BT freezes just after boot

[treaves]

Hoping someone can help.

I have a BT4 based system that has worked very well. I hadn't brewed in a couple of years due to moving & whatnot. But now I'm ready to go again. So I fire up the system to clean everything. I was pleased it all ran. But then I noticed the temp probes stopped updating. During my clean cycle this happened twice. Restarting the system helped.

The BT4 was running version 2.5 build 0964; very out-of-date. So I decide to upgrade. I can't run the old custom Mac Arduino IDE, as even my old Intel 2012 MacBook Pro will no longer run 32bit code; only 64 bit. So I decided to try the develop branch. I was thrilled to see it was CMake-based, as I use CMake for my C++ development.

So I got it built, and flashed. When I restarted the system, it shows the logo screen, the six LED displays show their addresses, then they go out and the system is frozen (meaning the encode does noting; can't change the menu). If I hold the encode down immediately after start, it'll go into the first menu before freezing. I've now tried every version back to 7.11 - that do not use the custom version of the IDE - and all do the same. The system boots, I see the logo with the build number, then the LED's go blank and the system freezes.

I had started another issue asking if anyone had any old parts around thinking to try or at least tinker with a different board (so I'm not always working out at my system). I don't know if it's a board issue or software issue.

Does anyone have any idea as to what my issue might be? I appreciate any help!

[treaves]

I was finally able to re-burn 2.5 0964. This triggered the recollection that this happened when 2.6 was originally released. It never worked on the BT4, which is why I had 2.5 to begin with. Ah well.

[ericyanush]

If I remember correctly, I've also seen this issue. I know the later fw versions did run on the BT4, as I was using it almost exclusively when I was building out the transition to Cmake.

From what I remember, it may have been an issue with the firmware version on the I2CLCD controller that originally shipped with the BT4. You can definitely update the firmware on the I2CLCD board, but I don't recall what was all involved, but I think you end up needing to wire up either the BT4 usb adapter to the I2CLCD board or something similar, like an FTDI232 breakout board.

[treaves]

Any idea what firmware to use? I have the USB Module as well as a FTDI breakout, so the connection shouldn't be an issue. Just do not know what firmware to use.

I have the PDF for the BrewTroller & the I2C Ethernet and each has upgrading their own firmware, but, as far as I know, there never was a PDF for the display.

[ericyanush]

I'm not aware of an instructions for updating the display; that said it's not really any different than updating a brewtroller board, as it's just an ATMEGA168A processor that adapts from I2C to the parallel interface that those old 2004A LCDs use. I just checked the one I have, and it's running build 1007, which appears to be the latest available in the https://github.com/brewtrollergit/i2clcd repo. Build 1007 seems to work fine with the board I hooked it up to, which is running a BT v2.8 build.

I don't recall the exact procedure it takes to flash one of those I2CLCD boards, but in general, on the one short edge of the board there is an unpopulated header labeled JP1. You should be able to connect those pins, VCC, GND, RX and TX to either the matching header on the BT4 usb adapter board, or to an FTDI breakout board (5V version). From there you should be able to compile and flash the binary using an Arduino IDE (newer versions should work for this, with a little bit of adaptation).

[treaves]

Hm... I'll have to double check my board.

The sketch uses the pin library, which has this:

#if defined(__AVR_ATmega644P__) || defined(__AVR_ATmega1284P__)   // Sanguino
#define MAX_PIN 31
#elif defined(__AVR_ATmega1280__) || defined(__AVR_ATmega2560__)  // Arduino ATMega
#define MAX_PIN 69
#else
#error FastPin only defined for ATMega (1280/2560) and Sanguino (644P/1284P) processors
#endif

So I'm not sure about the ATMEGA168A. The old, custom 0022 IDE lists the BT with ATMEGA168, but the pin library seems a miss. Did you edit the pin.h to simply #define MAX_PIN 20 in the final #else or some-such?

Thanks!

(by any chance do you still have for HEX file?)

[treaves]

Well, I managed to get it to compile with the current version of Arduino IDE, but it required some changes both to the code and to the code of the libraries. And for some reason, I couldn't get avrdude to be able to read or write, so I could not back up the existing sketch. The IDE did say it successfully uploaded.

However, upon restarting, the sensor LED's flash their ID, then go blank, and the main display is blank but power is to it; it displays a stripped pattern.

So I'm going to try to dig around in the code. But I'd really appreciate any ideas: both to the code issue and to the avrdude communication issue.

And here's to bottles washing up on far shores...