Tried updating KISS and FC is now borked.

[PsyBorg]

Right now I am highly pissed off so I am gonna vent a bit. You can skip down a few paragraphs if you want in on the real part of the conversation.

Why the !@#$!% do programmers these days INSIST on forcing updates on everyone. EVERY time I have every got tangled in a forced update it has totally @!#$!@#$ up how things worked perfectly previously on what ever it was that got updated. Right now I can fully understand why someone just walks into a random business and attacks the first people they see. It has nothing to do with the people its just the !@#$up system that no one has a recourse from problems that are caused by the STUPID people running things these days. What ever happened to common F'ing sense. Have we bred that out of our genetics at this point? Its like everything someone needs or wants to do digitally has become the most intrusive degrading moronic cluster !@#%%^ humanly possible.

How hard is it for one of these idiots to package what is needed for their products. They already have it all. They already proved it works. Yet these morons insist on taking the lazy way out (Which btw for all you lazy people 99% of the time ends up as more work anyways.) can't put it all in one package.. NOOOOO you have to go to 5 other websites they link you to after hours or days researching why your stuff no longer works. THEN you have to submit to a full background check, a lineage run down, and finally a full on digital cavity search just to get a simple driver that should have been put in the program in the first !#$!@#ing place.

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone else want to implement an annual beat the crap out of a dev national holiday like I do?

Ohhhmmm mada padma ohhhhmmmm ..... breathe in ... breathe out.

Ok on to the issue at hand. I have been having an issue with one of my motors randomly working or not.. Physically they are fine and work. The esc is good as well. Swapped them both out for brand new replacements still no fix. That kind of leaves a software issue at this point. Normal thing is to reload software and see what happens. So I fire up the working KISS gui and try to reflash the esc's. The Gui shows motors 1,3 and 4 having firmware on it that is supposed to be there. Number two is totally blank. I figure cool. it forgot what it was supposed to do. (this is pre motor and esc swaps btw) I reflash and it goes thru the process fine. No dice still same issue. Reflash again still no fix. So I figure maybe the FC firmware is the issue. Dummy me thinks.. OK if I gotta go thru all this anyways may as well update to the latest and greatest. I flash the newest firmware unplug the controller to reboot it and now I have nothing.

I get no usb connection, I get no blue lights on the FC only the green power light. The lights on the esc's flash and then go out. Bills law strikes yet again....

Soo I figure that I will revert back to what I know works and let other more qualified people work out the issues with the new stuff. Fire up DFuse and reflash to the firmware I was using no problem. Do a reboot and again nothing. Now to top it all off it will no longer connect thru the usb at all. Not the bootloader, not the gui, NOTHING.

I have just spent the last two dam days trying to uninstall drivers and reload them. For that I did the normal uninstall if the software had the uninstall, if not I did the windows uninstall. Cleared out all the remaining files and folders that randomly get left behind when doing this. COLD booted the computer to make sure nothing remained of the drivers. Even ran a registry cleaner to finish clearing left over keys and reg entries and what not. Cold booted again and started the reloading of drivers. After several runs thru that fiasco I STILL can not talk to the FC. I only get this widows message.



This does not look like the normal driver not found as it specifically states device failed. Am I beating my head on the wall here and my FC took a dump or is this still a driver issue?

 

[LitterBug]

Deep breaths my friend! <deep sigh> <-- taking one for you

It sounds as if the board is not booting up at all and the PC detects that you have plugged something in, but it can not communicate with it. I have not delved into the world of KISS ...yet... so have no real world knowledge to work with. I'd head over to the flyduino forums where hopefully the KISS experts live.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[PsyBorg]

I am leaning towards a dead or dieing FC since the issue has been growing and getting worse as time goes on. I am gonna grab the FC outta the Versa and connect to the usb port and see where that goes. If that lights up and talks That will pretty much confirm an issue with IO ports of the KISS fc processor. Id rather not sign up to yet another freakin website. There is plenty or knowledge and resources here that I should not need to wade into the more non social places for RC help. At this point I think I would go over the edge and truly snap if I had some kiddiot tell me to "Just Google it" or something equally as stupid.

 

[makattack]

Sorry for your frustrations... but heh, I have to laugh because this is a typical day at work

Unfortunately in my world of Computer Science / Software / those damned programmers, we know one thing: software that doesn't change is basically dead software. Invariably, there are problems with it that may grow into a risk, or make it become incompatible with other systems. I guess it's a bit of a self-fulfilling thing. Sort of like a giant Katamari ball (having never played the game, but am familiar with the concept).

Anyway, it's possible that this indicates a marginal FC was sort of working but finally failed. I've had those problems where it seems my changing things finally made some hardware fail, but who knows if it would have already failed on its own without my touching it?

 

[earthsciteach]

The only thing I can offer you is empathy and understanding. This type of thing is why I shy away from multirotors.

 

[PsyBorg]

I don't mind the challenge of figuring things out. In fact I love it and that's pretty much what keeps me going by having that challenge. I just get so frustrated with this whole thing of nearly every button click you do these days requires you to register for this or sign up for that. If this keeps up by next year you will have to log in before you can wipe your behind in a public rest room.

The biggest thing that just rubs me raw right now is I FINALLY got it set up the way I always thought it should fly. I was able the last time it flew to do Skitzo esq slow and smooth flips and rolls not 5 feet off the ground. I sooo was looking forward to a zen type flight experience when the weather finally breaks..

 

[earthsciteach]

You will get it worked out. It does sound like the FC is being problematic. See what happens when we give the machines brains? LOL!

 

[PsyBorg]

Hey I resemble that remark.. Neck fused, shoulder rebuilt, electrical simulator implanted.. That whole brain part is debatable though so Not quite fully there just yet.

 

[ElectriSean]

Great rant, we don't get enough of those around here

I've never played with Kiss, but it definitely sounds like a hardware issue. Have you tried swapping USB cables in case the one you always use was damaged somehow? Just a thought, I'd hate to have you shell out for a new FC and find that it was just a bad cable.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Totally get it man. I have had it with Windows 10 hosing my drivers and telling me the software that worked yesterday is 'incompatible' today and resetting my hardware clock after every reboot. I am now back on Windows 7 where everything works and dual booting to linux because when 7 ends, 10 will NOT be an option.

Like Mak, I am a pro dev. You have described why my company has me on the payroll. I find it helps to have food nearby. When you feel the heat rising, a good ole double bacon cheeseburger works WONDERS on my ability to see things for what they really are. If things are really rough, I take the motorcycle.


I'm with Sean on this one BTW. The simplest issue is usually the culprit. I think this is hardware and I would start with the cable. Yeah, I know, it worked yesterday.

Another thing to consider is USB 2 or 3. If you have both, try the other.

 

[PsyBorg]

Yes I have tried at least 4 different cables. That was one of the first trouble shooting attempts. I am pretty sure one of several things has happened. It was pretty damp and grey out the last time I flew before the issues started popping up so it is possible part of the FC got too wet and may have temp shorted something but not killing it. That and or the chlorophyll from all the grass that has been chopped up by this thing had worked its way under one of the chips and produces some sort of electrical path some how. Not sure its conductive but hey this IS Bills Law we are dealing with here. In reality I will bet that it is more likely that the board has got hairline fractures from the many hard impacts it has taken along my journey to learn how to fly. Or similarly there is a component with a bad solder joint for the same reasons.

The Rant was frustration because I went to the STMicroelectronics site to get the latest drivers linked where I got the original drivers with no hassle and got hit with that "We MUST haz all your informationz" line of BS that the digital world is so obsessed with wringing out of people. Needless to say I did NOT fill out the info and instead sent them some very nasty and very vulgar feedback.

Crap like that puts me off of buying products that support the "Corps" so I am now on the fence whether to even bother with KISS if they can not put out a fully working package where I don't have to jump thru hoops to do something that is supposed to be fun. Same with all the other products out there. In my opinion you got my money for your product be happy with that and leave me the hell alone so I can go out and enjoy and do what I bought your product for in the first place.

 

[LitterBug]

PB,
I have about 20 names, spam email addresses, and birthdays that I use for just such occasions. Some rather humorous and inappropriate. Awaiting my first KISS AIO board to join the flock so I'll be feeling this pain myself really soon. My concern is that the drivers used for *flight and dRonin are all going to play nice with KISS together. I'd hate to need/have a system or VM dedicated just for one quad....

CHEERS!
LB

 

[rockyboy]

I haven't flow a KISS setup myself, but on the last 3 or 4 multi-rotor podcasts I'm hearing a lot of top pilots say that performance has pretty much leveled out between KISS / Betaflight / Raceflight at the moment - so if you're thinking of going to an F3 / Betaflight setup it shouldn't be a step backwards anymore.

 

[PsyBorg]

Ok I R back in the air after a full on frontal assault to make it happen.

Since all my drivers seemed to be borked and Not sure what state any of my firmware was in I got up this morning after wiping out all of my usb drivers last night and started from scratch. I loaded defuse demo again, rebooted. Then I loaded VCP again, rebooted. Tried connecting the new KISS FC and it would talk to the gui but not work in boot loader mode. Went back thru the guide on a link from Flyduino and found there is a set of drivers in Defuse that has to be loaded separately for either 32 bit or 64 bit. Found them in the Defuse folder and loaded the 64 bit. EVERYTHING started talking again in both modes including the Taranis. Celebratory fresh cup of coffee time!!!

Since I was on a roll I figured I have to load all new firmware to get everything on the same levels again so I decided it was best to do it all including the Taranis. I started with that and it took me a few tries before I got things loaded AND saved to the eeprom.... Funny how important writing to the eeprom is huh.. Can't just flash it and have it loaded in the memory noooooo. Anyway another success!!

Went out and got the new all inclusive package from Flyduino that had the newest gui, FC firmware, ESC' firmware and documentation in one file. Bout freakin time. I guess my rant may have rumbled the force enough somehow. Unpacked it all and started flashing the FC. ZERO problems Defuse loaded it right in I saved it and verified it all. Opened the gui and it connected right up all the new features were there and I set up what I could without the FC in the quad and powered up.

Another cup of coffee and the search for my granny glasses I tossed the other day in anger and it was off to the work table to solder it all back in. Once that was done I flashed the esc's again no problem. Once that was all done I grabbed the smoke stopper and put a 4s to her and all was good. Removed the smoke stopper put power back on it and verified that the motors spun, the reciever was bound and talking and finally that the fail safe worked. Back to the computer for finishing up settings and reloading my last known good pids.

The last thing was to add the LUA script for tuning. I ran into another problem with that but only for a few minutes until I removed my head from that dark place and realized I had not looked for new sensors for it to see. as soon as I did that the script worked and it read the FC's PID settings and all the other fancy stuffs it was supposed to.

It was getting late by this time and the winds were picking up as a storm is working its way here. I only had charged one battery while I was working on that script issue so out to the back yard for a re re re maiden. Success!!

Will be back to posting crappy flight videos in no time!!

 

[LitterBug]

WOOHOO! Glad you are making great progress PB! Sounds like you were getting what I did initially with the DFU driver. That was really the only driver that I needed to mess with that was different from all my other FCs.

Cheeerrrzzzzz!

LB

 

[rockyboy]

Awesome progress my friend! :applause:

 

[PsyBorg]

Can't wait for sunny days and warm breezes. I grabbed a few cyclone props to try out when I ordered the FC. Its time to skrimp for more batteries as I am down to 4 graphenes and the two 1800 gens ace are showing signs of higher internal resistance when charging. So after paying back my bud for the FC n props I will be grabbing more batteries. Its a never ending budget battle hehe. Guess the thought of a better flight camera this year wont happen til mid to late summer.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Kick ass PsyBorg! Looks like the full on frontal assault works!

I too gave STM the finger over their data collection. I use VPN, Privacy Badger, HTTPS everywhere etc and I refuse to wear a leash (smartphone with GPS). Sometimes, I use TOR on news sites. It's just to provide cover for malcontents and other subversives.

Somehow Zadig seems to have done the trick although it won't surprise me at all if Zadig isn't part of my problems. Still Windows 7 has allowed me to connect for 3 days in a row. Windows 10 would have already hosed me twice by now.

At any rate, I too should be posting crappy video again using my no personal identifying Youtube account that constantly questions my logins from Texas, Illinois and BoraBora IP addresses.

Sic em, Psy! Looking forward to a few more Alien crashes!

 

[PsyBorg]

Hey.. Just an FYI. I don't use Zadig at all. I loaded in Defuse demo 3.0.5 and then loaded in the 64 bit specific drivers. Then VCP 1.4.0.

Here is the rub.... Defuse puts thedrivers in two separate directories. If I load the one that is obvious nothing works. If you load the one that resides in C:\Program files x86\STMicroelectronics\software\virtual comport driver\win7 it lights up everything. The other place lists just win7 with 32bit and 64 bit drivers which is what I believe gets loaded when you install so reloading them manually did not work as they were already running.

Take a peek at that directory. Not sure ya wanna mess with yours now that things are awake and functioning but keep that in mind if you have troubles again.

I don't remember where I think it was in the early Kiss setup videos but it mentioned to NOT use Zadig as it conflicted with the VCP1.4 and caused issues. I haven't used Zadig at all even when I was setting up the Versacopter on Cleanflight near two years ago as I got it to all work without Zadig.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I was following David W's instructions here. He just goes straight into Zadig.