Fio wireless troubleshooting

Wireless & IoT
1

Hello Everyone,

I have a weird issue when I am trying to wirelessly upload a sketch to the Fio board. I will try to elaborate on all the problems I have faced and the troubleshooting I have done so far. Please be patient with my long post.

I have 3 fio boards and 2 xbee series 2 and also 2 xbees 1 series.

I first tried working with series 2 xbees:

-I have 1 xbee flashed using X-Ctu as ZNET 2.5 Router/End Device AT where I have set the PAN ID

-Next I flashed another xbee series 2 using X-Ctu as ZNET 2.5 Coordinator AT where I have set the same PAN ID as above and also set DH -as SH of Router, and DL as SL of Router.

-Next I place Coordinator on a usb explorer connected to the pc and I have the other one on the fio board.

-First my RSSI light(which I understand indicates pairing of xbees) on the explorer board comes on. Then the RSSI light on the fio board comes on .

-But as soon I press Upload on the IDE, the fio RSSI light goes off and I get steady RX light on the explorer and blinking TX on explorer as well.

-After a second the TX and RX light goes off and the RSSI light on the fio board comes on AND

  • I get the sync() error.

As a test I placed both my xbees on separate explorer and using 2 separate x-ctu terminals I tested and they both were communicating.

I am not sure why is this happening because if the 2 xbee were not paired why would it be coming on in the first place.

I HAVE ALSO TRIED WORKING WITH SERIES 1 XBEES.

-The first time I connect my xbees (one on the explorer and the other on the fio board) and press upload, the RSSI light on explorer board comes on, and everything goes smoothly and the sketch gets uploaded. I can see the values on a serial terminal.

-But after that when I try uploading a new sketch, I get the error: ’ Serial COM PORT # not available.’

-I have verified my COM port and checked through Device manager, there is no other COM Port except for one to which explorer board is connected.

-Here as well when I connect both my xbees to separate explorers and test through separate x-ctu terminals, they communicate properly,

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

2

Serial Port not available - did the program using the port close when the transfer was completed?

3

I uploaded the program through arduino IDE and I got the message ‘Done uploading’ after which I assume the port is free. I have uploaded the programs successfully on arduino Uno using same IDE. The IDE never closes after uploading. So if I understood your question right, then yes the program transfer was successful but no the IDE itself did not close.

4

Ok I have narrawed down to the cause of the problem but I have not been able to solve it.

I have re-programmed and verified my xbee series 2. The 2 xbee modules are communicating with each other.

I have tested these in several ways:

  1. I put my xbee on separate explorer board and using different x-ctu terminals I am able to talk with each other.

  2. When I plug one of my xbee on the explorer and other on the fio board, and then give the ATND command on the x-ctu terminal I am successfully getting all the information from the router on the fio board.

  3. I somehow was able to upload a program when I first got the fio boards (about a month and half ago). So now when I have one xbee as coordinator on the explorer board, I am getting the values on the terminal.

The Rssi light on the explorer board is constantly on, which also indicates that the 2 xbee are synced. My problem is when I click the upload sketch button on arduino ide, the RX light on the explorer board also comes on and stays on steady for quite a while. This probably means that the xbee on the explorer is receiving data but then TX light starts blinking on the explorer board for a few seconds and I get the stk500_getsync() error.

It seems to me that the fio board is not responding. Could someone verify my analysis and also hopefully guide me to a solution.

Thank you.