taranis wont turn on

General Help and support for the Taranis Radio.
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

I assume you are using Zadig etc. to flash the firmware. If that is working, then at least the processor is running when powered from the USB input.
You could try alternative firmware. On this post: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4676, in a .zip file you will find x9d_rom.bin. This is the ersky9x firmware for running on the Taranis. You could try flashing this and see if it runs.

Also, with firmware flashed, have you tried powering on in "bootloader" mode by holding both horizontal trims towards the centre as you switch on?

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fatcnt
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Yeah im using Zadig to flash it and it flashes fine uploads with no problem just tried the firmware you linked and still no change. Nothing happening when i switch it on still.
If i try to start it in Boot Loader mode again nothing happens.
Thanks for trying Mike i think im just going to have to return it as i have no other choice, nothing is fixing the problem
fatcnt
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Thought id link a little vid of whats happening ( or more correctly whats not happening )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2tHSwK ... ddiJiy_uBA

The last time it turned on a little USB icon was on in the top right corner and i couldn't turn it off again i had to wait for it to time out and turn itself off.
I dunno if this means anything.
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

If you want to investigate further, and have a test meter available, we can suggest plenty of tests you could make.

Have you opened the case up yet? If not, then as I think it did work before you flashed new firmware, then it is worth doing so and checking all the connectors are properly plugged in as a start.

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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Yeah I have already opened it up and checked for anything obvious but it all looked fine inside all plugs where they should be and all plugged in securely
I have a multi meter I'm happy to poke around in it ( it can't do any more harm)
Just please be detailed in explaining to me the processes as I'm not a electrician pics would help if it's at all possible
Thanks Mike

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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

Have a read of this thread from here: viewtopic.php?f=96&t=4076&start=60#p83240. Someone else had a power switch problem and this describes how to check for it.

Do ask if it is not clear enough.

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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Alright ive had a look inside and using this picture i determined that with the switch

off position on position
8=0 8=0
7=0.01 7=1.63
6=0 6=0.01
5=0.01 5=1.63
4=Negative 4=Negative
3=7.01 3=0
2=7.93 2=7.75
1=0.70 1=0

there was a short on pins 3&4 when switch is on

Continuity
off 0 ohms
on 1.6 ohms (i think im not an electrician don't know correct terms)

I hope ive done this correctly and this is of some help to you Mike as i dont really understand what these results mean.
I know its still DEAD tho :cry:
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

Well those values look OK. Now we go to the main board. When you switch power on, you should get the battery voltage on C54, and 3.3V at one end of R76.

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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

MikeB wrote:Well those values look OK. Now we go to the main board. When you switch power on, you should get the battery voltage on C54, and 3.3V at one end of R76.

Mike.
Ok Mike i just tested those and i got 7.72v on C54 (tested the battery and got 7.9v)
and got 3.3v on the top end of R76

So that seems to check out fine
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Scott Page
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Scott Page »

I've done screen sharing to help a number of people with problems upgrading to 2.0.x.
A couple of them have had problems with loosing the screen display after their own attempt to upgrade.

Turns out they had the misfortune to choose FrSky Taranis Plus firmware rather than regular Taranis. Easy mistake to make. In these cases it was simply a case of me looking @ their settings to confirm they'd configured for the Tararnis Plus. Then helped them change their settings to the correct version. Flashed from Companion and everything was golden.
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Scott Page »

Scott Page wrote:I've done screen sharing to help a number of people with problems upgrading to 2.0.x.
A couple of them have had problems with loosing the screen display after their own attempt to upgrade.

Turns out they had the misfortune to choose FrSky Taranis Plus firmware rather than regular Taranis. Easy mistake to make. In these cases it was simply a case of me looking @ their settings to confirm they'd configured for the Tararnis Plus. Then helped them change their settings to the correct version. Flashed from Companion and everything was golden.
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Yeah I was advised about that and have checked and no wasn't downloading TARANIS plus, I have even tried earlier versions of companion but nothing made any difference.
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

When you plug in the USB directly the USB powers the processor using the same power circuit you just tested.
Try the following test:
Hold the two horizontal trims inwards and switch on. This is supposed to go into the firmware bootloader, not the embedded STM bootloader. Now plug the USB cable in. What, if any, device(s) appear on the PC. If you get the STM DFU bootloader, then the Tx is still in hardware bootloader mode. If you get two disc drives, then you do have the firmware bootloader. If nothing, then the loaded firmware is not running properly.

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fatcnt
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

MikeB wrote:When you plug in the USB directly the USB powers the processor using the same power circuit you just tested.
Try the following test:
Hold the two horizontal trims inwards and switch on. This is supposed to go into the firmware bootloader, not the embedded STM bootloader. Now plug the USB cable in. What, if any, device(s) appear on the PC. If you get the STM DFU bootloader, then the Tx is still in hardware bootloader mode. If you get two disc drives, then you do have the firmware bootloader. If nothing, then the loaded firmware is not running properly.

Mike.
All i get in the devices menu is the STM32 Bootloader.
tried both the horizontal tabs and the old firmware version ON then plug in the usb still same STM32 Bootloader comes up
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Scott Page
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Scott Page »

fatcnt wrote:
MikeB wrote:When you plug in the USB directly the USB powers the processor using the same power circuit you just tested.
Try the following test:
Hold the two horizontal trims inwards and switch on. This is supposed to go into the firmware bootloader, not the embedded STM bootloader. Now plug the USB cable in. What, if any, device(s) appear on the PC. If you get the STM DFU bootloader, then the Tx is still in hardware bootloader mode. If you get two disc drives, then you do have the firmware bootloader. If nothing, then the loaded firmware is not running properly.

Mike.
All i get in the devices menu is the STM32 Bootloader.
tried both the horizontal tabs and the old firmware version ON then plug in the usb still same STM32 Bootloader comes up

Have you tried powering up with the SD card removed?
fatcnt
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Yeah again no difference
fatcnt
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by fatcnt »

Scott Page wrote:
fatcnt wrote:
MikeB wrote:When you plug in the USB directly the USB powers the processor using the same power circuit you just tested.
Try the following test:
Hold the two horizontal trims inwards and switch on. This is supposed to go into the firmware bootloader, not the embedded STM bootloader. Now plug the USB cable in. What, if any, device(s) appear on the PC. If you get the STM DFU bootloader, then the Tx is still in hardware bootloader mode. If you get two disc drives, then you do have the firmware bootloader. If nothing, then the loaded firmware is not running properly.

Mike.
All i get in the devices menu is the STM32 Bootloader.
tried both the horizontal tabs and the old firmware version ON then plug in the usb still same STM32 Bootloader comes up

Have you tried powering up with the SD card removed?
Alright i may have made some headway Mike using my old win7 laptop i was able to get my radio into STM DFU Bootloader mode after playing around with the drivers but using DfuSE Demo 3.0.3 i try loading the dfu file obtained from frsky and it loads then erases and downloads fine but hangs the program when it tries to upload cant figure out why.

then if i reinstall the zadig driver it goes into STM Bootloader mode again and using companion i tried to flash again but it still uploads fine but wont turn the radio on.

one thing i noticed that i dont get the dfu error on the details page( that i posted a screen shot of earlier ) after running the dfuse demo it seems to upload it fine but it says its fixing a incomplete dfu file or something during the process.

Dunno if this means anything to you?
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by XrayJunkie »

Hello,

I have quite similar problems with the taranis after the latest update.
Since then, i cant go into bootloader mode and connect to the companion to read/write any models.
If i use the horizontal trims and push the power slider top, the taranis wont do anything (not even power up).
This worked until the update. Please help!

Best regards
Jens
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Kilrah
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Kilrah »

It actually does power up, and connecting usb works. The problem is only display related.

Sent via mobile
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mnementh
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by mnementh »

Is this another Taranis/Taranis Plus firmware mixup, XRay? If so, you should still be able to connect and reflash via USB Using OpenTX Companion if you power up with both trim tabs pressed towards the center, then plug USB in. I've verified I can do this blind on both 2.0.08 and 2.0.10.

You should also be able to access MASS STORAGE and place only the correct file in the [FIRMWARES] folder on the SDcard (or do this by plugging the SD card into a reader on your PC), then flash the TX blind by powering up with both trim tabs pressed towards the center (remember to put the SD card back in the Taranis first if you copied the firmware using a card reader), then press [ENTER], wait a second, press [ENTER] again, press and HOLD [ENTER] for 5 seconds, then wait 60 seconds (should only take 15-20, but just to be sure) for writing to complete, then power cycle.

On a side note... every time I see "STM DFU" as related to STM DFU Bootloader mode, for a second I think it's an acronym for something VERY rude... LOL


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Kilrah
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Kilrah »

Yup but it was on the compile server, there was an issue where the Taranis firmware was bundled by mistake with the Taranis Plus bootloader. You can now redownload the firmware and flash it, it will be correct again.
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mnementh
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by mnementh »

Ahhhhh... Now I understand.

Well, at least I was able to recite the correct process for the guy! I guess I've learned SOMETHIN' from youzz guyzz!


mnem
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Tibbs327 »

I've been looking at the same issue, received new radio and nothing happens when turning on. Have performed all of the mentioned tests and checks, power is working, firmware at 2.0.8 and flashed ok. Shows up fine as the bootloader. I did find a few missed solder connections to the internal rf board, the ones that connects it to the backplane board. But these were not causing the issue of not turning on...

One day after fiddling and reflashing, I had left the usb connected to a computer(that was sitting in sleep mode at the time) and when I came home from work, flipped the switch, and it powered up. Unplugged USB and played with settings for awhile, everything seemed to be working great. So I then tried switching it off and then back on, it went off fine, but then nothing again turning back on. Same thing. Went back and plugged into the sleeping computer, and again it turned on (plugged in with power switch off, then switch on) I thought it was related to usb power from the computer, but it turned out there was none in this case, so then cut up a usb cable, plugged into the computer and started making measurements. I tried to simulate what the computer was doing by adding resistance to the other free end of the cable. Eventually I found that what was making the Taranis turn on, was to have a resistor of about 15 k ohm tied across the power and ground wires of the usb connector. So now when I plug in my cable-resistor, Taranis will switch on consistently every time, Then unplug and use as normal.

I'm still looking for the root cause as to why it isn't working, but I have found a workaround to get mine to turn on and can at least consistently use it.

It'd be nice if I had a second radio next to it to compare voltages or measurements to, but maybe mike B or someone has some ideas or things to check. I have a good fluke dmm and an o-scope available.

So far I'm wondering what the voltage should be across the two wires on either end of P12 of the Main board, (The center 5 wire jumper to the backplane board).


With radio off it measures right close to 0.001 vdc, with the switch on and the radio not booted up, it has about 2 - 2.3 volts there, and by adding a little resistance(fingers touching the probes) then the voltage drops, indicating a high resistance leak from somewhere else. With the resistor across usb power and ground, then it measures 0.000(radio off) then with radio on, booted up and still plugged in, reads 0.006 volts. As soon as I unplug the resistor(cable in the back) the voltage goes back up to about 2.02 volts.

I wish I had a set of schematics to trace and find what is the root cause of this problem.

Maybe the resistor/cable trick is something that will help "fatcnt" as well.

Anyway, I love the radio(when working) Super amazing features and just awesome to use. Well worth the efforts of getting it up and running.

Brandon
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

Good work!
There is a resistor divider from the USB power to the BOOT0 signal (processor pin 94). This is R91 (3K0) and R90 (7K5).
The USB power (5V) also goes through a diode (D6) to power the system when in USB boot mode.

Worth checking R90 and R91 are connected properly, they reduce the 5V from the USB to 3.3V for the processor.

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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Tibbs327 »

Mike,

Thanks for your help!!

I measured about 5 volts (with computer usb plugged in) at pin 94 on the processor. So suspected incomplete circuit on the divider. Hopefully it hasn't caused any damage, seems to be alright so far.

I found a bad solder connection at the ground side of R90, that completes the divider circuit. The radio now turns on just fine. Very fine smd components to work with, but have a good fine iron tip that worked well on it.

For a reference to other radios that may have the same problem, a quick way to check is by measuring the resistance across the wires at either end of the 5 pin connector P12, (which is bringing the USB data and power lines to the main board). There should be about 10.5 k ohms there(without any usb cables plugged in and radio off).

If it reads open, then this same problem likely exists.

Brandon
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Philipp
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Philipp »

Might be offtopic but not irrelevant: Are there any schematics of the Taranis publicly available? I guess you have one because of your work with FrSky and openTX, Mike. Is this covered by any NDAs or could you share it with us?
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MikeB
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by MikeB »

As I understand it, they are covered by the NDA. I'll ask FrSky whether they might make them available.

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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by Philipp »

Thank you very much, Mike!
This would be well received by all the Taranis modders and everyone who wants to help in diagnosing problems like the ones described in this thread.

Philipp
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mnementh
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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by mnementh »

I'd like to second that! It would be a welcome resource indeed!


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Re: taranis wont turn on

Post by JKim »

MikeB,

I may have started a thread but I have a similar problem. I did check voltage at C54 and R76 and I get battery voltage at both ends of R76. Is this is easy fix?

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