Problem Connecting to an APM2 board.

I'm using Planner 1.1.14 with a new APM2 purple board, Win XPpro and the Atmega2560 inf driver file from the repository.

Planner loads and verifies version 2.27 firmware but it does not connect to the APM2.  I have used Putty and it does reset the APM2 on connect and I do see packets with mixed binary/alpha content (presumably MavLink).

When watching the APM2 board, it does not appear to come out of reset after Planner opens the port.  Since the reset step works correctly with Putty, it seems as though Planner is holding the reset line for some reason.

Should I add this as an "issue" on the Wiki?

Thanks.

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  • 3D Robotics

    We've seen at least one other board do this. I think it's a hardware issue (some rare glitch in the production process), but we don't yet know if requires a software or hardware fix. Please stay tuned while we diagnose. 

  • Here is some detailed description of what I see happening between the APM2 and Planner-

    1) Insert USB to APM2 board. It powers up, the red, yellow and blue status leds are active, the GPS led is flashing and there is TX activity on the usb port at about 2hz.

    2) Click Connect from Planner. All APM2 leds (except GPS) go out as though it is in reset.

    3) The Planner connect progress box appears and counts down to "0".  I see periodic USB RX activity but no other leds are active on the AMP2 board.

    4) The Planner connect progress times out and at that point there is USB RX and TX activity.  Planner throws an exception about not seeing heartbeats.

    5) When I close the exception message box, APM2 red, yellow and blue status leds come alive and there is again USB TX activity.  APM2 appears to start up normally.

    6) Open the port with Putty terminal emulator.  APM2 resets, I see the startup header print and then mixed binary/ascii messages about initialization.

    As a cross-check, I just used Planner 1.1.14 to connect to an installed APM1 (red) board in a flying plane.  It came up and connected promptly as it always has in the past.

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