Facet non-boot - Force load SD failure

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

Good day all -

First post to a forum here. If this isn’t the correct venue or protocol, please feel free to direct me to the correct resource as needed.

Particulars -

RTK facet running v3.2 (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/19984). The unit was purchased in April and worked well until pulled for use about three weeks ago.

The problem is in short, the unit will not boot. The unit typically shows the SparkFun logo and then the Sparkfun facet v3.2 screen, after which the unit immediately shuts down.

The battery was removed, charged externally, and replaced to ensure charge and connection.

A few steps I have taken -

I disassembled the unit and checked the manual power button. The same issue persists. The unit shows the Spark Fun logo and then the Spark Fun facet v3.2 screen. Immediately after that, it shuts down.

On one boot attempt, I did get the screenshot attached.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i0vt8jd2 … h39qi&dl=0

In case you can’t read that or I inserted incorrectly it reads as follows

sd: Fail

Accel: fail

Batt:ok

GNSS: Fail

Mux: Fail

B3B2: OK

I tried to hook up the facet to my Windows computer via USB… unfortunately, I couldn’t get the unit to maintain power to connect. Finally, I attempted to force update the unit from the SD card via the RTK_Surveyor_Firmware_Force.bin file. The update cancels at 5% when the unit powers down.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting, repair or even board replacement is appreciated.

Thanks for whatever help you can provide.

2

Welcome! Great post! Sorry it has to be WRT unit problems.

When you turn on the device, does it say ‘RTK Facet’ or ‘RTK Surveyor’?

Oh, also, your image didn’t make it through. Please post a link if possible.

3

Apologies for the long delay - My emails for the forum have been going to junk mail…

On boot the board reads SparkFun RTK Facet v3.2

Video of boot attempt

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3i6gF89NH7d6git98

Video of error code screen:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HdNiGPJFUZgnMrBN8

4

Thank you for the video! That’s really clear. Unfortunately I can’t explain what’s going wrong.

You’ve got a few choices:

  • You can return the unit to us. https://www.sparkfun.com/returns We’ll get an RMA issued, and once it’s returned to us, we’ll get it fixed and back to you quickly.

  • You can keep troubleshooting here on the forum. I need to see the serial output during the power up sequence to troubleshoot what’s going wrong. I recommend connecting over USB C and identifying the COM port that the device is enumerating at. Once that’s established, open TeraTerm on the USB COM port that the unit is acting as when it powers on. This is tricky because TeraTerm won’t open the port unless it’s there (so it’s a timing race). Once TeraTerm knows to open that port, it will automatically open the port when it is detected. Once this is all in place, power on the unit and log the serial output to a file and post it.