Facet with multiple problems that don't respond to forum suggestions- it's time for live help

[moorerp]

OK, I’ll try to be as concise as possible in breaking down the series of problems my RTK Facet faces:

Initial problem: facet would connect only very intermittently via bluetooth to Samsung S20+ or the 2 windows tablets I own. There was no pattern I could detect in when it would connect and when it would not. This problem began about a month after the facet was ordered- prior to that it appeared to work as it should, though I used it infrequently enough that I may have just gotten lucky in the beginning. Other than a weird flickering of the SparkFun flame icon on the unit’s display when the unit was supposedly powered down, this was the only problem. The unit powered up and down normally, and the display worked as it should when powered on.

Attempted fix: Update firmware to RTK_Surveyor_Firmware_v4_4.bin via Uploader GUI. This I did following SparkFun directions, and it apparently worked as it was supposed to.

However, when the update was finished, the unit froze in powered up state. No amount of pressing “Reset ESP32” had any effect, nor had holding down the external power button for any length of time. So following the SparkFun tech crew’s recommendations in other forum posts, I cracked the unit open and powered it down successfully using the internal power button. After this, it appeared that the unit would no longer power on because no amount of pressing either power button brought any activity to the display screen- no hint of life. However, it turns out that the unit does power on with pressing either the external or internal power buttons (com ports appear with serial connection), but it can only be powered off with extended hold of the internal button.

When I plug the unit in with USB, the charging LED light illuminates. There is no reason to believe the unit is not charging properly.

When I open a serial connection, the port labeled “USB Serial Device” appears to be outputting NMEA data as it should. The “USB-Serial CH340” port shows a cascading series of gibberish lines that cannot be interrupted by pressing any key, or doing anything else as far as I can tell, so I cannot open the configuration screen in Tera Term.

Bottom line: the unit still does not connect to bluetooth devices, and after firmware update, it cannot be powered off with the external power button and the display does work.

If there’s an easy fix to this, I’m willing to give it a go: any suggestions SparkFun tech folks? Or anyone else?

Thanks,

Randy

[PaulZC]

Hi Randy (@moorerp ),

I’m sorry we missed your earlier post. It does help if you post here in the GPS/GNSS category.

Please be aware that we don’t offer truly ‘live’ support, but one of us will reply as soon as we can.

I can see a couple of issues from your posts. The main one is that your Surveyor_Firmware_v4_4 file is too small, and it uploaded too quickly. I’m guessing it didn’t download correctly through your web browser? It should be 2.2MB in size:

Please try downloading the file again and uploading again onto the Facet using the GUI. If you follow this link, the GitHub page has a “Download raw file” icon:

The gibberish from the CH340 is probably a baud rate error - please check you have the baud set to 115200 - but you won’t get any sense out of the Facet until you re-upload the firmware.

It sounds like your external button may be faulty, or may just have become disconnected. Please check that the button ribbon cable is correctly seated in its socket. If you’re still having button issues, let us know and we’ll give you more guidance. We do normally stock the OLED and Button as spare sparts but I see we’re currently out of stock…

Apologies for the hassle - I hope this helps,
Paul

[moorerp]

Thanks for the quick reply, Paul. I’ll try to download the firmware file again today and see what comes of that.

None of the powering up/down issues occurred until immediately after the attempted firmware update, so there should be nothing wrong with the external button mechanically. We’ll see what happens after the firmware update if I can make that happen.

I did set the baud rate to 115200, and the only result was that the gibberish moved across the window much faster. There was still no way to access the configuration screen.

More later today,

Randy

[moorerp]

Hi Paul,

You nailed it- there was something amiss with the first firmware file download. It was immediately obvious that the new raw Firmware download was being handled differently by the Uploader GUI, and all problems with the unit appear to have vanished, including the initial problem with Bluetooth connection to all my devices. I’ll try disconnecting and reconnecting a few times over the next day to make sure it isn’t a fake out (the bluetooth would connect intermittently before), but it appears the issue might be fixed (knocking on wood)! I’ll keep this thread alive if that turns out not to be true.

Cheers,

Randy

[PaulZC]

Excellent - thank you Randy (@moorerp ),

I will mark this as “solved”, but please continue to post here if you need more help.

Best wishes,
Paul

[moorerp]

Just in case this helps someone else, although I initially thought the firmware upgrade had solved the original bluetooth problems that have plagued this unit pretty much from the get-go, the bluetooth connection issues have reappeared and persist (in Windows tablet, Windows desktop, and an Android device) after working perfectly on the first try after firmware upgrade.

Randy