GPS-RTK2 ZED-F9P Wedged trying Firmware upgrade.

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

I recently started working with the GPS-RTK2 ZED-F9P modules to develop a n accurate out doors positioning system with some autonomous positioning and motion control. After studying the [Sparkfun Hookup guide, and the referenced additional tutorials, I decided that it would be good to upgrade the ZED-F9P firmware. I thought I’d make a post here to describe some of the challenges I encountered during the attempted firmware upgrades.

My Initial Set-up:

  • - SparkFun GPS-RTK2

  • - MacBook Pro with Catalina OR Intel x86 system with Ubuntu/Pop!OS 20.10
  • - U-Blox u-Center running through wine.
  • - USB connection

    • This set-up had been successful for pretty much all of the u-Center functionality, and had shown highly accurate results from the GPS-RTK2 connected to it, but I would occasionally see some instability I did not understand, and one of the additional tutorials suggested that the most recent U-Blox firmware was helpful. Well, to make a long story short, I could not succeed with the firmware upgrade, and eventually wedged one of the GPS-RTK2 modules so that it would no longer talk to my computers.

    What I learned:

    After a fair amount of searching, and working through the Sparkfun and U-Blox forums, I was eventually able to un-wedge my device, and successfully upgrade the firmware. But I had a hard enough time to figure it out that I decided it was worth sharing. I think this process probably does “just work” if you are using the recommended Windows system for the u-Center Software but there were various important details that I had trouble understanding:

  • - u-Center is a 32-bit app, so your wine environment (wine-prefix) needs to be set up for 32 bits.
  • - The USB connection is not always reliable for firmware upgrades. I had to use a [[USB to UART adapter](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15096) through UART 1 of the GPS-RTK2.
  • - It is important to connect the !SAFE pin to GND for the upgrade, and then disconnect it again for normal operation.
  • - Use the 9600 baud rate as set up in the u-Center firmware loader dialog.
  • - This is an advanced operation which carries some risk to your device. [u]Not for newbies![/u]
  • - The eventual successful firmware upgrades took something like 20 minutes to complete

    • I hope this is helpful to other users of these devices.](SparkFun Serial Basic Breakout - CH340C and USB-C - DEV-15096 - SparkFun Electronics)](GPS-RTK2 Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn)

    2

    Glad you were able to recover your GPS!

    Thanks for sharing your experience, this will very likely help another user down the road.

    3

    I have run into the same issue with teh ZED-F9P bricking on firmware update. I was not able to resolve via any of the instructions that others have posted. Here is what i have done to get the firmware update working. This is going from version 1.12 to version 1.13. This has worked on 3 units.

    1. Do not use the SAFE pin connected to ground

    2. Use only the USB connection via Ucenter

    3. upload the new firmware but uncheck all options in the update utility screen

    4. if your unit is bricked, you may have to select the “enter safeboot before update”

    5. you will have to upload the firmware a second time if using the safeboot

    6. you can then check the version (messages, UBX, ver) via UART1 in Ucenter when completed. The version does not seem to show if you connect via USB.