Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

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Summary:

I have a serious problem after a failed upgrade of the firmware. I cannot power on the robot anymore.

Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

(account deleted) 21 Apr 2013 10:06

I have a serious problem after a failed upgrade of the firmware. I cannot power on the robot anymore.

Summery:
I received the Thymio II this week and read about the new version of Aseba studio and firmware. I installed on my Mac OS 10.6.8 the the new Aseba Studio 1.2.1, fully charged robot overnight and this morning tried to update the firmware.

Following the instructions, I established the connection over USB, downloaded the HEX file, launched Flasher App, selected the (right) file and clicked the button "update".

Then I immediately got an error message saying that the connection has been lost and I also noticed that Aseba Studio was no longer responsive.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

—Sam

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—Explore & Serve

Re: Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

riedo 21 Apr 2013 14:26

Dear Sam,

It could be that your Thymio lost the connection because of a false contact with the usb cable. You can try connecting you Thymio to the computer again, and watch the little red (or blue) next to the micro USB slot. If you move slightly the robot, or the cable, this light shouldn't blink.
To restore your robot, you just need to upgrade the firmware again.
Important: never have Aseba Studio connected to you robot while using the firmware updater. Only one of the two programs should be launched at a time.

let me know the result once you've tried

Fanny

Re: Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

(account deleted) 25 Apr 2013 13:01

Dear Fanny,
thanks for your help which I appreciate very much. I'd love to start programming the robot with my kids after learning about Thymio at the robot show in Zurich.

never have Aseba Studio connected to you robot while using the firmware updater.

This was probably the reason why the connection dropped.

I'm afraid that the problem might be more serious. I cannot power on the robot pushing the respective button for several second. It is certainly fully charged since I used the iPhone USB cable for charging. The diode is green.

I also tried to reset the device using hole on the left side.

I also thought about simply upgrading the firmware again but I cannot establish a connection via USB to both PC (or Mac). I do not fully understand what's happening but guess that there's an process in an infinite loop to load the Thymio driver and establish a connection.

I could attach a screenshot of this failed connection.

Any more ideas?

Cheers
—Sam

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—Explore & Serve

Re: Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

riedo 25 Apr 2013 13:42

I'm surprised that you cannot establish a connection again as your robot is quite new. To explain: robots from 2 years ago have a different version of the bootloader, when they crash during firmware update you cannot establish a connection again. Newer robots have a better bootloader that allows to connect even if the firmware update failed (and even if the robot doesn't turn on)
I thought your robot was one of the newer… When and where did you buy it?

So when you connect it and launch Thymio Flasher, it's not detected? You receive the "cannot find Thymio II!" warning? Do you see the normal firmware update window or any other pop-up window? Which version of Mac OS / Windows do you have?

Re: Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

Michael Bonani 26 Apr 2013 09:46

If you have the infinite loop, the bootloader is still working. Now the robot is resetting continuously and you should be able to lunch the upgrade. It is just a question of timing, try several time.

Re: Problem after failed firmware v6 upgrade

(account deleted) 26 Apr 2013 11:04

Michael,
you are right. I ignored the continuos reset after connecting the USB cable to my iMac. I simply launched the Firmware updater and success! My brand new Thymio II bought at www.mobsya.org is healthy again.

Many thanks to you, Fanny and Mr or Mrs Riedo for your advice.

Kind regards
—Sam

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—Explore & Serve