I have 8 FEZ Hydra boards that when plugged into the computer through USB appear in the Device Manager as “FEZ Hydra” devices. I can also get them detected in SMB mode as serial ports. The problem with all of them is that when I try to flash a simple application, the deployment hangs with the following message:
I tried updating the tinyloader and the firmware, but neither FEZ Config nor MFDeploy are able to communicate with the device in neither of both modes (SMB/COM, USB). The log file I get when trying to update the tinyloader reads:
-I- Waiting …
-I- TCL platform : Windows NT
-I- SAM-BA CDC 2.10 on : windows
-I- Retrieved arguments from command line :
-I- argv 0 : com5
-I- argv 1 : at91sam9rl64-ek
-I- argv 2 : Loader.tcl
-E- Connection com5 not found
-E- Connection list : com3
The device was detected as COM5 as shown in the Device Manager in Windows as GPS Camera Detect (COM5).
FEZ Config detects the device when plugged in USB mode as FEZ_Hydra_Gadgetgeer, but when I try to ping it or update the firmware it displays the following error message:
“Failure - Device is not connected or not responding.”
A similar message is displayed in MFDeploy. Any ideas on how/if this could be fixed?
For starters try plugging into a USB 2.0 port instead of USB 3.0? I’ve noticed similar behavior from my G400 when connected to USB 3.0. Not sure if it will fix your problem, but it’s an easy thing to try.
The computer I am using doesn’t have any USB 3.0 ports. They’re all 2.0. In case it makes a difference, I’m using Windows 8.1. I don’t have other computers to test, but I do have other FEZ Hydra boards that are working properly on the same computer.
Except for G120 and EMX, if you see new COMxx under Device Manager detected, it means device is in BootLoader mode or lower layer that MFDeploy or FEZ Config can not touch.
you need to update TinyBooter through MSDos Command, usually in : C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\Firmwares\FEZ Hydra\Loader\Update.bat.
This bat file need to be run in Administrator mode.
wait few minutes for done, reset the board and now you can use MFDeploy or FEZ Config to update the firmware.
Yes, I tried running the Update.bat file in admin mode through the console. Sorry I didn’t make this clear in my original post, but the output I provided is the Log file generated by this batch file:
-I- Waiting …
-I- TCL platform : Windows NT
-I- SAM-BA CDC 2.10 on : windows
-I- Retrieved arguments from command line :
-I- argv 0 : com5
-I- argv 1 : at91sam9rl64-ek
-I- argv 2 : Loader.tcl
-E- Connection com5 not found
-E- Connection list : com3
The device is detected as COM5, but this process fails. Even after it fails, I can still see the COM device in the Device Manager.
@ Dat, I tried using several of the new Hydra revision 1.2b with the tiny button that puts it in bootloader mode, so I’m not using the pin8 to ground method. I am attaching what I see in the Device Manager when it is in bootloader mode (detected as a COM port) and when I plug in the board normally (detected as a FEZ Hydra). I also have some revision 1.2 boards with the same issue, but I haven’t yet tried those.
@ Aron, I open an admin console, CD into the folder with the update.bat file, and execute “Update”. It asks me for the number of the COM port, so I enter 5. Here’s what I see on the terminal:
[quote]The update progress will take a few minutes.
Make sure that you run this file as an administrator.
Please enter the COM port number for the Hydra.
Enter only the number portion. For example:
For COM10, enter only the number 10 below.
COM Port Number: 5
Updating…
Done.
Press any key to continue . . .[/quote]
[quote]
I am attaching what I see in the Device Manager when it is in bootloader mode (detected as a COM port) and when I plug in the board normally (detected as a FEZ Hydra).[/quote]
when it shows as FEZ Hydra, can you ping it by MFDeploy or FEZ Config?
@ Dat - I can’t ping them. As I mention in my first post, both FEZ Config and MFDeploy display a similar error message about the device not being recognized.
Make sure you have sound turned on on your PC so you can hear if the device is being detected/redetected multiple times in your process. Fundamentally, if you don’t boot in loader mode (so when the device manager shows Fez Hydra) you should be able to ping in MFDeploy. Since you are having trouble doing so, that implies a driver/USB related issue unless lack of power is causing restarts.
I’m in the process of testing a new approach, which appears to be working. I’ll post back with the results. It seems to be an issue with COM ports remaining open.
Ok, I was able to fix the 4 revision 1.2b Hydra boards by making sure the following happened:
Restart the computer
Make sure FEZ Config or MFDeploy are never run before I attempt to run the Update.bat script
Change the COM port number used through the Device Manager to a high value that has not been used recently
The issue appeared to be that the COM port was being left open by another app. I suspect of FEZ Config, because I always had it running when the update process failed before.
I will try next with the revision 1.2 Hydra boards that I have following the same procedure and will report back on the results.
I can confirm that this also works for revision 1.2 of the Hydra boards (4 of them).
I was able to replicate the problem I was having as follows:
Open FEZ Config
Attempt to flash a firmware to a Hydra in COM (bootloader) mode, or complete flashing a device
Unplug the updated Hydra board and connect another one in bootloader mode without closing FEZ Config
Run the update.bat file in an admin console (assuming the second device was given the same COM port number
If FEZ Config is closed, the update.bat process will succeed. It seems like FEZ Config is not properly releasing the COM port sometimes after it is finished using it. This may be by design, but I just wanted to report what I identified as the issue I was having.
Fortunately, I was able to recover all but one of my Hydras. That last one is not even being detected by Windows when it’s plugged in, but that’s a whole different story.
Thanks again to all of you. People in this forum are really helpful.