USB connection died

[Romushock]

Hi, guys... I'm speachless... From yesterday to today Taranis don't more recognized by laptop. All was fine, I've flash a pair of FW with different languages, import some models by Companion - all was OK. Today - apocalypse... I've try all 4 ports USB, 2 different cables, disinstall and reinstal drivers, recovery system, turning back one week - nothing to do. Zadig don't find Tx, system see it as unrecognized device, I'm tide to nervous crisis... Can somebody save my mental health?...
thks

[ShowMaster]

If you let your radio finish the hello and no screen errors displayed, will you computer find the sd card? It may take 60 seconds. I never tried that when I had trouble.
I'm thinking that I had your issue last August, got my Taranis in July, where my XP couldn't find the tx to flash.
I had to uninstall and reinstall the Taranis drivers and Zadig again. I never tried a earlier restore point to see if that would work.
Hopefully it's not a hardware issue.
Trying a fresh install on another computer would hopefully rule out hardware quickly.

[Romushock]

If you let your radio finish the hello and no screen errors displayed, will you computer find the sd card? It may take 60 seconds. I never tried that when I had trouble.

Hi, ShowMaster, thanks for an answer. Well, I had try to install Companion and run zadig onto laptop of my wife Completely same situation - PC don't recognize a periferial, don't see SD card (waiting for more than 5 min's). In the moment of hook up USB cable SD icon goes subsitute with USB icon and... nothing else
Any idea?

[Kilrah]

On the PC, do you hear the usual "usb connected" sound when you plug it in?

[Romushock]

No, Andrè, neither sound, nor popup message about recognized USB device.

[MikeB]

Seems to me you have a broken connection between the USB connector and the processor. The USB connector is mounted on a small PCB that is mounted at right angles on the back PCB. I would guess one of the connections between them is broken.

Mike.

[Romushock]

Thks, Mike. I also think about cold welding or mecanic damage. Now I'm at work, will check it tomorrow morning. BTW, does it possible to boot a bootloader from SD?

[Romushock]

Well, as I wrote on this website some time ago - "in Mike we trust"... It was a bad soldering, this morning I saw my Taranis inside at first time. Here I attach some fotos -
before

and after

And, as a prompt for a manufacturers, my solution of USB port.

I make it for Turnigy 9X and for sure will replace original Taranis port in near future. Thanks a lot to everyone who helped to solve a problem.

[ShowMaster]

Yes, Mikes a smart guy! Good to know, good pictures! Others may be having the same trouble that's not a PC/driver issue after all. I guess the stick test is to see if the sd card shows up? Does windows find a driver for it? I can't remember what I did in July.
Your pictures should be added to the tx hardware section under Taranis with your fix explanation. Good to know!

About your USB connector on your 9x. I use the same setup using USB boards from Sparkfun. Usually I add a mini USB pigtail connector to the USBasp board. I also use it on the sky9x board to avoid making a it in the case for the provided onboard one.

[Kilrah]

The yellow "unrecognised device" popup means with no doubt that it's a hardware problem (cable or radio).

If there's no popup and the connection sound is heard then it's a software problem.

[Romushock]

I guess the stick test is to see if the sd card shows up? Does windows find a driver for it? I can't remember what I did in July.

No, SD icon goes off when you hook up USB. WIN don't ask nothing (having a good connection ) and shows immediately Taranis folder and SD as external hard disk.

Your pictures should be added to the tx hardware section under Taranis with your fix explanation. Good to know!

One thing, ShowMaster. I post here resized to 800x600 pix fotos. If you need a full-size high res fotos for play around (crop, resize, insert own text) - let me know, I'll send it.

About your USB connector on your 9x. I use the same setup using USB boards from Sparkfun. Usually I add a mini USB pigtail connector to the USBasp board. I also use it on the sky9x board to avoid making a it in the case for the provided onboard one.

+1

[ShowMaster]

Sorry about my typos. My iPod touch auto correct messes with me.
All the info is good. I fly at several club fields and do repairs for club members. More Taranis radios showing up and more ordered so I'm sure I'll be asked if there's trouble. So far my July Taranis has performed fine for me. Aloft sent me replacement sticks and the display and audio file patches worked out ok for me. What buzz I hear goes away at the field with all the gas, nitro, and EDF planes flying so I'm good there for now. Later earphone/earbud flying will require some audio fix.
Programming and drivers seem to be the #1 issue to overcome.
What's needed is a "Bart's" type .iso file that one can download and burn as a bootable cd maybe?
That way it maybe would run its own OS and drivers and programs maybe?

[uranach]

Got my Taranis yesterday. Unfortunatly the USB connector got killed plugin in the cable for the first time. I was able to flash the firmware once, but after removing the cable and plugin it in again there was only 'unknown device' recognized by Windows. Looking at the mini USB connector, I see that one of the data pins is bent and does not give connection anymore. Tried to bend it back again, but without any luck.

I'm not sure if I should return it and try to get a new one on warranty or if I should replace the connector myself (voiding warranty).

Have you been able to fix yours? How is the connector soldered to the small PCB? Is it easy replaceable? From your pictures it looks like the connector itself is SMD which is a bit cumbersome to solder.

Any thoughts?

Urs

[ShowMaster]

A real shame! Maybe check with the shop you bought it from about warranty. Maybe with pictures sent you'll get the ok to try it yourself first. I've not actually looked at the connector mounting. Is it on a daughter board or mounted directly on the main board? I know at least one revA owner had to resolder his USB pins but didn't see any details posted.
If you have your case open please post a picture of the connector mounting.
Please keep your post updated.
I guess this is something to look out for. Maybe it should be a stocked replacement part.





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[MikeB]

The USB connector is mounted on a small PCB that is soldered at right angles to the backboard PCB. There has been at least one reported failure of the soldered connections between this small PCB and the backboard, worth checking. I had a problem with that on a prototype unit.

Mike.

[Kilrah]

His post (the bit about the moving pin) seems to suggest the USB connector itself is badly soldered to the little board.

Your call. If you feel comfortable resoldering you might want to go ahead, otherwise not. The balance obviously depends on where you'd have to ship your radio to to get it replaced/fixed.

[uranach]

Thanks for your replies.

Talked to the guys where I bought the radio (here in switzerland). They would change it on waranty, but won't have any radios the next 2-3 months. So they gave me green light to at least check if the USB can be replaced without loosing waranty. So now I have it open...

It's not going to be easy because I will have to replace the whole USB socket. It's not that it was loose because any soldering was not good. By putting in the plug, one of the thin connectors within the socket was bent back. By trying to bend it back again it broke (just realised now I have it open). So there's no way around replacing the whole USB plug. But to be able to solder, I will have to remove the complete mini PCB, which itself is soldered to the main back PCB of the Taranis.

The USB connector itself is SMD which will be cumbersome to solder.

All the existing solderings look good, it is realy the socket that has the problem. And it broke by plugin in a normal mini USB plug. Never happened to me before with any other USB socket...

I'll keep you posted...

Urs

[uranach]

This could have been worse...

removing the small PCB was easy, since it's only held in place by 6 solder points.

Removing the Socket was also not that big an issue

Sorry for the bad image quality.

The handling would have been much easier if the antenna wouldn't be soldered to the back PCB. But as you can see it worked anyway.

Now going to look for a replacement socket that fits on the PCB.

Cheers
Urs

[Kilrah]

Good job on the unsoldering, clean!

If you want I have a few unused connectors, I can send you one in an envelope tomorrow.

[uranach]

Success.

Managed to solder the new socket and everything is back to normal again. USB is fixed and responds as expected both on and off! Afterall, it wasn't that big issue as I thought in the beginning...

Cheers
Urs

[ShowMaster]

Really good news. Where did you get your replacement USB connector?


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[uranach]

There is an electronics shop near the place that I work.

--> distrelec.ch

They have two diffrent smd mounted sockets from diffrent vendors. They almost match exactly in the specs and PCB layout, so it doesn't realy matter which one to take.

[ShowMaster]

Good find. Glad it worked out.


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