Big Problem I did something wrong with my Sky9x Rev3 Radio. (Fixed !)

[bob195558]

HI Everyone,

This morning when I turned on my Sky9x Radio (Rev3) I get a blank screen and I have no USB connection to Win7 64bit.

I think I must have done something wrong to the original ersky9x firmware (Jan, 2013)
when trying to configuring SAM-BA so to try to connect to my Sky9x Radio.

I have been totally lost with the all the procedures and information.
I am not getting it. Some things I understand easily.
But the computer connecting to eepSkye and/or Companion9x with having the SAM-BA program mixed in with it, is not making sense to me.
Please forgive me I am totally Frustrated this morning.
I am not a programmer and so I have become lost in trying to understand, what needs to be done with all the pieces of information.


OK to start over:
I did something wrong with the SAM-BA program to the Sky9x Radio late last night.
So now this morning when I turn on the Sky9x Radio I have a blank screen and there is NO USB connection with my Win7 64bit computer.
The USB connection was working.

What is wrong with my Sky9x Radio?
What did I do?
How do I fix it?

HELP!
Bob

[MikeB]

First, unlike the AVR in the stock board, the EEPROM is a separate device and all your models should be safe in it.

I seems somehow the program in the board is no longer correct.

1. Open up the Tx.
2. Just left of the SD socket you will find a 2-pin header labelled ERASE.
3. Short the 2-pins of the ERASE header together, then switch the Tx on. This will erase the program in the ARM processor and force it into ROM mboot mode.
4. Switch off.
5. Remove the short on the ERASE pins.
6. Plug in the USB to the computer.
7. Switch the Tx on, you should now get the USB connected tones on the computer.
8. Run SAM-BA.
9. Set the "Send File Name" box to the file to flash.
10. Click on the "Send File" button.
11. do NOT lock it when asked.
12. Make sure the "Scripts" box contains "Boot from Flash (GPNVM1)", then press the "Execute" button.
13. Terminate SAM-BA
14. Switch the Tx off.
15. Unplug the USB cable from the Tx.
16. Switch the Tx on and it should all be working.

Mike.

[jhsa]

Mike, I'm gonna save this one Thanks

João

[ShowMaster]

Great feature! No bricking/dead radio I've done that I can't reverse with the reset!
One advantage the HK 9XR should have if they stick with SkyNorth's design.

[bob195558]

THANK YOU !!! THANK YOU !!! THANK YOU !!!

It is up and Running again!

I do have an ALERT: Update Co- Processor

Is this the process that I need to do next ?

1) Down load the TinyApp.bin from: (https://github.com/MikeBland/ersky9x)
2) Plug USB cable between computer and Sky9x Radio.
3) Switch Sky9x Radio ON, and you should now here the USB connection tones on the computer.
4) Start SAM-BA program.
5) Select the "Send File Name" box to the file (Tinyapp.bin) to Co- Processor.
6) Click on the "Send File" button.
7) Select NO, Do NOT lock it when asked.
8) Make sure the "Scripts" box contains "Enable Co- Processor", then press the "Execute" button.
9) Terminate SAM-BA, Close SAM-BA program down.
10) Switch the Sky9x Radio Off.
11) Unplug the USB cable from the Radio.
12) Switch the Radio back on and it should all be working correctly.

After this do I need to Re-Calibrate the Radio or should it be OK ?


Then after this, should I be able to connect to eepSkye ?

1) Open eepSkye program.
2) Connect the USB cable between computer and Sky9x Radio.
3) Switch Sky9x Radio ON, and you should now here the USB connection tones on the computer.
4) Open the Configuration Box and set the SAM-BA Location: (C:/Program Files (x86)/Atmel v2 12/sam-ba_2.12/sam-ba.exe).

Should this work OK ?
I have not been able to connect to eepSkye in the past.

[MikeB]

No, this is the correct order, don't miss the Address setting

1) Down load the TinyApp.bin from: (https://ersky9x.googlecode.com/svn/trun ... inyapp.bin)
2) Plug USB cable between computer and Sky9x Radio.
3) Switch Sky9x Radio ON, and you should now hear the USB connection tones on the computer.
4) Start SAM-BA program.
5) Select the CoProcessor tab
6) Make sure the "Scripts" box contains "Enable Co- Processor", then press the "Execute" button.
7) Select the "Send File Name" box to the file (Tinyapp.bin) to Co- Processor.
8) Set the Address box to 0x080
9) Click on the "Send File" button.
10) Terminate SAM-BA, Close SAM-BA program down.
11) Switch the Sky9x Radio Off.
12) Unplug the USB cable from the Radio.
13) Switch the Radio back on and it should all be working correctly.

As the EEPROM has NOT been changed, your previous calibration should still be correct.

eepskye should work OK.

Mike.

[kaos]

Bob: 'glad' you had this issue, now we all have a complete recovery guide in one place. There were spread all over the place before. It is bookmarked. In the future, if someone has similar problem withe Sky9x, this topic will take care of it.
May be someone can put those two Mike's posts in wiki as "SKy9x recovery guide".

[bob195558]

Thank You again Mike ! I appreciate your help.

My Sky9x Radio is able to connect to the eepskye program.

Thank you for correcting the process sequences to install the CoProcessor firmware.
I see what I was doing incorrectly now, I was mixing up the process sequences and inserting the wrong path and/or information.
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I made some small wording changes to the SAM-BA CoProcessor Utility procedures.
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SAM-BA CoProcessor Utility procedure:
1) Down load the TinyApp.bin from: (https://github.com/MikeBland/ersky9x).
2) Plug USB cable between Computer and Sky9x Radio.
3) Switch Sky9x Radio ON, and you should now hear the USB connection tones on the computer.
4) Start SAM-BA program.
5) Click: "Connect" on the SAM_BA Connection Window.
6) Select the "CoProcessor" tab.
7) Make sure the "Scripts" box contains "Enable CoProcessor", then Click the "Execute" button.
8) Select the "Send File Name: box and browse to find the path to the Tinyapp.bin file.
9) Set the Address box to: 0x080
10) Click on the "Send File" button.
11) Terminate SAM-BA, Close down the SAM-BA program down.
12) Switch the Sky9x Radio Off.
13) Unplug the USB cable between the Computer and Sky9x Radio.
14) Switch the Sky9x Radio back ON and it should all be working correctly.

Sky9x Radio when USB is connected to Computer.

Click: Connect on the SAM_BA Connection Window.

SAM_BA CoProcessor tab.

134_Flash erSky9x firmware to Sky9x Radio.

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I added some more process procedure lines for connecting the eepSkye program to the Sky9x Radio.
Dose this look good ?
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eepSkye Connect Procedure to Sky9x Radio:
1) Open eepSkye program.
2) Connect the USB cable between Computer and Sky9x Radio.
3) Open the Configuration window of eepSkye program.
4) Set the SAM-BA Location: in the box, set the path to where the sam-ba.exe program is located. (C:/Program Files (x86)/Atmel v2 12/sam-ba_2.12/sam-ba.exe)
5) Set the mcu: at91sam3s4-9x
6) Set the Port: \USBserial\COM6 (Note: the COM port may be different with different computers).
7) Click: OK to Close the SAM-BA Configuration window of the eepSkye program.
8) Click: Preferences and make suitable changes if needed.
9) Then try Clicking: "Read Memory from Tx" to see if you are able to make connection with the Sky9x Radio or try Clicking: "Read firmware from Tx".

Note: if connection fails the first time try rechecking your Configuration setting and try again.

eepskye Configuration window

eepskye Preferences

eepSkye Model eeprom List from Sky9x Radio

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[MikeB]

I forget the "connect" bit as I have set my shortcut to pass the connect parameters to SAM-BA so I don't get the "connect" dialog.

Mike.

[bob195558]

Hi Mike,

I struggled with what the proper terminology should be,
I admit to not having a good understanding to what the whole process and/or some parts of the process should be labeled.

My thinking was I am connecting my Sky9x Radio to the eepSkye software over the top of the SAM-BA software and/or maybe next to the SAM-BA software.
Something like Dos (being SAM-BA) is under the Windows 95, 98 and so on software (Windows representing eepSkye software).

I am not sure how to view the two programs, eepSkye and SAM-BA, in how they relate and/or connect, and/or, if I understand what you may be saying, Pass Through, to each other.

So to put all the wordy-explanation aside,
I do not know how to describe and do not have a full understanding to how it all is working together. "connect" was my best guess.

Please advise me to what I need to change (edit) my documentation to have the proper terminology. I will really appreciate your help.

Bob

[MikeB]

No changes needed. I was referring to item 5 in your post above about "SAM-BA CoProcessor Utility procedure:"
I have my SAM-BA command line include the parameters that are in the "connect" dialog box so I don't get that dialog box appearing. I just click on the SAM-BA shortcut I have and get the SAM-BA window!

Mike.

[bob195558]

I see cool!
I was not thinking of the probability that you had made changes to the SAM-BA program
and so was not understanding your statement.
OK cool!

[MikeB]

THis is the command line I have on my desktop shortcut:
c:/...../sam-ba.exe \USBserial\COM8 at91sam3s4-9x
(replace the ..... with the correct path to sam-ba)

Clearly the parameters are those values that appear in the connect dialog. This saves having to click on the connect button, it just runs and connects.

Mike.

[bob195558]

Hi Mike,
The old place where the down-load for the TinyApp.bin is not there any more.

1) Down load the TinyApp.bin from: (https://ersky9x.googlecode.com/svn/trun ... inyapp.bin).

I was not able to find it in github.com
If you or any one knows where it is, I will make the proper edit-update for where it is.

Suggestion: Maybe TinyApp.bin and SAM-BA info could be added to the (http://www.er9x.com/) too.

Thank you Mike

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Add edit: I did find this TinyApp.bin file on my computer from Feb. 18, 2013.
I do not know if this is good or not, but here it is in a zip file:
Removed old Zip download for TinyApp.bin Feb 24 2019

[MikeB]

Quick answer is the googlecode files have been exported to https://github.com/MikeBland/ersky9x, so the TinyApp is there.

Mike

[bob195558]

Thank you Mike !
I have made the changes for where to find the TinyApp.bin file.

One more question, should I remove the down-load for the "Tinyapp.zip" file (Attachment) ?
As it is an old file.

[MikeB]

Might as well.

Mike