Brand new RTK Facet won’t start

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

I just got my new RTK Facet and it won’t start a.k.a display shows nothing.

Serial terminal reports a hard stop a few seconds after powering up:

“u-blox GNSS not detected at default I2C address. Hard stop.”

I saw in firmware code that I should be prompted, on serial terminal, for a factory reset… but this doesn’t happen. Instead I get a “Hard Stop”.

I would really prefer to fix the thing instead of a return label… btw

Is there some code I could run (upload) on the ESP32 to factory rest the whole thing?

:?

PS: I do receive valid GNSS data on the other serial port. u-blox is alive!

PS2: I was also able to upload and run some test sketches on the ESP32… it is also alive.

PA3: I installed different firmware versions. V1.10 reports nothing. V19, V18, V… report the u-blox i2c address Hard Stop.

2

My first guess is that a connector cable may have come loose during shipping…do you mind carefully opening it up and taking a couple photos?

3

Hmm, the ZED is permanently attached to the ESP32 so that I2C communication can’t be interrupted. But something else on the bus may be misbehaving causing I2C comm failure. You’re welcome to open it up and have a look. I’m curious as well.

@oicnal - If you’re savvy (sounds like you are!) then please load and run the I2C Scanner (https://playground.arduino.cc/Main/I2cScanner/) or the likes on the ESP32. Please report. I expect to see the ZED (0x42), the OLED (0x3D), the fuel gauge (0x I can’t remember), and the accelerometer (0x something er rather).

Next up - what is the firmware version of the ZED-F9P? You can access this in u-center under the MON-VER message (if you need help here I can provide steps). Normally we could access this from the debug menu but the unit isn’t getting that far. Because your able to load firmware, I can also get you a bin that will output diagnoses if you’re open to it.

4

The i2cScanner output!

Scanning…

I2C device found at address 0x01 !

I2C device found at address 0x02 !

I2C device found at address 0x03 !

I2C device found at address 0x04 !

I2C device found at address 0x05 !

I2C device found at address 0x06 !

I2C device found at address 0x07 !

I2C device found at address 0x08 !

I2C device found at address 0x09 !

I2C device found at address 0x0A !

I2C device found at address 0x0B !

I2C device found at address 0x0C !

I2C device found at address 0x0D !

I2C device found at address 0x0E !

I2C device found at address 0x0F !

I2C device found at address 0x10 !

I2C device found at address 0x11 !

I2C device found at address 0x12 !

I2C device found at address 0x13 !

I2C device found at address 0x14 !

I2C device found at address 0x15 !

I2C device found at address 0x16 !

I2C device found at address 0x17 !

I2C device found at address 0x18 !

I2C device found at address 0x19 !

I2C device found at address 0x1A !

I2C device found at address 0x1B !

I2C device found at address 0x1C !

I2C device found at address 0x1D !

I2C device found at address 0x1E !

I2C device found at address 0x1F !

I2C device found at address 0x20 !

I2C device found at address 0x21 !

I2C device found at address 0x22 !

I2C device found at address 0x23 !

I2C device found at address 0x24 !

I2C device found at address 0x25 !

I2C device found at address 0x26 !

I2C device found at address 0x27 !

I2C device found at address 0x28 !

I2C device found at address 0x29 !

I2C device found at address 0x2A !

I2C device found at address 0x2B !

I2C device found at address 0x2C !

I2C device found at address 0x2D !

I2C device found at address 0x2E !

I2C device found at address 0x2F !

I2C device found at address 0x30 !

I2C device found at address 0x31 !

I2C device found at address 0x32 !

I2C device found at address 0x33 !

I2C device found at address 0x34 !

I2C device found at address 0x35 !

I2C device found at address 0x36 !

I2C device found at address 0x37 !

I2C device found at address 0x38 !

I2C device found at address 0x39 !

I2C device found at address 0x3A !

I2C device found at address 0x3B !

I2C device found at address 0x3C !

I2C device found at address 0x3D !

I2C device found at address 0x3E !

I2C device found at address 0x3F !

I2C device found at address 0x40 !

I2C device found at address 0x41 !

I2C device found at address 0x42 !

I2C device found at address 0x43 !

I2C device found at address 0x44 !

I2C device found at address 0x45 !

I2C device found at address 0x46 !

I2C device found at address 0x47 !

I2C device found at address 0x48 !

I2C device found at address 0x49 !

I2C device found at address 0x4A !

I2C device found at address 0x4B !

I2C device found at address 0x4C !

I2C device found at address 0x4D !

I2C device found at address 0x4E !

I2C device found at address 0x4F !

I2C device found at address 0x50 !

I2C device found at address 0x51 !

I2C device found at address 0x52 !

I2C device found at address 0x53 !

I2C device found at address 0x54 !

I2C device found at address 0x55 !

I2C device found at address 0x56 !

I2C device found at address 0x57 !

I2C device found at address 0x58 !

I2C device found at address 0x59 !

I2C device found at address 0x5A !

I2C device found at address 0x5B !

I2C device found at address 0x5C !

I2C device found at address 0x5D !

I2C device found at address 0x5E !

I2C device found at address 0x5F !

I2C device found at address 0x60 !

I2C device found at address 0x61 !

I2C device found at address 0x62 !

I2C device found at address 0x63 !

I2C device found at address 0x64 !

I2C device found at address 0x65 !

I2C device found at address 0x66 !

I2C device found at address 0x67 !

I2C device found at address 0x68 !

I2C device found at address 0x69 !

I2C device found at address 0x6A !

I2C device found at address 0x6B !

I2C device found at address 0x6C !

I2C device found at address 0x6D !

I2C device found at address 0x6E !

I2C device found at address 0x6F !

I2C device found at address 0x70 !

I2C device found at address 0x71 !

I2C device found at address 0x72 !

I2C device found at address 0x73 !

I2C device found at address 0x74 !

I2C device found at address 0x75 !

I2C device found at address 0x76 !

I2C device found at address 0x77 !

I2C device found at address 0x78 !

I2C device found at address 0x79 !

I2C device found at address 0x7A !

I2C device found at address 0x7B !

I2C device found at address 0x7C !

I2C device found at address 0x7D !

I2C device found at address 0x7E !

done

5

… I was not expeting that form scanner

The MON_VER of ZED-F9P from u-center:

sw: EXT CORE 1.00 (f10c36)

hw: 00190000

6

I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before. I suspect something on the I2C bus is pulling the SDA line low all the time, hence the ACKing at every address.

I would start by removing the display board from the equation and re-running the scanner. It has both the display and accelerometer on the I2C bus. You can isolate it by gently flipping up the SD-Display connector on the main board, then gently removing the FPC cable. At the same time, inspect the SD-Display connector for any corrosion or material that may be shorting pins.

Feel free to say ‘no thanks’ and we’ll get it fixed for you.

RTK_Display_Connector.png668×532 300 KB
https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/parts/1 … nector.png

7

Long story shot… I have a RTK Facet that displays, ble connects and reports sub meter precision coordinates!

8

Full story:

  • By disconnecting the display/sd board you also disconnect the power button. Fortunately and bit scary when you disconnect the board it kind of power up the ZED and ESP (and COM ports)

  • It is mostly not possible to disconnect battery without removing the display board that is kinda glued in there. So you have to work with boards under power.

  • manipulating all this ended up with power button cable to be disconnected. Fortunately, there is a power button on display board.

  • I got i2c scan to report 0x42 and 0x36 when display board was disconnected. Which was encouraging. I reconnected the display board and this time i2c scan reported zero devices.

  • I decided to put all thins in place and wait for instructions, but I was not able to put back the power button cable in place as connector it to deep in enclosure to flip the lock… at least for me.

  • I decided to remove the display board from enclosure. Was resisting, but got it out with some love. The OLED connector was kinda pinch. I un-pinched it with not that much hope. I was feeling like I was way down the rabbit hole anyway.

  • reconnected all the boards outside the enclosure and run the RTK with v1.10 to look how far init process would go.

  • it went all the way and realize that display was displaying. I put all this back in the orange box and powered it up. Woohoo! It works! (je n’ai vraiment pas des doigts de fées… btw)

9

I’m an happy camper, but at same time I feel there are loose or weak connections in there. I guess it could fail again anytime soon.

Is it possible to by parts (like display board) separately for the RTK Facet?

10

*buy

11

Nice work!

“je n’ai vraiment pas des doigts de fées” - I love it :slight_smile: (https://www.google.com/search?q=je+n%E2 … to+english)

Thanks for reporting back and I’m glad you got it working. I suspect the display FPC was improperly seated or came loose in shipping. We are exploring conformal coating the connectors in future builds. This would reduce the likelihood that a ribbon could come loose in transit.

We don’t currently plan to sell replacement parts because of it is a bit challenging to remove the display board, as you experienced. If you ever run into problems in the future, by all means let us know and we’ll get it fixed up.