"lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

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mrtz
 
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"lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

I built up everything in the tweet-a-watt project but ran into a problem when I tried to upgrade the firmware of one of the Xbee's

Some more details:
- After building everything and trying out the setup, the red RSSI light on the receiver came on when the remote kill a watt was plugged in and went off when it was unpluggged, so I think the signal was coming through as documentation says.
- But I faced a problem with the wattcher script which would not run beyond the line find_packet(ser) in the script.
- I read back through all the instructions to see if I missed anything and then I realized that I had not updated the factory firmware. I somehow thought the first time that 1084 from the factory was already the latest so I had not upgraded. I downloaded and found 10CD which I tried to update the firmware with.
- I followed the instructions on http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/config.html and tried to upgrade via the FTDI cable setup. The receiver Xbee got updated fine. But the transmitter Xbee seems to have a problem now after trying to update the firmware. X-CTU says "lost communication with modem". I read some things on the forums - powered off/on, used reset on XBee ( grounded the reset pin and X-CTU dialog box disappeared as documented). But every attempt to write firmware gives the error of "lost communication...".

Any idea if there other tricks yet to get this to work?

adafruit
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by adafruit »

hey can you try to uninstall the FTDI driver and use this one:

http://www.ladyada.net/media/xbee/FTDIVCP2driver.zip

?
I think they updated the driver and either removed a bug or feature or introduced a bug or feature that changes the behavior

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

I upgraded the driver to v2.4.16.0, 2/17/2009. Same problem. Any idea what to try next?

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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by adafruit »

nono DOWNGRADE

imagiro
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by imagiro »

I ran into the same problem. According to the Xbee manual, you need to use the RTS and DTS lines along with the TX/RX lines. I hooked them up and had no problem upgrading it. Good luck.

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mcintoda
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mcintoda »

Did you check the box "always update firmware" in X-CTU? I had a similar problem. Make sure your baud rate is correct and make sure that after you touch a wire from reset to ground that you don't have that reset wire dangling and touching something else.

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

ladyada wrote:nono DOWNGRADE
I downgraded to the one in the link. It is now v2.0.0.0, 5/19/2006. Still same problem.

I'm new to the XBee, so I've just followed the tweet-a-watt instructions. Not exactly how to try with RTS/DTS lines as imagiro suggested. I did the reset to ground too several times but did not help. Baud rate is untouched at 9600.

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mcintoda
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mcintoda »

Did you try to restore the original firmware by clicking restore in X-CTU? The modem type is XB24 I believe.

imagiro
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by imagiro »

This is from the XBee manual. Hope it helps.
Minimum connections for updating firmware: VCC, GND, DIN, DOUT, RTS & DTR
Attachments
xbee-manual-p7.zip
(160.54 KiB) Downloaded 157 times

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

mcintoda wrote:Did you try to restore the original firmware by clicking restore in X-CTU? The modem type is XB24 I believe.
I tried that too. I only keep getting the same error "Lost communication with modem".

The tweet-a-watt instructions do have upgrade instructions, so I'm assuming that its setup already takes the upgrade connection requirements into account. Right? I would prefer to stay within the tweet-a-watt instructions.

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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by adafruit »

hmm, what OS are you running again?
you can talk to the XBees in general right?

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

ladyada wrote:hmm, what OS are you running again?
you can talk to the XBees in general right?
OS: Windows XP sp3.

Not sure exactly what you mean about being able to talk to the Xbees, but I'll try to explain the situation. Initially with the XBee in the receiver, I did not have the "communication with modem failed" error, but after the attempt to upgrade, that chip has the error. With X-CTU I can't even get a response with the "Test/Query" button. For the other Xbee chip (that I am using in the kill-a-watt transmitter), I was able to update its firmware via the FTDI cable (after temporarily placing it in the receiver board with the FTDI connector pins).

Again, the reason I was attempting to upgrade the firmware was because I was not able to see the program proceed at the wattcher script line find_packet.ser(), so I was hoping that firmware upgrade would help get things going. Previously I could see the red light on the receiver come on when the transmitter (in the kill-a-watt) was powered on. But now the red light is always off, although the green light flashes every couple of seconds.

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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by adafruit »

oooh i see. i was confused. your problem isnt so bad and the xbee is OK
you just need to connect it to the ftdi cable via adapter with the '125 soldered in then dont use the test button
go to the panel where you can upgrade the firmware and click read settings or whatever its called
it will pop up a window and say hey i cant talk to the xbee you should reset it
thats when you should quickly short RST and GND (they're next to each other) on the xbee adapter
it may take a few tries but eventually it will reset and you can talk to it again
then you can 'revert to factory settings' theres another button or just get it going. basically its in sleep mode is whats up

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

ladyada wrote:oooh i see. i was confused. your problem isnt so bad and the xbee is OK
you just need to connect it to the ftdi cable via adapter with the '125 soldered in then dont use the test button
go to the panel where you can upgrade the firmware and click read settings or whatever its called
it will pop up a window and say hey i cant talk to the xbee you should reset it
thats when you should quickly short RST and GND (they're next to each other) on the xbee adapter
it may take a few tries but eventually it will reset and you can talk to it again
then you can 'revert to factory settings' theres another button or just get it going. basically its in sleep mode is whats up
Thank you very much for your advice to save the XBee from sleep mode. I don't fully understand what happened but the steps you mentioned "woke it up" it seems and I am getting the signal from the transmitter again (red light on). Also it seems to have upgraded the firmware already to 10CD as per X-CTU, so I guess it had gone to sleep after my earlier upgrade attempt.

Again, thanks all that who helped out on this problem.

I am onto the next step now to try to see if I can get the power data from the transmitter using the wattcher script.

mrtz
 
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Re: "lost communication with modem" after firmware update attemp

Post by mrtz »

Update: I have been able to successfully run the wattcher script too now and I get power data as expected, so all is fine.

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