Unable to install firmware to 3DR ArduPilot Mega 2.5

Archive
1

Hardware: 3DR ArduPilot Mega 2.5 (Fully Assembled)
Computer: Win8 x64
Connection: USB

Last week using Mission Planner 1.3.5 I was able to connect to APM, upload firmware, configure and fly (no crashes). Everything went fine until suddenly APM stopped responding today.

So I pulled it out of the quadcopter and have it connected to my PC via USB cable.

Using the latest daily (6/14/2014) of APM Planner v2.0.10 I get the following error when I try to install firmware: “Unable to gain access to bootloader”

Uploading firmware on Mission Planner 1.3.5.1 (latest) gives the “Communication Error - no connection” error.

Mavlink no longer connects… just hits the timeout with “No heatbeat packets received”

I’ve tried:

  • different USB ports
  • different USB cables
  • different serial ports (com3 was working last week)
  • different serial speeds (115200 was working last week)

Thoughts? Help? Thanks!

2

@evegroar,
What APM leds do you see when powering the APM with the USB cable?
Regards,
TCIII GM

3

Lights on when plugged in:

Red solid (top right)
Blue Flashing (bottom right)

or sometimes I get:

Red solid (top right)
Blue and Red together solid (bottom right)

Also I just got a new error from APM Planner 2.0.10 when I tried to install firmware: “Unable to gain access to bootloader”

If I hold the reset button the blue stops and I see:
Red solid (top right)
Yellow solid (bottom right)

[quote=“TCIII”]@evegroar,
What APM leds do you see when powering the APM with the USB cable?
Regards,
TCIII GM[/quote]

4

I believe I’m seeing the same thing on two of my boards. If I try to use APM Planner 2.0 and show the output I have avrdude.exe: stk500_2_ReceiveMessage(): Timeout.

When I power on I get the Red/Blue flashing on the Output side that goes to solid yellow. On the input side I get the solid red for Alive. I’m in San Diego so if you’d like me to bring the two boards that are showing the problem by I can.

5

Here’s the console output from Mission planner when I try to do anything with the board…

INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.adsb - adsb connect loop
PNPID: ACPI\PNP0501\1
PNPID: USB\VID_23C1&PID_B016\75331313033351D08061
PNPID: USB\VID_2341&PID_0010\64033333430351A071B1
INFO MissionPlanner.Arduino.BoardDetect - is a 2560-2
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.adsb - adsb connect loop
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.Firmware - Detected a b2560v2
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.Firmware - Using firmware.diydrones.com/Pla
ne/stable/apm2/ArduPlane.hex
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.Firmware - OK
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.Firmware - Downloaded
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.Firmware -

Size: 237970

INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.adsb - adsb connect loop
CustomMessageBox thread calling Base Thread
CustomMessageBox thread running Base Thread
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.adsb - adsb connect loop
INFO MissionPlanner.Utilities.adsb - adsb connect loop

Then that’s it!

6

Any ideas? Anyone?

7

Hi evegroar,

Please check you don’t have a regulator issue:
diydrones.com/forum/topics/ac3-1 … ed-problem

Also take a look to this documentation, the 32U2 firmware controls the USB connection to the 2560, you can try to re-write it:
copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common … tmega32u2/