Spider - USB device not recognized

Archive
1

I’ve been using my Spider all night long and having lots of fun :smiley:

But all of a sudden I can’t get Windows to recognize it. I get the “bing” sound, and then the “USB device not recognized” message.

  • Win 7 64 bit
  • uninstalled the USB drivers & reinstalled
  • I’m connected directly from my laptop to the DP
  • When I plug in my power supply, my T35 just shows a white screen and the reset button doesn’t do anything.
  • MFDeploy doesn’t show anything in the combobox after I select USB

What else can/should I do?

It was working all night and then it has issues. I don’t recall anything unusual happening.

My device starts up and runs my last installed app just fine. Windows just can’t communicate with it anymore.

2

Not you and the dodgy power supply again ! :slight_smile: :wink:

Actually, that’s probably the first think I would do. Pull off the screen and see if windows detects it then.

I would then try to boot into loader mode to see if that can be seen. If so, great; try erasing your application, perhaps even reloading firmware.

3

Hehe. Actually I was running stuff on USB power all night - the power supply was just a test.

How do I put it into bootloader mode? I presume its something to do with dip switches.

4

Using Google search I just found another thread about Spider & USB not recognizing.

In that thread the person reflashed their firmware. I’ve not done that yet with this device and am worried that I’ll brick it. But is that another suggested tactic to try?

5

Ok, I’ve brought up the GHI Spider Mainboard Updater app

  • And it couldn’t connect to the board.

  • I set DIP switches 1,2,3 to the on position (away from the reset button), and the T35 just goes white.
    ---- the updater still doesn’t see the board.

  • I unplugged all the modules, except for - the DP, T35 (removing the touch, so just RGB)
    ---- still white screen & still can’t connect via updater

While in the WSOD, the reset button doesn’t work. As soon as the device gets power, the screen goes white immediately.

If I put the DIPs back to all off, the device boots as normal again.

If I put it into Tinybooter mode, I see the start up items (with IP, MAC and custom heap all being 0s) and “Waiting”

In all the settings I’ve tried, I get the “USB device unrecognized” messages and the Updater can’t connect.

6

Given Spider is based on EMX, but with DIP switches to help the setup process, you could look at the EMX manual update process and try it?

7

I put it into TinyBootloader mode by using the DIP as directed by the EMX doc & the display shows “TinyBooter Mode”

The next step for the EMX is to use MFDeploy – but MFDeploy doesn’t list the device under USB.

When I try the Loader mode as the FW Updater says to, I just get the white screen. and it can’t connect either

8

So the other thing, please tell us (show us) what the device manager shows, along the way.

9

(thanks for the help)

10

Also here’s the GHI software installed.

Last night I uninstalled and reinstalled the USB drivers.

11

and when in tinybooter?

12

No matter the mode of the FEZ (default, tinybooter & loader), Windows says the same thing = unknown device.

Device manager looks the same … I even tried “Scan for PnP changes”, and still same thing.

(added the T35 output photo in TinyBooter & white screen when in Loader mode (3 DIPs on))

13

What are you using for power?

14

USB right from my computer to the DP to the Spider.

Though if I plug in the power supply (9V 1A), I get a white screen no matter the DIP positions. The DP light stays solid red when either are plugged in.

Right now all I have is DP & T35 plugged into the mainboard.

It’s been working fine like this the 1.5 weeks I’ve had it - even with various modules all connected at the same time (T35, WiFi, SD, GPS and Cell). Only power issue I’ve had is when I tried to connect with the Cell modem. Having it connected is fine, just when you call PowerOn() with other modules connected it went into the power cycling issue.

15

Throwing this out there… have you tried a new USB cable? Sounds to me like the cable is supplying power but there’s an issue getting the USB data signals…

16

I think it’s the DP module:

Your question reminded me I had a Domino. So I took my cable and plugged it into my Domino, and MFDeploy showed USBiziz_USBizi right away. Unplugged it from the Domino and into the Spider and MF doesn’t recognize it.

I took another USB cable got the same results.

Furthermore, I’m still getting only a white screen when I use my power adapter. (9 VDC 1000mA regulated switching power adapter - UL listed : ID 63 : $8.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits)

At the time I started to have the problem, I was only using the USB cable.

17

I just fixed a white screen problem I was having on a Spider.

I had been using a LED Matrix module which I unplugged.
I then plugged in a GPS module and powered up the board.
I got a white screen and the PC was unable to recognize the board.

I then plugged the LED Matrix module back in and powered up. All
was well again.

It looks like the LED Matrix program started to run, and when
it could not find the LED, the program and/or MF threw an
exception which resulted in the device going brain dead. Restoring
the missing module allowed the board to boot and I was able
to load a new program.

I think it is good practice, before reconfiguring a Gadgeteer board,
to clear out the old program in flash, by loading a simple program, or using
MFDeploy. This will avoid the system going crazy due to missing hardware.

18

Thanks response Mike

With my AC power supply connected, I’m getting a white screen regardless (I’ll test again when I get home) of the DIP settings.

This power supply is the recommend output 9V 1A – based on the forum’s green USB Power autoposting icon.

19

Gus said it is normal to get a white screen if you have BOTH USB and Power Jack plugged in… just so you know in case you are doing that.

Cheers,

20

Thanks JJ

I am getting the WSOD with only the AC plugged.

In the past, I was able to successfully use both simultaneously. I did this when testing the GPS module to see if I would get quicker acquisition with AC+USB vs USB alone.