Sudden communication problem between EEPE and 9X transmitters

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:41 am

I've just encountered a very unique and perplexing problem while using EEPE to update my 9X transmitters and would like to know if anyone else has encounter this.

I've got two 9X transmitters, both equipped with Smartieparts boards. TX1 has a version 1 SP board, TX2 has the later model SP board. I've been using these two TXs with ER9X for several years, using EEPE for numerous firmware updates and saving my model memories frequently. Once I got them configured, updating to new firmware versions and reading and writing memories has always worked perfectly.

Last fall, I put all my RC stuff away for the season as I normally do. When I got everything out this spring, I was going to save my model memories again just before going out for the first time.

Tonight I connected my PC to TX1 normally via USB and the TX1 display come alive as it usually does so I assume the USB connection was fine. However, when I attempted to read the model memories, I got the following error message from AVRDUDE:

=================================================================================
Started AVRDUDE
C:/Program Files (x86)/eePe/avrdude.exe -c usbasp -p m64 F -P usb -U eeprom:r:C:/Users/rod/AppData/Local/Temp/temp.hex:i
=================================================================================
avrdude.exe: error: could not find USB device "USBasp" with vid=0x16c0 pid=0x5dc

=================================================================================
AVRDUDE done - exit code 1
=================================================================================

I then attemped to try it with the other 9X, "TX2", which has the later model SP board and got the exact same error message. The only difference between the two different SP boards is that the later version requires the TX to be powered on internally. The earlier version on TX1 powers the TX via the USB connection. I've tried it again numerous times on both transmitters.

I swapped three different USB cables. My PC was upgraded from Windows 7 to Win10 last fall, but it ran EEPE successfully and save model memories successfully since then. I also installed EEPE on a different computer running Windows 7 and tried it there and got the exact same result.

Nothing has changed in my setup since the last time I saved my model memories, which was January 12, 2016. The transmitters haven't even been powered on since then. The EEPE software, version 413, hasn't been changed. I've been running firmware V813 on both transmitters. Nothing relating to EEPE or the TXs has been altered over the winter.

I'm stumped. If I'd made any hardware or software changes, that would give me a starting point to troubleshoot from. If it's a sudden hardware failure, could it have happened to both TXs at the same time??

Any help appreciated...

Thanks very much for any help or insights.
-- Rod Robbins
Beaverton, OR

Post by **jhsa** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:10 pm

avrdude.exe: error: could not find USB device "USBasp" with vid=0x16c0 pid=0x5dc

This errors point to driver problems.

João

Post by **MikeB** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:37 pm

Do you hear the "double tone" on the PC indicating a USB device has been plugged in?

Mike.

lancaster · Post by **lancaster** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:41 pm

rrobins

When I had similar problems, my first step was to check that the USB connection to the TX was registering on the PC device manager

regards
Hans

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 7:41 pm

Thanks for the suggestions.

MikeB:
Yes, I get a double "blurby" sound (Windows 10) when I plug in the USB to the SmartieParts connection.

Hans:
I just checked Device Manager. The device "USBasp" appears under "Other Devices" when I connect the USB cable to the radio. The USBasp device disappears when I unplug it.

Regards,
-- Rod

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:06 pm

BTW, I just noticed in Windows 10 Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features, it shows that something called "WinAVR 20100110" was installed on 12/16/15. I don't recall installing this software and don't have any idea what it's for.

Could this software be related to AVR programming and have somehow buggered up EEPE's AVRdude installation?

-- Rod

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:55 pm

jhsa wrote:
avrdude.exe: error: could not find USB device "USBasp" with vid=0x16c0 pid=0x5dc
This errors point to driver problems.

João

Thanks for the tip.
Can you point me to a link with the latest drivers that I can download?

Regards,
-- Rod

Post by **jhsa** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:02 pm

Hi Rod.. Have you tried the smartieparts website?

João

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:47 am

jhsa wrote:Hi Rod.. Have you tried the smartieparts website?

João

Yes. Their troubleshooting info is pretty basic stuff that I've already checked.

I'm now leaning towards a software or drivers problem since the odds are pretty long against an identical hardware problem occurring on two separate 9X's at the same time. I'm going to uninstall everything related to EEPE and AVR, then reinstall. Hopefully that will resolve any driver conflicts.

Thanks,
-- Rod

rrobbins · Post by **rrobbins** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:10 am

I uninstalled everything EEPE and AVR-related and reinstalled. No improvement.

Then, solution found!! After diving deeper into the Smartieparts website, I found this link to generic updated drivers for USBasp devices. Installed it and ran EEPE.

http://www.protostack.com/download/USBa ... v3.0.7.zip

Success !! Now everything's back to normal.

Regards,
-- Rod

Post by **jhsa** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:22 am

That is great.. Well done.

João

lancaster · Post by **lancaster** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:07 pm

Thats good news !

Its the new driver permissions on windows 10 - I also found a slightly different way round it

regards
Hans

solentlife · Post by **solentlife** » Sat Aug 06, 2016 7:30 am

I find I have slightly different problem but similar eePe comms fault.

I have two 9X radios with SP basic boards. One is the factory FlySky radio and other is the Turnigy branded 9X.

The FlySky radio talks to PC eePe with no problem at all and also does not need 5V bridge wire to the SP basic board (some may know that the Aileron D/R switch can fail with this board and then needs 5V ired to the board to re-enable the switch). But the Turnigy radio has always been unreliable to connect to PC eePe, and recently the Aileron switch failed ... I wired the 5V to the board and Aileron switch is back to use again - but I cannot get the Turnigy radio to talk to eePe.

All I get is "item failed to answer" ... the SP board lights up when USB connected, I get the USB driver BEEPs, everything indicates fine - but no reading / writing of radio from eePe.

Anyone else have any clues ? Like I say the FlySky radio is fine and reads / writes perfectly ...

EDIT : PC is running Win 7 Professional and eePe is latest version, radio has latest er9x .... eePe is set to correct M64 etc.

Nigel

openrcforums

Sudden communication problem between EEPE and 9X transmitters

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