Taranis device driver issue

[joshuabardwell]

I am having some problem connecting my Taranis to my PC. Everything was working fine until one day I accidentally plugged my Taranis into a USB 3.0 port. Either that messed something up, or the poking around I did trying to fix that before I realized what the problem was messed something up. Now my Taranis won't talk to OpenTX Companion.

O/S is Win 8.1 64 bit.

I have tried a lot of things and I won't want to just spew out a bunch of un-helpful information, so I will try to get to the point: when I plug the Taranis in, the STM32 device does not appear in Device Manager. The two drive letters that Taranis creates appear, then disappear several times, then stay gone. At no point are the drives accessible, nor does the volume label (G:\TARANIS, etc...) appear.

I used to have the "STM32 device in DFU mode" device and the "Taranis Bootloader" device in my Device Manager. I noticed that when I plugged the Taranis in, the STM32 device was not showing as connected, so I tried deleting it and re-plugging the Taranis. That's how I've ended up in the spot I'm in. Something is happening wherein the Taranis is not correctly identifying itself to the machine via PnP to tell the machine that the STM32 device is present... or something. But this was happening before I deleted the STM32 device, because the device was not showing as connected when the Taranis was plugged in.

One more piece of info--the Taranis works perfectly on my laptop.

I realize this is probably a bit of an esoteric issue, but it's really frustrating, and maybe somebody can assist. I have also created a thread over on OpenRCForums, but it has been up for several days, and there has only been one post, which was completely un-helpful.

Oh, PS: Taranis appears not to work on USB 3.0.

 

[makattack]

Not sure if this is relevant, but maybe you need to update your USB3 drivers?

http://openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=92&t=3955

 

[joshuabardwell]

Good find. I'm not sure this explains why it still doesn't work on USB 2.0 ports.

 

[TheWW1FlyingAce]

Also, is this with OpenTX 2.0.X or 1.X? If on 2.0.X have you done the "three fingered salute" (turn on the transmitter with both horizontal trims pushed to center) before connecting the transmitter to the USB port?

 

[joshuabardwell]

Also, is this with OpenTX 2.0.X or 1.X? If on 2.0.X have you done the "three fingered salute" (turn on the transmitter with both horizontal trims pushed to center) before connecting the transmitter to the USB port?

Sorry for not saying: I'm on the most recent rev. of both the Taranis firmware and Companion. I'm plugging in the Taranis in bootloader mode (with the three-fingered salute).

What's confusing me the most is, as I understand it, if I was to plug the Taranis into a PC that had never seen it before, it should install the STM32 device via PnP, and then I could use Zadig to install the correct driver. But the device never shows up at all.

EDIT: Some have suggested that the STM32 bootloader is not needed during normal Companion operation. If that's true, then maybe the "Taranis bootloader" device is what I need. Either way, none of it is showing up.

 

[TheWW1FlyingAce]

If you're using the bootloader mode you do not need zadig and in fact some people have found it counterproductive. If you've previously used zadig on this machine it may be a good idea to remove any drivers that were installed by zadig. That might allow Windows to automatically install the required drivers for bootloader mode.

When I hooked my Taranis Plus to my PC (running Windows 7 64 bit) in bootloader mode it "just worked" - Windows installed the driver automatically with no need to use zadig or anything similar.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I've removed all Taranis-based drivers I can find. The behavior is as described.

 

[TheWW1FlyingAce]

Did you also uninstall the STM32 driver? If you have and that doesn't make it work (i.e. install the driver automatically) I don't have any more suggestions, sorry.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Did you also uninstall the STM32 driver? If you have and that doesn't make it work (i.e. install the driver automatically) I don't have any more suggestions, sorry.

Yes. It's a real mystery.

 

[KJBB]

A Mystery Indeed

Looks like the thread is petering out, but I would like to chip in and say I have something very similar. I have a Taranis 9D and a 9E. Both work fine on my little notebook PC and a borrowed Laptop PC. On the desktop, it fails to see the TX. Conclusion is that it is a "driver" issue" on the desktop machine.
Installing on the laptop did indeed not require any interventon such as Zadig. It picked up whatever driver it needed and now works fine.So it seems to me that what I need to do is clear out the Desktop installation, esp drivers and re-load. .PS I'm running Companion at 2.1.9 which could make a difference.

I've struggled for a while with this. Did you get a solution? If/when I do I'll post it, becasue it can really cause frustration, and I find no help so far on the Internet for this issue, which I've had for many weeks.One thing I noticed is that the laptop and the notebook PCs both look different to the Desktop when you open Device manager, but that only confuses me more. If you want I could list these differences?

Just noticed the date on previous posts. That makes me me hopeful that by now you have found a solution to your problem?

 

[makattack]

Not sure if it's the same issue, but I've been using OpenTX Companion on MacOS, Windows 7, and Windows 10. I usually have a heck of a time getting the OSX machine to mount the two drives in order to connect to Companion from the X9D+. No such issues on the Windows machines. I can get them to mount on the OSX system only by connecting/disconnect the USB cable a few times until the drives mount. Haven't quite bothered to troubleshoot it further since I can usually get them to mount eventually, or just move to the Windows systems when I get frustrated enough. This might shed some light into what you're seeing.

 

[Burly]

Not sure if it's the same issue, but I've been using OpenTX Companion on MacOS, Windows 7, and Windows 10. I usually have a heck of a time getting the OSX machine to mount the two drives in order to connect to Companion from the X9D+. No such issues on the Windows machines. I can get them to mount on the OSX system only by connecting/disconnect the USB cable a few times until the drives mount. Haven't quite bothered to troubleshoot it further since I can usually get them to mount eventually, or just move to the Windows systems when I get frustrated enough. This might shed some light into what you're seeing.

Are you moving a USB cable between machines...or using separate cables?

I'm a developer of microcontroller programs, and use a lot of boards containing USB connectors.
First of all, for Windows users I would recommend installing a small utility on your PC called USBDeview.
The current version is 2.61...and it will run on XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
The program displays a list of lines of all past USB sessions.
When you plug in a device, the proper line on the screen will highlight as active.

USB troubleshooting rules of thumb:
Symptoms:
1. USB connection suddenly doesn't work on a device that was working.
2. USB connection mysteriously works only some of the time after repeated cable insertions at one or both ends.
3. USB session cycles up and down like a yoyo.

Whenever you experience USB problems...before thinking that the device is broken, or going into "device driver panic", always check the cables as a first pass.

The above three symptoms could perfectly describe a broken USB cable.
In case #1, one or more internal wires are broken...and no matter how you bend the cable...the electrical break remains.
In case #2, one or more wires are broken, but depending on how it is bent the electrical break can reconnect. So if you plug it in a dozen times you might get lucky and have it in a position that works (at least for a little while).
In case # 3, the break is so close that it connects and disconnects at random without even moving the cable.

This can be the reason that a device works on your desktop and not your laptop, or tablet. You probably have a USB cable permanently attached to your desktop, and a different one for the Laptop, and the tablet probably has a different micro USB cable.

You should have at least a couple of working spare USB cables to swap in and out for each type of cable you use.
Test all your cables on a USB device that does work.
Test each of the cables by plugging them in and bending the cable in different directions, especially where the cord enters the plastic cable ends.
If the USB connection drops at any time...unplug it and try again.
After repeated attempts, you will know which cables are good and which are broken or in the process of going flakey.
Throw the bad cables away.

Now take those good cables and try them on the problem device.
All the good cables should behave the same way.
If none of your cables work with the problem device...then you've eliminated the cable as the problem.
Now you can concentrate on broken PC drivers, bad device firmware, or physically broken devices.

Don't fall into the trap of dismissing the cable as being the problem because "it was working fine yesterday".
Any cable that ultimately breaks was working fine the day before.

 

[makattack]

Unfortunately, in my case, I'm using the same cable between three different (actually, four, if I include my android tablet with a host mode USB -- an ASUS TF101 with a keyboard/usb dock) and the issue I have with the intermittent mounts is only on OSX. Oddly enough, the OSX device recognizes a USB device as soon as it's connected, but it seems to be that the filesystem just doesn't mount reliably enough. This is only with the X9D+. Using the same USB cable on the OSX machine, with an external storage device (HDD, flash, etc) does reliably mount that media. This leads me to believe it's an odd interaction between OpenTX, OSX, and possibly the hardware I'm using (Mac Book Pro, mini USB cable, FrSky Taranis X9D+).

Anyway, just thought it might shed some light to others experiencing similar odd issues.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Well I got my new Moskito 70 today.

I have spent the past few hours trying to get the Taranis to connect to Windows 10 so I can build the model and set up the switches the way I want them.

<rant>
I see this repeated over and over on the web but I don't see resolutions other than, try another PC. My frustration index is about 9.9 right now. Truly, I despise Windows 10.
</rant>

Edit:
I got it to flash using ZADIG and a USB 2.0 port. Now when I turn on the radio it makes a loud buzzing sound and fails to start. I can't even get to a three finger salute. Any time I turn it on, buzzzzz and no response. I think I killed my Taranis tonight.

Edit2:
I figured out how to restore the firmware to 2.0.9. I have all my models back but I still cannot get Companion to connect so that I can build models.

Edit3:
I had downloaded the older version of Companion. That compounded with Windows 10 replacing the driver and USB 3 issues made the day.

Everything is back working although I still need to build the Moskito 70 in the Taranis.

It's time for bed. I'll whoop tomorrow.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Edit:
I got it to flash using ZADIG and a USB 2.0 port. Now when I turn on the radio it makes a loud buzzing sound and fails to start. I can't even get to a three finger salute. Any time I turn it on, buzzzzz and no response. I think I killed my Taranis tonight.

...

This is the classic symptom of not choosing the correct Radio Type on the Profile tab in the Companion Settings dialog, before "Download.."ing the firmware.

Companion does not necessarily default to the correct radio type and you must chose between the the original Taranis and the Taranis Plus because they require different firmware to account for the hardware differences.

You must select the correct RadioType before you Download... because that setting along with the various check boxes is used to tell the OpenTX firmware server, what firmware to build for you.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Yes. That was root cause for the buzzing. I flashed the Taranis-en instead of TaranisPlus-en on my Taranis Plus to cause the problem and flashed the TaranisPlus-en on my TaranisPlus to fix it.

Scared the heck out of me for a few minutes until I figured it out.

I am considering a write up on how I fixed all this but am still tinkering with the USB 2 vs USB 3 and how the drivers all play out.

I note that I had to use Zadig to fix the connection issue and that the use of Zadig is explained in the install instructions for BetaFlight. I didn't have to use Zadig to connect to Windows 7 or Windows 10 (before the anniversary update). Now I do.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Also since OpenTX 2.0 it is no longer necessary to use Zadig and the STEM32 driver. You can use the OpenTX bootloader instead which uses standard Windows USB mass storage device drivers.

Note: The problem with Windows 10, as I understand it, is that updates will replace the Zadig configured STEM32 driver so you have to keep re-running Zadig and putting the driver you want back in place. I suspect that Zadig does not install the driver to Windows 10's liking.

To put the Taranis in OpenTX bootloader mode switch it off, squeeze the 2 horizontal trims together and switch it on. The boot loader screen will appear. Then connect it to you PC with a known good USB cable and it should show up as two drives, "TARANIS" and "Removable Drive".

Companion can read and write to the TARANIS drive directly to backup, restore and update the firmware. The Removeable Drive is the SD card and you should also copy the new firmware to the FIRMWARES folder so you can later update the OpenTX booloader. You may need to shorten the file name of the copy on the SD card although I'm not sure it matters for this...something to try if it doesn't work.

IMPORTANT: make sure to safely USB eject the Taranis drives before switching off or disconnecting the Taranis.

To update the bootloader switch on the disconnected Taranis, goto the SD card page in the Radio Setup, open the FIRMWARES folder and select the new firmware. ENTER will present a menu to flash the bootloader.

Note: you can also use the OpenTX bootloader mode to flash the firmware from the SD card.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Yeah. The openTX bootloader flat out did not work. It used to, but not anymore.

"since OpenTX 2.0 it is no longer necessary to use Zadig and the STEM32 driver. You can use the OpenTX bootloader instead which uses standard Windows USB mass storage device drivers". The only folks in this situation are those for whom the OpenTX driver does not work. When I connected using the 3 finger salute I did not see two new removable drives until after I used Zadig.

This was one of the most frustrating aspects of the trouble and online always resulted with the 'there is something wrong with your PC try another computer' solution. That solution worked in almost all cases as usually the user changed OS to Mac or linux or XP.

I have never had OpenTX lower than 2.0, this is a TaranisPlus. It came with 2.0 and I had personally flashed it to 2.1.9 long before last night. I did not use Zadig last year or the year before that in Windows 7 or Windows 10 and never had any trouble before. This is something new and has nothing to do with any cables. I actually never needed to re-flash last night. I was already on the latest OpenTX.

I was required to use Zadig where in the past I have not had to. The instructions you gave used to work but no longer do on this PC. Zadig was my last resort and fixed the problem in 30 minutes. I spent over 6 hours on the problem mostly trying to use the OpenTX bootloader to no avail.

This is the OpenTX Academy page where they explain some of the problem. I watched Windows replace my driver with another one and immediately disable the device multiple times. It didn't matter if the Taranis was on with a 3 finger salute or off. Companion wasn't running and was not part of the issue at this point. I saw no removable drives on the OpenTX bootloader in Windows. All I saw was an error stating the 'device was disabled because the driver reports a problem' in Device manager.

The OpenTX bootloader works most of the time for firmware > 2.0 but not always. When it fails to work, Zadig does the trick. I am sure, I will have to use Zadig again after Windows 10 updates.

Now the real question is, why?

The radio is fully charged. Low battery on the radio is NOT the problem.

It WAS NOT DUE TO A CABLE. Let's put that to rest right now. I saw this over and over on forums last night and it was never the cable unless the OS that could not connect was linux or Mac OS. The driver problem is with late edition Windows almost exclusively per my research last night.

I have read that Windows 10 won't handle a Taranis if your SD card is < level 4. The SD card in my Taranis has nothing printed on it that would tell me the level of the card. I tried a level 4 card last night and that did not resolve the driver problem. I am back to using the old card and am able to connect just fine using Zadig.

Zadig or no Zadig, my Taranis will NOT connect to USB 3, period. I have other things running on USB 3 on this machine and they work just fine. I suspect this is part of or likely root cause of the trouble.

I am not using a USB hub or extension cable.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Ah I see. Very frustrating.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I forgot to mention the first warning sign.

When I first connected the Taranis last night using the 3 finger salute, my PC immediately BSOD and restarted...