New-to-me(~2 years old) 9XR Pro owner - need update help

[hilslamer]

Hi all - MASSIVE thanks for anyone who has the patience to help me. I have spent 4 hours reading and searching and not come to any conclusion as to what to do to get these working, or rather to be able to talk to them to update

Background:

• 2 years ago, I bought two Turnigy 9XR Pro radios(one Mode1, one Mode 2 - I had reasons if you ask), and they have sat in the box since due to postponement of the re-entry into modern RC as a result of a relationship crash and then a new one. 'nuff said.

• I am now trying to flash one or both of these with the latest firmware.

• When I run the bootloader, the Mode 1 radio says I have bootloader v1.3

• When I run the bootloader, the Mode 2 radio says I have bootloader v1.0

• When I usa a data-confirmed-capable mini-USB to USB2 cable to plug either radio into my Windows XP laptop, it fails to recognize them as a 'drive' or 'drives'(I have not plugged them in simulataneously as this might imply)

First question:
Is there something I'm missing to get either one to be recognized so that I can use the eePesky software to talk to them?


I have tried to read the wiki but the page is scrambled and clearly broken right now.

[MikeB]

Power the radio on while holding both horizontal trim switches towards the centre, then plug in the USB cable.
I can't remember when I made the bootloader recognise the USB cable at power on and enter the bootloader code, early versions went to the processor ROM boot code.

Mike.

[hilslamer]

Mike - I have tried all combinations of this:

- hold both hz trim switches toward center, turn on, plug in USB cable(laptop already on/nothing else running/USB cable plugged into known-good USB port)
- opposite of above: laptop booted, USB plugged into laptop and 9XR Pro, and then hold both hz trim switches toward center, turn on


It's obvious to me that the bootloader is well and truly outdated, since I find mention of v2.0 or higher all over the forums here. I have not figured out how to standardize(across my two TX's) or the bootloader yet, any help there would be a good start too. I'd rather just get both of these radios to soemthing basic and standard across both of them so that I know what I'm dealing with; they are complex enough as it is.


As a side note, I *just* found all of the manuals for the 9XR on here, and will try pulling the micro SD card out and making sure that I can read that with a

[MikeB]

If you put your SD card in your computer, you can copy the latest ersky9x firmware to it (in the "Firmware" directory). Then, when you put the SD card back in to the radio and start in bootloader mode, you can flash the new firmware. This won't update the bootloader. To update that, power on with the horizontal trims held APART and you will start in " Maintenance mode". This includes the option to update the bootloader. Update from the same firmware file you used to update the radio with.

Do you ever get the "USB connected" tones from the computer? Try connect up the USB then just power on without any trims held.

Just remembered, the USB connector on the 'PRO needs a VERY firm push when you plug in, it sort of clicks in to place.

Mike.

[hilslamer]

Do you ever get the "USB connected" tones from the computer? Try connect up the USB then just power on without any trims held.

No, hence all these questions. I have an older Dell laptop with the best of the last Windows XP on it that it my tried-and-true, talk-to-anything laptop for talking to Megasquirt EFI, old hard drives, etc. If it won't talk to these radios, nothing will. I have a flagged, known-to-be-a-charging-only USB cable(for testing) and a known-solid-for-data USB cable.

Just remembered, the USB connector on the 'PRO needs a VERY firm push when you plug in, it sort of clicks in to place.

I agree, I noticed the same, and made sure everythign was seated properly durign testing. It was what I thought the original problem was. However both TX's indicated "Connecting..." but never show up as a drive(s) or respond to antyhing else. I can only assume this means there is a programmign or electronic issue instead of physical contact/connectivity issue.



I will try everythign you said, and report back, tonight(I'm in NZ, and it's afternoon here as I type this.)


I have to say, readign through all of the manuals, I am very excited to get these working as planned ages ago. Mixing and all of the switching is going to be so much fun to learn and play with!

[jhsa]

try it on a friend's computer. See if you can see the 2 drives

João

[hilslamer]

try it on a friend's computer. See if you can see the 2 drives

Will also try this tonight, thanks. Pretty sure it's not my laptop, but will prove it out to the best of my abilities.

[hilslamer]

OK...so the report is in:
Tried my work desktop computer, with the same results as before; "Connecting..." but no recognition of drive. Only had the original mini-USB cable at the time, but same results with both 9XR Pro's. Hmmm.

In the end, it turned out to be a very, very tight min-USB connector(esp on one of my radios).

I was able to get both of my 9XR Pro's to communicate with my laptop. I was pushing the mini-USB plug in pretty hard, and getting a "Connecting..." indicated on the screens of both, but no drive recognition from the laptop. Pushing surprisingly hard popped the cable all the way into the port, and voila, full connection, drive recognition, the works. The socket on my Mode 1 radio was so tight that the outer metallic sheath of the mini-USB connector came off when I went to remove the cable. Got another data-capable one, verified data functionality, and lubricated the outside of it with a finger-swipe of candle wax(non conductive) and it goes in and out with reasonable force now, and connects to both.

I have a lot to learn about the mixes, and burning and all that but I think I san learn from all that you have so helpfully typed up and teach myself as I go.

THANKS to everyone here, I will pop a donation through next payday(pretty thin right now).


To Be Continued:
The next step I just have to get my Orange RX DSMX/DSM2 module to bind properly with my Orange 615 RX and Orange 3-Axis flight stabilizer RX too. I could not get them to bind properly before, but ran out of time to try last night. I'll start a separate thread for that if I can't find anythign helpful in searches here.