MK1 won't connect or update firmware

Race Capture Pro hardware installation- power, wiring, physical installation, etc. See the dedicated forum for Sensor related topics

Moderators: JeffC, rdoherty, stieg, brentp

Post Reply
DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

MK1 won't connect or update firmware

Post by DougK »

I'm working with a race team that is setting up 2 cars for a comparison test day. We have a Pro3 and a MK1. The Pro3 connects to Windows 10 just fine over USB but I cannot get the MK1 to connect. I tried both Windows 10 and Windows Vista (I don't have Windows 7). Thinking the firmware might be out of date I tried to update it, but that gets stuck"waiting for device to appear on USB". This happens on both computers. The Vista machine does see "Racecapture/Pro" in device manager. Windows 10 sees "USB Serial Device". In both cases 1 green LED is on. When I hold the button and plug in the USB I get 3 green LEDs, so it appears some firmware is running correctly, but I'm still unable to update or connect to the RaceCapture App.

What should I try next?

Thanks!

mwehnes
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2017 4:03 pm
Location: Morton, IL

Post by mwehnes »

Hi Doug,

Yeah, throw it in the garbage the support on here is horrible for the MK1.

I have the same issue you have. The only way you're going to get it flashed is to boot windows into a special mode where it allows unsigned drivers (see instructions below) to be installed. Once you've done that you can run the flash utility and select "Y" when asked if it's your first time. That is the only way to get the bootloader drivers into memory to flash it on Windows 10.

Alternatively, if you have an older Win 8.1 machine they allow you to just approve unsigned drivers without much headache.

Windows 10 enforces driver signatures by default. This can be disabled to install drivers that are not digitally signed. Use the following steps to disable driver signature enforcement.

Click the Start menu and select Settings.
Click Update and Security.
Click on Recovery.
Click Restart now under Advanced Startup.
Click Troubleshoot.
Click Advanced options.
Click Startup Settings.
Click on Restart.
On the Startup Settings screen press 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement.
Your computer will restart and you will be able to install non-digitally signed drivers. If you restart your computer again the driver signature enforcement will be re-enabled.

DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

Post by DougK »

@mwehnes - Thanks so much for the FW update instructions - I seriously doubt I would have figured this out on my own! I finally had a chance to try it and it worked exactly as you described. It is a lot of extra work just because the drivers are unsigned!

brentp
Site Admin
Posts: 6274
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 am

Post by brentp »

It seems you got things figured out for MK1 - did you get your firmware upgraded as well? The steps are difficult, but if you get the proper bootloader drivers installed it will work.

Latest firmware is 2.8.7 for MK1, and that is a stable, well performing release.

The latest RaceCapture app will support MK1, and will work well over a bluetooth connection as well. Announcement here: https://www.autosportlabs.com/racecaptu ... 2-release/
Brent Picasso
CEO and Founder, Autosport Labs
Facebook | Twitter

DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

Post by DougK »

Brent,

I was able to update the firmware using the instructions provided by mwehnes, and following that I was able to communicate with the app on my PC.

You mention the MK1 can connect with the App on my phone/tablet via Bluetooth. How do I go about doing that? I have a small black box that connects via the RJ style jacks - I was told it is a Bluetooth adapter, but it doesn't say anything on it (I couldn't find it on the ASL webpage anywhere) . I also have a similar box that says WiFi. The phone app does not let me select WiFi to connect (in fact, it does not even let me choose the MK1).

Thanks!

Doug

brentp
Site Admin
Posts: 6274
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 am

Post by brentp »

Hi,

Great you got it working.

The small black box is the Bluetooth module. Use the included short cable to plug it into the inner RJ11 jack on the front panel; it's the one closer to the LEDs / buttons.

Once you have it connected, power it up and then pair it under android Bluetooth settings (outside of the app). Default password is 1234.

Once it is paired, launch the app. Go to "App Preferences" by pressing the hamburger menu in the upper left. On the connection type, select "Bluetooth".

The app will then search for and connect to the system. Once it connects, you will see activity under the dashboard (swipe to the raw channels view), and under setup you'll be able to read the unit's current configuration, edit settings and write those settings back.

Let us know how far you get!
Brent Picasso
CEO and Founder, Autosport Labs
Facebook | Twitter

DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

Post by DougK »

Brent,

Thanks for the help. I did get it to connect to my phone. I thought I tried exactly what you suggested a couple times with no luck. However, it worked this time! I think I rebooted my phone in between - perhaps that helped.

Now I'm on to setup and configuration!

Doug

brentp
Site Admin
Posts: 6274
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 am

Post by brentp »

Great!

Yes, sometimes the Android subsystem needs a good kick in the pants. Either turning bluetooth on and off at the android level, or rebooting the device.

That's why we have a couple of devices we verified and recommend (Fire tablet or Nvidia Shield)
Brent Picasso
CEO and Founder, Autosport Labs
Facebook | Twitter

DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

Post by DougK »

It appears this was a one-time deal. Now that I've connected sensors I can no longer connect to the MK1 via Bluetooth. I have Version 1.10.2 of the App on my Samsung S5 and on my Windows10 PC and Firmware version 2.8.7 in the MK1. The PC can connect over USB but the phone cannot connect via Bluetooth. I have reset the phone, unpaired/re-paired, and turned Bluetooth on/off a bunch of times, as well as re-booting the phone. The phone sees the MK1 because it pairs correctly every time, but the App never connects. On the PC I see that the Bluetooth module "Initialized", and the Bluetooth module continuously flashes its green LED. Can the MK1 connect to via Bluetooth while it is connected to USB? Regardless, if I disconnect from the PC and power through my harness the phone will not connect.

In looking through the forum I see what appears to be the same issue in this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=5422

I'm not sure what to try next...

Doug

brentp
Site Admin
Posts: 6274
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 am

Post by brentp »

Hi,

The system is designed to allow simultaneous connections with with USB and bluetooth, that shouldn't be a problem.

Q: Can you try a different android device as a comparison - like a Fire tablet or similar? This would help isolate intermittent bad connections.

Another test you can do is collect some applicaation logs while it's trying to connect via bluetooth. Try this:

* Ensure no other app is currently connected over bluetooth to the device
* Turn bluetooth off and then on again under android bluetooth settings
* Launch the app, and let it attempt to connect for a while
* Go to the System Status page via the hamburger menu at top left
* Press 'Copy' on application log button
* Paste the application log here as a reply, so we can examine it. That might help understand the problem.

This will show information about the app attempting to connect; it might yield some clues.

Thanks, will watch this thread.
Brent Picasso
CEO and Founder, Autosport Labs
Facebook | Twitter

DougK
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:04 am
Location: Illinois

Post by DougK »

I was able to borrow a Galaxy Tab E. It works, and more than just one time! Both the Tab E and my phone (Galaxy S5) have Android 6.0.1, but the phone has an older kernel (3.4.0 versus 3.10.49-8498553). Most of the rest of the stuff appears the same between the two.

The Tab E does seem to make itself visible to nearby devices on Bluetooth while the S5 does not unless you enable that, and then it times out after 5 minutes and hides itself - could that be part of the issue? I'm not seeing anything that is clearly the issue.

Doug

brentp
Site Admin
Posts: 6274
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:36 am

Post by brentp »

That's odd, as my regular phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5 Active, and works solidly with MK1/MK2/MK3.

How reliably does the Tab E allow a connection / re-connection? Typically when we test we repeatedly power cycle RCP and observe how reliably the device re-connects; surprisingly, the speed at which it reconnects is often a function of the underlying bluetooth support; some devices are just less stable.

Are you able to test with one of the cheap Fire 7 tablets? That's one of our reference devices as well.
Brent Picasso
CEO and Founder, Autosport Labs
Facebook | Twitter

Post Reply