Dead Xbee's what to do with them?

[jeremysdemo]

Every time I order an Xbee type 1 here at first it works great, with it's firmware 10E8 right out of the box it runs at 9600 and communicates just fine in hyper terminal, using an FTDI/arduino pre-manufactured terminal.

However if I configure one for Midi baud 38400 it no longer works in X-CTU and everything I type is followed by a red dot if I type +++ it shows up as ))) instead.
I have tried a firmware update but a prompt comes up that says I need to press the reset button, which I do but nothing happens, I have asked about these weird symptoms in another thread but never got a reply.

I destroyed one Xbee when I accidentally soldered it to an adapter, and now this second Xbee no longer communicates and cannot be firmware updated.

I'm just wondering what to do with all the dead Xbee's, is there some sort of recycle program or something were these can find another use or are they destined to choke some poor seal out in the Atlantic?

Also, is there some other way to update the firmware and bring them back to life other than X-CTU and a FTDI connection?

PS I am not asking for a refund or anything for the dead ones as it is most likely my own fault and ignorance in handling and configuring that is contributing to their malfunctions.

keep shinin

jerm

[adafruit_support_bill]

Have you tried over at the Digi support forum?
Their tech support staff is more familiar with the inner-workings of their devices and can likely offer better advice.

[jeremysdemo]

er, um, I would only I haven't purchased any of their devices to my knowledge.

Do you think they could help me with adafruit devices?

keep shinin

jerm

[adafruit_support_bill]

Digi is the manufacturer of the XBee modules
http://www.digi.com/products/wireless-wired-embedded-solutions/zigbee-rf-modules/zigbee-mesh-module/

[jeremysdemo]

I stand corrected

I see they are also the programers of X-CtU.

will browse the forum and see if there is any clue as to what to do with them.....lurking always lurking....

keep shinin

jerm

[richms]

When it says to press reset, they are talking about the reset button on their dev boards, which are directly connected to the xbees reset. Have read some confusion somewhere where a guy was resetting the arduino instead which will do nothing to the xbee.

How are you programming them from x-ctu? Weird things will happen if you have it onboard an ardiono and the arduino is trying to do serial on the pins as well, you can hold the arduino in reset to keep it from messing up the serail comms with the xbee.