Hi everyone!Im new to the community, and the RC scene in general. Right now im in the early stages of my final year mechanical engineering project. Im starting with a radian electric glider, adding Ardupilot Mega and the IMU sheild. Im hoping to develop a system that can autonomously find and exploit thermals and updrafts.Iv just received my Ardupilot Mega hardware and im super excited to have a new toy! However im having a problem uploading the firmware.My soldering skills are pretty amateur so iv had some help from the electrical engineering department to assemble and solder my parts together as per these instructions: http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/Assembly.Iv downloaded the APM planner and im trying to upload the "hardware in the loop" firmware so that i can run simulations with X-Plane. Iv connected the hardware to my pc with the usb cable, and it shows up in device manager as expected. Iv encountered my first problem when i hit the "upload firmware" button in the mission planner.I get the error message "Cant detect your APM version. Please check your cabling". Iv attached an image of the full error.I cant find any other postings about this problem. Im not sure if its my hardware or software. I suppose its possible the electrical engineering guys could have made a mistake soldering. They really know what theyre doing though, they did a dam tidy job.Im hoping someone more experienced has some insight? Id really appreciate any help.
After trying four cables, iv decided there is a dodgy connection in the miniB USB port on the APM board. All of the solders are ok. Theres a loose connection in between the port and the board i think. Its very sensitive to being moved. moving the cable slightly causes it to lose communication on one core. Its still a pain, but at least i know what the problem is now. Im not sure if its worth sending the board back for a problem like that.. im not sure how to fix it though : /
I doubt an electrical engineer made a soldering mistake, but I guess it's possible.
Before you take it back to them is the com port being created when you plug in the USB cable? The correct com port won't exist until the USB cable is connected.
What version of Windows are you using? The current version of the APM Planner might be having problems with older versions of Windows. See if you can do a software update check from within the Planner. If you can it's probably a hardware problem, if not try a Windows 7 machine (if you haven't already).
The com port and baud rate settings are correct. I have APM selected, not arducopter. Iv tried it on two computers now, so its not a com port conflict.
Bad solder is a possibility i guess. Ill give it a thorough check over comparing with the assembly tutorial and see if i can find any inconsistencies.
As far as the bootloader goes, any idea what would cause that, or how i could fix it? Or some way to verify that that is the problem?
I had the same prob two nights ago. Make sure the com port and baud rate are correct also check to see I'd there may be any com port conflicts on port3. When you hit pdate firmware make sure amp is selected and not arducopter. Hope that might help. It's my first time configuring it as well.
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Woohoo, got it working.
After trying four cables, iv decided there is a dodgy connection in the miniB USB port on the APM board. All of the solders are ok. Theres a loose connection in between the port and the board i think. Its very sensitive to being moved. moving the cable slightly causes it to lose communication on one core. Its still a pain, but at least i know what the problem is now. Im not sure if its worth sending the board back for a problem like that.. im not sure how to fix it though : /
Thanks for the help.
I doubt an electrical engineer made a soldering mistake, but I guess it's possible.
Before you take it back to them is the com port being created when you plug in the USB cable? The correct com port won't exist until the USB cable is connected.
What version of Windows are you using? The current version of the APM Planner might be having problems with older versions of Windows. See if you can do a software update check from within the Planner. If you can it's probably a hardware problem, if not try a Windows 7 machine (if you haven't already).
Thanks for the feedback.
The com port and baud rate settings are correct. I have APM selected, not arducopter. Iv tried it on two computers now, so its not a com port conflict.
Bad solder is a possibility i guess. Ill give it a thorough check over comparing with the assembly tutorial and see if i can find any inconsistencies.
As far as the bootloader goes, any idea what would cause that, or how i could fix it? Or some way to verify that that is the problem?
Thanks
i would suspect 1 of 2 things.
1. bad solder
2. somehow the bootloader has been wiped.