans his computer.

One day later I get an email from another customer that bricked his Taranis after updating the firmware. He has tried updating a few times and Companion reports the process was fine, but the radio will not turn on. I'm trying to get the customer to mail this radio back for further testing, but he just located another Taranis user in his club and is going to see if he can get it up first.

These issues are very strange and I am not sure they are related to the Taranis. I'm suspecting that something is happening with the firmware transfer. At least that would appear to have been the case with the first example above as I used the same exact process, even the same USB cable.

If anyone has experienced this issue I'd love to hear the details. And if you fixed it, please share those details too. We have seen NO main board failures on the Taranis at Aloft Hobbies. We have had 2 of the back boards damaged by users. One killed the USB port while playing around, and the other bricked the radio's power source.

This new bricking issue seems very rare, I have heard of 3 occasions, all listed in this thread now.

Again, I only suspect this to be a computer issue. This is so rare, it is very hard to say at this point.

-Wayne

[Kilrah]

I had noticed some signs of malware on his computer

Interesting.
The firmware file is indeed a .bin file, which is an executable type, meaning an existing virus on a computer would likely want to infect it to try and spread itself. If the file was corrupted that way it would transfer OK, but likely wouldn't work. Would be interesting to have that guy's bin file so it could be compared with the "real" file to see if it's been altered.

[Hayvosh]

Hello Wayne,

Yeah I tried with 3 different windows PC's and one Mac, all had the same issue :/

I got the mainboard replaced now from Microtechnics where I bought my TX from, and guess what.. worked right away
That sounds like the issue that happened to me, also related to when burning new firmware (most recent).
And that made the radio "bricked", I was lucky to get the mainboard replaced fast and I did the exact same thing now with the new board and it worked just fine.

So I am happy to say that my Taranis has come back to life again.
At first I was sure it was a computer issue, I tried all 3 computers at home (2 Win7 pcs and one Mac) none worked.. so I brought my Taranis with me to work and tried it on our isolated lab enviroment with no internet access and it had the same problem as well to recognize the Tx.

Regards,
Fredrik

Hayvosh - Have you tried a different computer to burn the firmware? I suspect this may be a computer issue, not the Taranis.

The other day a customer picked up his new Taranis and wanted to use Companion with it. Well, after many hours of messing around on 4 different computers he could not get Companion to work right, and was ready to return the radio. He was sure something was wrong with the radio. I sat down with him, and I installed Companion on his laptop (computer #5), set the preferences for the Taranis and it worked right away. I showed him some things in the software and he was very happy. I then decided to update his firmware and this resulted in a bricked radio. The Radio would not turn on. DEAD. I tried the firmware install again, and still nothing. No errors were reported by Companion. I had noticed some signs of malware on his computer, so I decided to update the firmware from my computer, and the radio was working perfectly after the install. Customer is happy, and I suggested he cleans his computer.

One day later I get an email from another customer that bricked his Taranis after updating the firmware. He has tried updating a few times and Companion reports the process was fine, but the radio will not turn on. I'm trying to get the customer to mail this radio back for further testing, but he just located another Taranis user in his club and is going to see if he can get it up first.

These issues are very strange and I am not sure they are related to the Taranis. I'm suspecting that something is happening with the firmware transfer. At least that would appear to have been the case with the first example above as I used the same exact process, even the same USB cable.

If anyone has experienced this issue I'd love to hear the details. And if you fixed it, please share those details too. We have seen NO main board failures on the Taranis at Aloft Hobbies. We have had 2 of the back boards damaged by users. One killed the USB port while playing around, and the other bricked the radio's power source.

This new bricking issue seems very rare, I have heard of 3 occasions, all listed in this thread now.

Again, I only suspect this to be a computer issue. This is so rare, it is very hard to say at this point.

-Wayne

[alshere]

Hey rotozuke,
looks like Im the lucky guy in my club whos the Taranis user LOL, got a call last week from a new club member asking me to look at a bricked Taranis, we finally met today and I've got his radio. Well, it is dead. error being returned is
"Filter on vendor = 0x0483 product = 0xdf11
Opening DFU capable USB device... Cannot open device "

it is being seen on the usb bus, but cant be identified, no comunications can be established at all. if anyone has anything they would like me to try otherwize I'll have him return it. my hands are pretty tied here.

[rotozuk]

OK - I got Paul's radio back and plugged it into my computer, ran zadig, then burned new firmware onto it. The radio now works perfectly. So this particular issue was just a bad firmware being installed. I failed to copy the bad firmware off first, I did not think to do that until reading a post above.

Do make sure you are burning the Taranis version of the firmware.

-Wayne

[rotozuk]

Further fallow up on this matter. I had a customer that did the same thing. His radio was working fine, he then updated the firmware with companion and the radio was bricked. I suggested checking the computer for any nasty software's etc. He reported the computer was clean. Eventually I had him send it back to me, and it arrived today. I ran zadig, then companion and flashed a fresh firmware into the radio. Radio is now working fine with his 4 model memories in place, etc.

I'm pretty comfortable in saying something is going on that corrupts the firmware install process. I do not know if this is a PC issue, or something the users are missing in the process. When I hear of people trying different computers to attempt the firmware transfer and getting the same result I am forced to think of either a bad USB cable, or a basic step is being missed by the user. The process is pretty simple, so I just do not know. The one customer that brought me his computer, we used one of my cables, and his computer would not install a good firmware, but the same cable used with my computer worked just fine, and I did the same companion setup. So in that case I have to think it was related to the computer itself.

Anyhow, I have yet to get one of these back that did not start working just fine with a simple firmware install.

-Wayne