Electron stopped working?

Looks like I’m in the same boat here. :confused: I was in the process of uploading the new firmware in DFU mode. After part2 of the firmware was uploaded the led became unresponsive and I can’t get it to do anything. Here is the terminal output that I saw. After it was done I waited about 5 seconds an hit the reset button.

Jasons-MacBook-Pro:Downloads parmenter$ dfu-util -d 2b04:d00a -a 0 -s 0x8020000 -D system-part1-0.5.0-rc.2-electron.bin
dfu-util 0.7

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd00a
Opening DFU capable USB device... ID 2b04:d00a
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Found DFU: [2b04:d00a] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash   /0x08000000/03*016Ka,01*016Kg,01*064Kg,07*128Kg"
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
No valid DFU suffix signature
Warning: File has no DFU suffix
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash   "
Downloading to address = 0x08020000, size = 122916
...............................
File downloaded successfully 

Jasons-MacBook-Pro:Downloads parmenter$ dfu-util -d 2b04:d00a -a 0 -s 0x8040000 -D system-part2-0.5.0-rc.2-electron.bin
dfu-util 0.7

Copyright 2005-2008 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2012 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org

Filter on vendor = 0x2b04 product = 0xd00a
Opening DFU capable USB device... ID 2b04:d00a
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Found DFU: [2b04:d00a] devnum=0, cfg=1, intf=0, alt=0, name="@Internal Flash   /0x08000000/03*016Ka,01*016Kg,01*064Kg,07*128Kg"
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuDNLOAD-IDLE, status = 0
aborting previous incomplete transfer
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 4096
No valid DFU suffix signature
Warning: File has no DFU suffix
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash   "
Downloading to address = 0x08040000, size = 120436
..............................
File downloaded successfully

I should mention that it was only connected over usb only and the battery was not connected during the update. Is this problematic? What did I do wrong?

@mdma I would be like to try to flash the bootloader using a photon if you can explain how. I have photons laying around.

I tried the Norwegian Blue program with no luck. I used the online ParticleDev and also compiled the lates release locally with the same results below. I double checked the wiring and still no luck. I am using a Photon to try to recover an Electron. Here is what I see in coolterm.

Bootloader fixerupper, v0.0
This utility fixes up the bootloader on another device. 
Before running this, be sure you have correctly wired the programmer and target devices.

WARNING: Do not use this with a target device that is showing LED activity.
LED activity on the target device means the bootloader is functioning and any problems with
the device can be fixed using particle-cli.

WARNING^2: Please read the message above!

Do you have a dead device and wish to continue? [y,N]:y
SWD Fault error
Please double check the wiring, then try again.
Do you have a dead device and wish to continue? [y,N]:

-Jason

What do you mean by that?
Was it still yellow? (or any other LED "activity")

Have you tried

particle flash --usb tinker

That would have been advisable before anything else.

BTW: It's also advisable to have the battery attached when doing such things with the Electron since the ublox might spike its current draw possibly exceeding USB power limits.

@ScruffR, Good point that wasn't the best description of what was going on. I seem to be in the exact same situation as @jgarland79 I should have said there was no main LED lit ever, only the blue led on D7 dimly lit. By unresponsive I mean the device does nothing on button presses. I would have loved to flash tinker if I could have gotten the thing to come to life. I always flash tinker after a firmware update on my photons.

I understand the current limitations also. I typically have the battery plugged in when testing when I'm transmitting or receiving. I figured this would be OK since after I powered the electron on I immediately put it into DFU mode.

@jgarland79 have you tried this? Did it work for you?

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Nope, not tried it - I’ve got a Programmer Shield :sunglasses:

Sorry to hear you got stuck that way :weary:

Hi, I am in the same situation and I tried to flash the bootloader with the procedure https://github.com/m-mcgowan/embedded-swd, but it does not work.
I always get the SWD fault error.
I also connected the battery to the Electron und a external power to the photon to be sure both have enough volts.
are there some other hints what I can do with my dead electron? I am also unable to get it in DFU mode. :frowning:

Any help is appreciated
Christian

@crisu, Obviously you see I had the same issue above. It’s sad that I haven’t seen anyone from particle to chime in here. :confused:

@crisu & @jasonp, we could ping @mdma and @BDub for that and/or you could open a support ticket with a reference to this thread here.

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Thanks, I wrote to support. We will see what happens.

@ScruffR Yes thanks. I’ll get that going.

Hey everyone,

Jumping in here to provide an additional response from the Particle Team. I’m sorry to hear that a few of you are having issues with your Electrons. We’ll absolutely replace any hardware that arrived in a defective state or transitioned into a defective state during normal use.

We’ve done a lot of testing with the Solar Shield specifically, and have no reason to believe that it’s damaging or harming Electrons. Specifically, @Dick has done testing on multiple Electrons allowing the battery to fully discharge, and it’s had no negative effect on the Electron or its system firmware.

Again, we’re happy to replace units that have transitioned into an irrecoverable state, but want to voice that we’re not currently aware of any issues with the Solar Shield that might be causing this to occur.

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This morning I have a dead Electron. I left it running all night in Listening mode and USB plugged in. This morning only the charging LED is on and the USB port is not recognized. Will not reset and the status LED does not light up at all no mater what sequence of mode / reset is used or powering on/off with/without battery. When battery is removed charging LED blinks rapidly.

Hey @lmetcalfe

Thanks for letting me know. Was this in conjunction with the Solar Kit, or independently?

Normally, I’d suggest putting the Electron in DFU mode–can you post a video of the light sequence on the device when you trigger DFU mode? That will help us diagnose.

The blinking red LED when you remove the battery is normal–it indicates that no battery is attached, which is a prerequisite for cellular communication.

I am seeing the same issue outlined on this thread. I left my electron on all night on battery, was dead in the morning. Now wont power up, Dim D7 light, no main LED response. Tried particle flash, tried using my Photon with the Norwegian Blue, SWD Fault error. Holding buttons, power cycling, nothing…

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Hey @GavinS – have you already submitted a ticket at our Customer Support Portal? Once you do, our technical agents should be able to help diagnose, repair, or replace the unit for you.

Yes, I did, Thanks. For the community’s benefit, is there a workaround to prevent this? Low-voltage protection circuit?

Literally all I did was power it with my own battery on the VIN and let the power run out. Bricked…

@will In my scenario I had powered the electron with 7.4v on VIN and let the battery die. I did not have the supplied battery connected. You had mentioned @Dick did a bunch of battery testing, but it sounded like with the provided batt, not using an external batt.

We can use our own battery to power the Electron, correct ?

We knew of this behaviour for Photons a while back, but that should have been cured and never have been an issue with Electrons.

But maybe we see a regression?
@BDub had tested this in the past and had not seen any issue with the Electron AFAIK

We are working on reproducing this internally. So far I have not seen this issue yet, with a multitude of power sources and discharge methods. Once I get my hands on a failed unit, I’ll analyze the flash memory to see what might be happening.

@GavinS you wouldn’t happen to have any JTAG tools would you? And your electron definitely will not enter DFU mode anymore?

Yes, it will NOT enter DFU mode. I have one of these http://www.tincantools.com/JTAG/Flyswatter2.html