Hi everyone,
I need your help please, I'm afraid my Pixhawk is dying (which would be a shame since it's not even 1 year old). It's doing this:
Pixhawk anniversary from mterzian on Vimeo.
- I powered my Pixhawk for a flight today and couldn't start it. The main LED (I/O) is not blinking at all any more.
- I tried to reboot several times with no luck.
- I tried to connect to APM planner via 3DR radio and the buzzer was making a very strange sound (see/hear video)
- I tried to connect via USB to reinstall arducopter but it could'nt connect to APM Planner anymore. I got an error message: "pixhawk error opening port no such file or directory"
- I tried the reset buttons on the side of the Pixhawk - nothing
- I reformatted the SD card - nothing
WIthout the 3DR radio plugged, all I can hear is the ESCs beeping.
With the 3DR radio plugged, the buzzer is screaming.
Everything was working perfectly last night when I reconfigured the RC and loaded the auto mission.
I didn't change anything, nothing happened.
Please can anyone help me understand what is going on?
Thank you!
Mathieu
Replies
Your bosrd has original components - "MLF-8-PAD" has leads from the bottom side. Now I see that there is a second 3.3V regulator (for DSM input) on left side which is also replaced on cloned version with the same 'alternative'.
Thank you for the information and updates Ivan!
I didn't have time to try the firmware flashing procedure you sent.
I rather had fun flying my QAV250 with naze32. It's simple (well, simpler) and it flies and it's fun!
But for some other purposes (aerial videos and photography), a more complex setup is required :)
I will look at my Pixhawk tonight to see if the component you point is the same in the genuine 3DR board.
Hi, same thing happend to my unit yesterday, with my 'cloned' version from alixpress (2.4.5).
Strange is that this was new unit - I even didn't connect RC receiver or ESCs to it. There were just 433Mhz trasmitter, GPS, speaker, button and usb port on cable. This setup was powered through USB from 5V powerbank and lying on window - as I was playing with it remotely. After 3 hours of 'dry' run (monitoring GPS), the transmitter suddenly stopped receiving data from pixhawk, so I connected it directly with USB, but computer even didn't notice that some USB device was plugged in. Now it behaves exactly as on your video. IO's green and red LEDs are on, blue is flashing and also safety button. On the other hand. the FMU seems to be dead - the main status led is off, only green power led is on. No booting, no tones from speaker after powering.
I've tried to reflash firmware from SD card according to Pierce C's instructions, but without success - IO's B/E led started flashing but nothing else - FMU's leds left without change.
Your unit worked almost year, mine not a single day :( (I'm crying as this had to be my 1st multicopter)
Now I'm really curious what is the root cause and if it can be fixed.
10428082_10204533835323422_4541343924021112743_n.jpg
IMG_20150117_144647.jpg
Sorry to read that Ivan.
Seems that genuine board just last longer than clones - and are more expensive - but are subject to the same failures in the end.
The technical support from 3DR didn't help much, couldn't find a solution and didn't explain me what the cause was.
Only thing I heard was: get a new one - which I wont (not from 3DR at least).
How did you try to reflash the firmware from the SD card?
I may try this but I'm not sure how to proceed.
Good luck!
Best,
Mathieu
Hi Mathieu,
I found following on the second thread:
My 'package' included also microsd with this firmware.
I hope seller of mine board will accept this as 'dead on arrival', We can be just lucky that this didn't happen during the flight. Wil you go to different autopilot board, like APM?
Ivan
Thanks a lot Ivan,
I'll try this, even though I have no hope at all :)
I really hope your reseller will offer you a replacement board since you are not to blame.
And your are VERY right: in a way, we're lucky our multi never took off with a faulty FC.
As for me, I'm only sure about one thing: I won't buy any 3DR product again.
Not sure about APM: it seems arducopter 3.2 is better suited for Pixhawk or equivalent processing power.
So I may try VRbrain but I've stumbled upon AUAV-X2 and I really like it. As long as I can order one (seems always backordered).
Cheers, and good luck with the reseller!
Mathieu
According to following videos, there is something wrong in design or manufacturing process, but Pixhawk seems to have serious issues with reliability:
I would understand that this could be the price for open source hardware, but all my previous projects based on 8-bit Atmel processors (Arduino), like 3D printers, milling machine, robots and many more are still working fine after many firmware update. If firmware can 'kill' board as Clive described on second video, then PX4 based boards needs new hardware version. If guys at 'Arsov RC Technology' already did it with AUAV X2, maybe I will try it too.
Right now I have no idea what happened. You may want to move your post over to
'PX4 and Pixhawk Hardware." You may get the some better response there.
Goodluck
Thanks Rob,
It's already posted there but the 'PX4 and Pixhawk Hardware' topic is buried at the 3rd page of the forum list and I didn't get any answer.
I tried my luck here :)
I may try to get in touch with Piers C since this looks a lot like what I'm facing...
http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/formerly-working-pixhawk-io-board...
Anyway, thank you but it really seems nasty...
Hope 3DR can help
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