How to get a refund?

Troubleshooting
21

Thanks for testing!

More importantly, we hope that you managed to connect and have fun with the :spark: core :slight_smile:

2 Likes
22

Hi again,

Just plugged in my Spark and it just kept flashing green, despite having connected successfully the last time a couple of days ago. My Wifi settings havenā€™t changed in the meantime, including the Wifi channel. Security was WPA/WPA2 (default).

Iā€™ve just done a couple of tests, selecting settings over a serial connection to the Spark. My Wifi was on Channel 1 for each of these. I held down MODE for 10 seconds between each in order to wipe the stored WiFi credentials.

But, if I had successfully connected at some point, and only held down MODE for 3 seconds to re-enter listening mode, I could connect in over serial, enter any SSID (including nonsense ones) and the Spark would still connect successfully.

Wifi Mode: WPA/WPA2
Connected successfully whether selected WPA or WPA2 over serial.

Wifi Mode: WPA
Connected successfully whether selected WPA or WPA2 over serial.

Wifi Mode: WPA2
Would only connect if selected WPA2 over serial. Would not connect if selected WPA.

1 Like
23

My phone, a HTC desire S, supports Wi-Fi hotspot but your app isnā€™t compatible with my phone so I canā€™t download it.

24

@nchaud, have you tried the following:

  1. Configured your wireless router to use channels 11 and lower?
  2. Connected via USB-serial to configure your core?

Gingerbread (Android 2.3) is now the ā€œold and fadingā€ kid on the Android block and I suspect the reason why the Spark Android app wonā€™t run on it. The serial-via-usb method of configuration has worked very well for many people. :smile:

25

Hello @peekay123,

A friend and I recently purchased a Spark. Upon trying to configure it using a few different WiFi networks, smartphones, etc. we could not get the phone app to recognize the Spark. We would like a refund. Please let me know how this can be arranged. Thanks.

26

Hi @ZZZ,

Send us an email at hello@spark.io and we can help / coordinate a replacement / return / refund.

Thanks,
David

27

@ZZZ, hereā€™s a flowchart troubleshooting guide in case you want to try again :wink:

2 Likes
28

Yes Iā€™ve tried both to no avail. Iā€™m gonna go ahead and email for a refund. Thanks for trying anyway.

29

As a last resort, have you tried to update your firmware using the new fancy ā€œdeep updateā€? Itā€™s supposed to fix a lot of problems currently existing on the CC3000 chip.

Iā€™m not trying to push you away from a refund, but the Spark is such a great product, and itā€™d be a shame if some start-up problems would cause you to abandon it. Either way, good luck!

2 Likes
30

Iā€™m not willing to do this as the USP was quick prototyping (ā€œhours not weeksā€) - if it canā€™t fulfil that aim, I might as well spend a bit of time with one of the hundreds of other equally good, cheaper products thatā€™ll give me wireless capability.

31

could you list a few of those? i don't know of any microcontrollers with onboard wifi for under $39 but would be really interested in them.

1 Like
32

he may not need a full MCU (or maybe heā€™s ok with a full linux raspi). there are quite a few wifi chips that can do very basic stuff for less than $39. some people get spark for the added flexibility and powerā€¦and some times they dont even need it.

that being said, electric imp is the only one that would fit the sub 40 mcu billā€¦and we all know the issues there.

33

What issues exactly are there with the imp? I've got a friend with one and although it's a bit more expensive than the spark, I don't think he's had any issues with Wifi or the cloud falling over - it's on 24/7

1 Like
34

i am a bit biased (i backed spark)

i view electric imp is a highly closed system (vendor lock-in), which has a much less active community of developers, writing in an obscure language (squirrel), using a non-compliant albeit standard form factor, with very little progress being made to their platform in the past year.

that being said, they were truly the trailblazers in the space. before them, developing on a cheap wifi mcu was basically impossible.

2 Likes
35

Thanks guys, Iā€™ve got my refund now. When thereā€™s a stable almost-zero-setup version that just-works in the UK, pls update this thread to allow me and others to potentially order and try again.

36

Whatā€™s a stable almost zero-setup version in your opinion?

I guess we donā€™t have the best setup method but one with the least friction and strong community support. :wink:

1 Like
37

@nchaud - any chance you could share some of your alternative devices, its always nice to play with something new :wink:

on a related note - the ā€œgetting startedā€ part of the docs could use some work - it assumes everyone wants to do setup via the cloud with a smartphone, not great if you donā€™t have a compatible phone or an awkward router.

usb serial or spark-cli methods are buried halfway down the ā€œconnecting your coreā€ page past all the smartphone cruft.

1 Like
38

Thanks all! We appreciate the feedback, and weā€™ll keep trying to make it easier. :slight_smile:

Thanks,
David