Flashing Red

[espey]

I recently received a CF2, it flashes red on the test and the power button broke off. I'm not at the stage of putting on the propellers on, let alone fly it. After speaking to the manufacturer in China, they stated that I can send it back and they might provide a coupon to reimburse for the shipping. Personally, this is an offensive approach.

With this said, how can we go about getting this cool device off my desk into the air. Please help!

[espey]

No response? Really?

[chad]

Which LED flashes red after self-test. How long, and at what frequency? Are you doing a hardware test with the battery connected or while plugged into USB? Do you have a Crazyradio dongle?

You can use a piece of wire (or other metal object) to bridge the connections between the on/off button momentarily to turn on or off the Crazyflie. This will work fine in place of a power button. You can get power buttons on the cheap and with a soldering iron and a modicum of skill you can replace it.

You might want to try to update the firmware. You'll need to download the direct firmware update (DFU) zip file and get the Crazyflie into DFU mode. To get it into direct firmware update (DFU) without a power button, you'll have to bridge the connection longer than just momentarily (much like holding down the on/off button). You can follow the instructions in the ReadMe.txt (in the zip file) to do the update. It will be a little challenging but that's part of the fun.

[espey]

M1 flashes red non-stop. It doesn't matter if the battery is the power source or USB.

Still waiting for the dongle to be shipped.

As far as updating, tried to install zadig_xp_2.1.1 (running on Win7) STM32 Bootlader, it states a success. But...when opening the flash_crazyflie.bat it shows failed.

[chad]

M1 flashes red non-stop.

As far as frequency goes, does the flash look like this video...? (this is a self-test failure condition). If it does look like this, try powering it on again but don't disturb it during the self-test. Some sensors may be susceptible to movement during self-test and might indicate a failure state.

As far as updating, tried to install zadig_xp_2.1.1 (running on Win7) STM32 Bootlader, it states a success. But...when opening the flash_crazyflie.bat it shows failed.

I'm not a Windows user so I'm sorry that I can't be more help here but... If you're running Windows 7 shouldn't you be using the "Windows Vista or later" Zadig driver?

[espey]

The video demonstrates a much faster flashing than mine. It appears to be the same speed as M2 in DFU mode.

I think the installed driver is correct but I tried both.

[chad]

If the M1 LED blinks continuously (like the very end of this video), that's the heartbeat. It's correct behavior and your Crazyflie is alive.

[espey]

Great, we have a heartbeat! Now what?

[chad]

Great, we have a heartbeat! Now what?

Put on the propellers and fly it?

You might want the take a look at the "Getting Started" section of this blog post if you haven't seen all this info already.

If you want to update the firmware, try your Zadig install again following the instructions here. Of course, make sure you really do have the right driver installed, as specified on the Zadig site. Then, follow that ReadMe file in the DFU zip you downloaded.

Finally, use your Android or iPhone device to start learning how to fly while you wait for the Crazyradio PA dongle to arrive (which will make it much easier to fly).