Comments

• 

  Graham GraKez August 9, 2013 at 6:17am

  Thanks for the advice Simon,

  Replaced the driver with the one that comes with the Mission Planner reinstall. (after manually uninstalling the old driver) I didn't let windows do it. All set to 8 bits, 1 Stop Bit, No Parity. Not sure what the handshaking should be so left it on default (Xon/Xoff)

  Still no improvement.

   

  Tried different cables and even different computers
• 

  Simon Howroyd August 9, 2013 at 1:19am

  It looks to me like a serial issue as many have said. My two suggestions would be to re-download the ftdi driver and install that (not juts allowing windows to re-detect and install the possibly corrupt driver), and also check the serial settings in device manager, ensuring it is setup correctly (no CTS, parity etc etc.)

  A dodge cable isn't top on my likely list because you are getting valid characters through, it's just that they are being interpreted incorrectly which sounds software related. Since you are getting some valid characters (words) it looks like APM is sending OK, so that's how I've narrowed it down to the COM port being the issue.

  That's my tuppence anyway! Good luck
• 

  Graham GraKez August 8, 2013 at 4:28pm

  I have tried another USB cable now, also uninstall Mission Planner & USB driver.

  Reinstalled, USB device re-detected and reinstalled . . . but same result.

  I guess it is time to get out the super magnifying glass and see if a particle has lodged between IC legs somewhere, could have picked up soomething during flight/landing I guess.
• Developer

  Craig Elder August 8, 2013 at 2:54pm

  Have you tried a different USB cable?
• 

  Graham GraKez August 8, 2013 at 2:53pm

  I have tried both my PC & my Laptop, same sad result.

  The only coincidence is that they had both just updated Mission Planner, maybe something has happened there. I might try to uninstall Mission Planner, delete the USB driver and then do a reinstall (fingers crossed).
• Developer

  Philip August 8, 2013 at 2:42pm

  I have had a similar issue, tried a different PC and all was OK.
  Turned out it was a corrupt USB serial driver on the PC.
  Have you tried a different PC?
• 

  Graham GraKez August 8, 2013 at 2:32pm

  Hi Craig,

  Serial problem as in hardware related?

  Partial short, faulty chip, wrong voltage somewhere?

  I will take any pointers :-)

  thanks, Graham
• Developer

  Craig Elder August 8, 2013 at 2:23pm

  That is extremely indicative of a very common serial problem, not a firmware problem.  I'll bet you there is a 99.999% chance that it is a serial problem and not something else.
• 

  Graham GraKez August 8, 2013 at 2:20pm

  Hi Craig & HealthFB,

  Craig, I am just taking a guess that the problem maybe corruption, so just want to over write with good firmware again.

  HealthFB, only using one connection at a time, here is a sample of the output, the fact that I can read it says the baud rate is correct:

  Init ArduPlane V2.74b
  
  Free RAM: 2335
  load_þ  <Ãþüÿÿ
                üÿÿÿÿÿwà
                        Press ENTER 3 times to start interactive setup
  
  þ3ýDemo Servos!=áþ      @þ/üÿÿ/üÿÿÿÿÿÀþ3ýWarming up ADC...CÌ#\\
                                                                 #[ ¤¦  !üàþ3ýDemo                                                 Servos! öþ     »³/üÿÿ/üÿÿÿÿÿóõþ3       ýDemo Servos!"þ
                                                          Ñþ
                                                            /üÿÿ/üÿÿÿÿÿ3  þ3
  ýBeginning INS calibration; do not move plane¾N
  ýInitialising APM...*Eþ 2"þ/üÿÿ/üÿÿÿÿÿ-¨þ      Þëþ/üÿÿ/üÿÿÿÿÿËFailed to boot MPU6000 5 times
• Developer

  Craig Elder August 8, 2013 at 1:45pm

  Graham are you wanting to update the firmware because you believe it is corrupted or because you want to update to a new version?