Can’t connect to TCB, blinking red light

[Jib]

Hey, I’ve been connecting to the TCB regularly no problem, but last night I tried to connect as normal and I can’t. Couple of things:

The com port comes up normally, but when I try to connect it hangs for a bit and then says disconnected.

The red LED blinks slowly, nothing from green

The receiver gets power and connects to the transmitter as normal

The orange lights flash briefly at start up, but then nothing.

Dip switches are all in the ON position

Any idea what’s going on here?

https://youtube.com/shorts/wR10kGS782U ... BUrdWelo-V

[LukeZ]

Hi Jib - I'm unable to access your video, but your description is enough. The only time the red LED blinks slowly and the green does nothing, is when the board has no firmware. Typically no one will see that, since the board is sold with firmware already loaded. And I can't explain how your board might have lost it.

However I would recommend that you try flashing the latest firmware to it using OP Config and see if that restores it. Your saved settings will probably be lost, so hopefully you have an OPZ file saved to restore them after the firmware is back on.

[Jib]

So I can’t connect to the board in OPConfig, will I still be able to install the firmware?

The COM port comes up, but when I try to connect it hangs for a bit and then says disconnected.

Here is the link again. I had it listed as private, I thought if I shared the link people could view it but I guess not. Hopefully this works.

https://youtube.com/shorts/wR10kGS782U ... Y-B-YcdKW4

I will say the micro usb port seems a little “wiggly”? Like if I jiggle the cord in it the power cuts in and out, and if the micro usb plug is inserted in the “wrong” angle the TCB doesn’t get power.

[tankme]

I was going to say that exact same thing. The micro USB on my boards is a little loose. Sometimes I have to really work at positioning the cable in just the right way to get it to connect.

By the way, if you don't want your board just hanging out there and you have a 3D printer, there is a free 3D file for a case to put it in.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2666669

[Sub]

Hi,
The master has spoken,
If all else fails here's A couple of things to try.
1, try a different cable to connect it to the PC, i have had a cable failure previously after it worked for ages.
2, try to connect using Snoop on firmware tab, then wait a while if it connects in snoop then try normal connect.
3, turn dip switches to off EXCEPT 5 .
4, make sure your Pc hasn't decided to turn off your com ports in the root hub to save energy, (description is on the Wiki.)
Just a few ideas
Sub.

[Jib]

I was going to say that exact same thing. The micro USB on my boards is a little loose. Sometimes I have to really work at positioning the cable in just the right way to get it to connect.

By the way, if you don't want your board just hanging out there and you have a 3D printer, there is a free 3D file for a case to put it in.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2666669

Thanks for the link! Just got a printer, so this will probably end up being the first thing I print.

Will probably try to fiddle with the angle of the connector and see if this gets me anywhere

[Jib]

Hi,
The master has spoken,
If all else fails here's A couple of things to try.
1, try a different cable to connect it to the PC, i have had a cable failure previously after it worked for ages.
2, try to connect using Snoop on firmware tab, then wait a while if it connects in snoop then try normal connect.
3, turn dip switches to off EXCEPT 5 .
4, make sure your Pc hasn't decided to turn off your com ports in the root hub to save energy, (description is on the Wiki.)
Just a few ideas
Sub.

Will probably try #1 if fiddling with the angle of the connector doesn’t work.

Already tried #2, nothing happens, will try #3, #4 the com port pops up in OPConfig, it just doesn’t succeed in connecting to it.

Hoping this is just the angle of the connector or something else simple as I can’t think of anything that I had done directly to the TCB since the last time I fiddle with the settings via OPConfig.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Jib]

So I tried everything, still can’t figure this out.

Wiggled the cord, no change.

Tried several different cords, nope.

It connects when I press Snoop in OPConfig, but it doesn’t spit out any text in the dialog box. If I try to connect by pressing the connect button in OPConfig at this point, it just disconnects. I get a single text that says “Opz”

Messed with the dip switches, no change.

I flashed the firmware on the TCB, which apparently I could do, even though I wasn’t connected. Appears to have worked successfully according to the text in the dialog box, but no change in being able to connect to the TCB. The red and green lights do flash along with the orange ones while this is going on, but then revert back to the flashing red light when it’s done.

Pressed the reset button, the input button, no change.

Turned the whole thing on and all of my TCB settings are still saved and the tank works normally.

Not sure what else to try at this point other than trying to connect on a different computer. I don’t think it’s the computer though, as even before when it was not connected to OPConfig but was plugged in via the micro usb, the LEDs behaved differently than they are now.

Any other suggestions?