Bricked Xbee?

Wireless & IoT
1

Hey Guys

I think I may have bricked my Xbee :frowning:

I have a 50mw 2.5 series, I was configuring it fine in the X-CTU app for a few hours and then I accidently flashed it with the ZDNET 2.5 ROUTER SENSOR feature set. Since I have done that I can no longer access the xbee via serial link, just says no modem found. I have tried all baud rates etc.

I notice that the ‘ROUTER SENSOR’ feature set does not have any options for Baud Rate or any serial configuration, so does this configuration disable the serial port??

How can I restore it, so I can reprogram it correctly?

Thanks

Ben

2

You can force the Xbee into firmware update mode by setting the RTS and DTR pins as follows before you apply power:

RTS (pin 16) => 3.3V (pin 1)

DTR (pin 9) => GND (pin 10)

Power up the board and start X-CTU. Select your COM port and go to the modem tab. Check the “always update firmware” checkbox. Select the proper device, profile and desired firmware version. Slick the write button and the firmware should get uploaded.

After that quit X-CTU and power off the Xbee. Remove the connections from RTS and DTR and you should be back to normal. Note that the baud rate will be back at 9600 baud.

I had to figure this out for my Xbee after I inadvertently programmed a very short command timeout. I accidentally made the timeout so short that there was no way to enter an AT command after the “+++” before it exited command mode. Definitely a “Doh!” moment.

3

I did the same thing… I found that when X-CTU is displaying the “Action Required…” error page, if I ground the RESET pin at that point, the update will proceed.

4

wd40:
I did the same thing… I found that when X-CTU is displaying the “Action Required…” error page, if I ground the RESET pin at that point, the update will proceed.

Digi tech support has a number of tricks to recover. One involves unplug/reinsert XBee at a certain point in the XCTU firmware reload process

5

Many thanks guys, this did the trick!

Cheers

Ben

6

This worked for me when the reset trick refused to.

It is possible when using the USB board. You just have to go about it in a different manner.

  1. Take the module out of the interface board.

  2. Connect the interface board to the computer.

  3. Open X-CTU

  4. Go to “Modem Configuration”

  5. Put a check in the “Always update firmware” box

  6. Select proper modem from drop down menu,

  7. Select proper function set and firmware version

from drop down menus.

  1. Click on the “Write” button. After a few seconds of

trying to read the modem, you will get an Info box

that says Action Needed. At this point, CAREFULLY

insert the module into the interface board.

  1. You may get the info box again a short while after,

just use the reset button on the interface board.

This should get you back up and running.

It can take a couple of tries but it worked for me.