I recently purchased a Sparkfun Facet and have been having problems connecting the device to WIFI in order to obtain the L-Band Keys. When I received it, I was able to follow the tutorial included with the unit and was able to connect to the Facet via the WIFI configurator to input my personal WIFI information, but it would not connect to the WIFI. Now when I try to go back into the WIFI configurator to try and update my WIFI information, the Facet does not output the WIFI signal, and goes back into Rover mode within a few seconds. Due to this, I am completely locked out of the WIFI configurator.
I followed the steps on the full online manual to connect the Facet to my computer via the serial connection, but it does not want to connect to my computer. Right now when it is plugged into my computer, it will not turn on. It tries to boot up, but then shuts off a few seconds later. The only success I have had so far is by first turning on the Facet, then connecting to my computer. It is recognized by my computer for a minute or less, as I can see it in the Device Manager under the COM Ports, but it then will shut off and disconnect.
I was curious if there are any other methods to perform a factory reset on the device, or any other procedures that can fix this issue. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you for your assistance.
I managed to get a Facet into a similar state and was able to fix it using the method Russell provided. The Facet is designed to be extremely flexible to connect to, but this means that sometimes it can be configured into a state where normal connectivity options don’t work quite right.
If that doesn’t work for you, you can actually get into the Serial Config menu via Bluetooth. I use the [Serial Bluetooth Terminal app for Android. Pair your phone to the Facet (via Bluetooth), then open the Serial Bluetooth app, select the Facet from the device menu, and click the connect icon. You should see a bunch of NMEA messages scrolling by. Type +++ and hit enter. This will drop you into the same Serial Config menu you can access via USB. From there you will be able to change any of the settings for the device. This is my preferred way to change settings on the device when I’m on the go; no need to plug it in.
Additionally, the Facet does not work with 5GHz Wifi. This usually isn’t an issue, as most Wifi AP’s run 2.4GHz, but I recently found someone else who’s Wifi AP had 2.4GHz disabled. The quick and easy fix is to run a hotspot from your phone; the more complex fix is to enable 2.4GHz on your Wifi AP/router settings.
Thank you both so much for your help with this problem. I was able to utilize the bluetooth serial terminal to reset the Facet to factory settings. After the factory reset, it works perfect and I was able to connect it to WIFI to obtain the L-Band keys. Thank you both again for your help, I really appreciate it.