[SOLVED] Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Topics related to the Lighthouse positioning system, configuration and use
Timo K
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[SOLVED] Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by Timo K »

Hello everyone,

I have a problem when I try to install the new firmware 2021.03 with the crazyflie client.
It worked fine with the first drone (I think 2021.01 was installed), but when I try to update the second drone it get's stuck when "Updating deck bclighthouse4" is displayed. I didn't wait very long (ca. 5 min.), but I think it should be long enough, because it worked faster with the other drone. I think also 2021.01 was installed on this drone before updating, but later on I tried first installing 2020.09 via the console (works fine, drone flies stable) on a PC with Ubuntu and then tried to install 2021.03 with the cfclient on a Windows Laptop (but tried earlier with the Ubuntu as well).
I hope you can help me with that.

Thank you in advance
Timo
Last edited by Timo K on Tue May 11, 2021 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
arnaud
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Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by arnaud »

Hi Timo,

It is possible you are hitting a but I am currently fixing, the fix is in the client git and a new release of the client will be published today. The problem is causing the flashing process to hang in some condition (we have observed it when the flow deck is attached but it is an unitialized buffer problem so it can happen for any configuration of the Crazyflie ...).

Until I finish the release, you can try installing and running the client from the latest git version. Either by cloning it and installing it with "pip install -e .". Or you can installing using pip directly from github:

Code: Select all

pip3 install git+https://github.com/bitcraze/crazyflie-clients-python
Timo K
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by Timo K »

Hello Arnaud,

Thank you for the quick help.
I will try your fix next week and will let you now if it worked.
Timo K
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by Timo K »

Hi Arnaud,

Unfortunately your fix didn't help. It seems like the deck does not start. The LEDs do not light up and the console says something like that, so I just copied the last lines. Maybe this can help you:

Code: Select all

Connecting to radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Callback->Connection initialized[radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706]
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:We are connected[radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706], request connection setup
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Callback->Connected to [radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706]
INFO:cflib.crazyflie.platformservice:Protocol  version: 4
WARNING:cflib.crazyflie.toccache:Could not save cache, no writable directory
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Log TOC finished updating
INFO:cflib.crazyflie.mem:6 memories found
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Memories finished updating
WARNING:cflib.crazyflie.toccache:Could not save cache, no writable directory
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Param TOC finished updating
INFO:cflib.crazyflie:Callback->Connection setup finished [radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706]
Connected to radio://0/85/2M/E7E7E7E706
Handling bcLighthouse4
Deck not yet started ...

The deck is connected properly and works with the old versions.

Thank you in advance

Timo
arnaud
Bitcraze
Posts: 2538
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by arnaud »

Hi,

You might be hitting a bug that I tried to fix during the 2021.03 firmware development. The symptom was as follow:

- When starting the Crazyflie using the power button, the lighthouse deck starts (the blue LED lit up)
- When the Crazyflie restarts from bootloader to firmware more, ie. when it restarts the second time, after flashing STM32 and nRF51, the lighthouse deck does not start, the blue LED is not lit up.

Can you observer the same symptom with your Crazyflie?
Timo K
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Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:46 am
Location: Germany
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by Timo K »

Hi Arnaud,

Yes this is exactly what happens.
jonasdn
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by jonasdn »

Hi Timo!

Would you be willing to help us figure this out? We suspect this has something to do with capacitors and the time it takes for them to discharge after a power-off. We have small (200 ms) delay in the startup of our firmware to account for this. But maybe this delay is to small for your case. Capacitors can have difference in tolerance.

So, I have prepared three firmware files for you.

firmware-cf2-250ms.zip - Increase the delay to 250 ms, hopefully this will do the trick, otherwise ....
firmware-cf2-300ms.zip - Increase the delay to 300 ms, does this fix it? otherwise ...
firmware-cf2-500ms.zip - Increase the delay to 500 ms, hopefully this is not required.

Since you seem to be able to reproduce this reliably(?) it would be super helpful if you could test these and see if an increase in startup delay helps!

All the best
Attachments
firmware-cf2-250ms.zip
(235.32 KiB) Downloaded 128 times
firmware-cf2-300ms.zip
(235.32 KiB) Downloaded 133 times
firmware-cf2-500ms.zip
(235.32 KiB) Downloaded 135 times
Timo K
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by Timo K »

Hi Jonas!

Thanks for the help. I'll try these versions on different cfs, to test if this is the problem.
I probably won't get to it until next week.

Timo
borat22
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Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by borat22 »

I had the same issue as Timo updating the lighthouse deck. So i tried to flash with the provided firmwares, the 250ms did not work, but the 300 ms version did flash sucessfully. I still can not flash normally, because the deck doesnt restart and the software gets stuck in the flashing process. But the 300 ms version was helpful. Thx
jonasdn
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Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:13 pm

Re: Updating firmeware getting stuck when updating lighthouse deck

Post by jonasdn »

borat22 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 2:14 pm I had the same issue as Timo updating the lighthouse deck. So i tried to flash with the provided firmwares, the 250ms did not work, but the 300 ms version did flash sucessfully. I still can not flash normally, because the deck doesnt restart and the software gets stuck in the flashing process. But the 300 ms version was helpful. Thx
Thank you borat22!

To clarify: does the 300 ms version work completely or are there still some issues flashing for you?
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