RN4870 / RN4871 forget its configuration settings during power up - bluetooth

I have a problem with a couple RN4870 moduls. Sometimes they will forget their configuration settings (MAC address). Microchip told me, that is a power up problem and this issue will be solved with the new firmware version 1.28.3.
Has anyboby any experience with that firmware?
I don't want to flash all my moduls and the problem still exists, because it's not so easy to connect every single modul to flash the firmware.

Problem solved!
The main reason for the lost data in the module is the power up procedure. After I put a capacitor (10 uF) as close as possible to the power supply pins of the module it works pretty well. This was independently of the firmware version. Hope this info will help somebody else.

Related

I've done some research and I can't find the reason to why the USB ports stop working when trying to boot ubuntu

I've looked around a lot at many people's different questions and can't find one that is the same situation as the problem I'm having. Essentially a friend brought me an old PC of theirs with the request that there are some files they want taken off the hard drive. Unfortunately, their version of Windows had corrupted, so my solution was to boot Ubuntu from a USB drive without affecting the hard drive, to access the files and then the computer is going to scrap anyway. Unfortunately, as soon as the ubuntu software starts to load the lights on the keyboard and mouse turn off and when I eventually get to the option of 'Try Ubuntu', neither are responsive. I've tried restarting, I've tried different ports, I've tried unplugging and plugging back in, I've tried a different keyboard and mouse but I cannot find a solution. I installed the latest version of ubuntu from their website. I can use the keyboard in the BIOS settings etc. Anyone know what is happening? All help is greatly appreciated.

Using (DR)STRACE to compare Windows program execution

I'm posing a question here directly in relation to this issue on github for node-serialport. In a nutshell something that used to work fine in v4.x of the library no longer works in v6.x of the library. I think it must have something to do with how the library is opening the COM port (options or something), and I suspect its artificially limiting the power delivered over USB in the current version of the library.
I wrote the simplest scripts that I could to reproduce the problem (scripts posted in the issue) using:
NodeJS and v4.x of the library [works]
NodeJS and v6.x of the library [fails]
Python and PySerial equivalent [works]
Following through on a recommendation by the repository maintainer, I researched and found a utility for windows called drstrace that allowed me to capture logs of the execution of each of these scripts executing for a period of time (these logs are posted as attachments in the referenced issue).
Now I'm stuck, as I don't know how to make heads or tails of the drstrace logs, though I feel confident that the difference is probably evident in comparing the three files. I just don't know enough about how to read the drstrace logs and windows drivers and system calls to break through.
I realized posting this question here is something of an act of desperation, but I figure it's worth a shot. Hopefully it is clear that I've not lacked in effort pursuing this on my own, I'm just over my head at this point, and could use help getting further. Any guidance would be appreciated. Most awesome would be someone who is versed in this level of diagnostics giving it a look and reading the tea leaves. It would be great to contribute back to such an important open source library.
Update 2017 Nov 10
I reached out to FTDI support asking:
I use the FT231X in many of my products. I need some help with
understanding how the Windows FTDI driver manages power. More to the
point, I'm hoping you can help me understand how to direct the driver
to allow the full 500mA allowed by USB to be delivered to my product
by a Windows computer.
The reply was:
Just use our FT_Prog utility to set the max VBUS current to 500
mA:
This drive current becomes available after the FT231X enumerates.
I haven't tried this advice yet, but I wanted to share it with anyone reading this. The fact remains that node-serialport 6.0.4 behavior differs from both node-serialport 4.0.7 behavior and pyserial behavior.
Here is an alternative theory you could look into:
Windows interacting with V6.x might be interacting with the flow control settings differently, which might be causing your device to respond with an unexpected state causing your test to fail.
I Read a bit more about windows drivers and how they manage that i only found out that its related to the hardware manufacturer i think its not a fail from serialport it self since its really using the drivers it self it adds no extras on that level.
i am Contributor of SerialPort and can tell you that it offers only bindings for the Operating System to node that means it don't does any actions it offers you only a API read the following from microsoft they say you should ask your hardware vendor
Power Management in Serial Port Drivers (Windows CE 5.0)
Windows CE 5.0
Send Feedback
The minimum power management that a serial port driver can provide is to put the serial port hardware into its lowest power consumption state with the HWPowerOff function, and to turn the serial port hardware fully back on with the HWPowerOn function. Both of these functions are implemented in the lower layer. Beyond this minimal processing, a serial port driver can conserve power more effectively by keeping the port powered down unless an application has opened the serial port. If there is no need for the driver to detect docking events for removable serial port devices, the driver can go one step further and remove power from the serial port's universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) chip, if no applications are using the port.
Most serial port hardware can support reading the port's input lines even without supplying power to the serial line driver. Consult the documentation for your serial port hardware to determine what parts of the serial port circuitry can be selectively powered on and off, and what parts must be powered for various conditions of use.
Source:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa447559.aspx
about changes from serialport v4 => 6
new Stream Interface
but nothing changed with the core opening method of the port.
also nothing changed in the bindings which open the port
node serialport is a collection of bindings written in c++

Intermittent Issue with SCAN_Enable error on app load

I acquired a batch of WT0490 wearable pdas with detachable scan head, so converted an application originally made for Windows Mobile (which has been running perfectly for several years) to run on the WT4090s. The devices use these versions:
Windows CE 5.0
EMDK 2.6
ASP.net CF 2.0
Since rollout I've seen some very frustrating behaviour, which seems to start happening after the devices have been operating a few days. Users are reporting the following error:
Unexpected error in application
SCAN_Enable
There doesnt seem to be any noticeable pattern, several devices will be working perfectly for a few days then suddenly this error will show. THen a few days and a few reboots later they work again.
All devices were taken right back to stock settings then our cabs deployed to them. All identical models. We've tried altering memory allocation, swapping scanner headers etc but there is no pattern.
The error seems to occur on load of the first form after login, the login screen displays a list of users in a dropdown with a password box so that part of the app works ok, it seems to be when the scanner is initialised that this failure happens.
I had 40 devices, now 30+ have gone down with this same issue so my gut is telling me its a software issue but as yet ive not been able to find out why.
We've tried warm boots, cold boots, complete reprovisionings as well. We have a couple of dev units that don't show the problem although they are not in regular use so maybe we just haven't seen the problem 'yet'.
I hope someone out there has had this issue and knows how to fix it.
Thanks in advance.
WT4090 was built by Motorola Solution enterprise business, now part of Zebra Technologies. The WT4090 is currently in EOS (End Of Sales) but is still supported by Zebra if you've a maintenance contract.
You can check if you've the latest OS version and fixes installed on the device looking on Zebra Technologies support website.
For question on how to develop for Zebra Technologies devices you can take a look at Launchpad, Zebra's developer community website.
It's Worth noting that these devices have detachable barcode scanners - so if the scanner is not correctly attached, you get a SCAN_Enable error.
If you don't release the scanner, you can also see this error as a previous form could have the scanner blocked.
You may also find you have the ScanWedge app running - this will also block the scanner so you cannot get it enabled. The EMDK needs exclusive access to the scanner to enable it.

Auto-launch a program on USB key insertion

I am looking for a way to store a script on a USB flash drive that will be executed she the device is inserted in a computer.
It should be a script that keep the files on my USB key up to date with their source on the web.
I have identified two main issues :
Security issue
Platform agnostic issue: may be easily solved by a test of the platform
Can anyone give me a hint for my research?
Thanks
That is impossible on the newer versions on windows. But you could try something like a bad usb, it's a usb that you can program to act like a keyboard, try looking it up and see if it is something you can use. If you think it can be used you can create it your self or buy one, if you choose to buy i would recommend either a rubber ducky or a malduino.
Hope it helps ;)

can the license information stored in Dongle be taken out of it and stored on a file or something?

We have a registered PC based application that needs a Dongle (hardware that gets plugged on the printer port) to start and execute. The vendor who provided us this application and Dongle, does not make or work with these dongles any more, since they are very old technology, and would not help us in this aspect.
So my question is --> is it possible to read the security code from this Dongle and store it in a file or something on the PC. We also do not have the source code of the application. Can we change the call in the application to read the security key from this file instead of trying to read it from the Dongle attached to the printer/parallel port.
Sorry for the vague question but we are very desperate to get help on this problem as out application has 16-bit code and it would not be supported by Windows 7 which is 64 bit. Thanks!!
The LPT security devices don't just contain information but usually include a processor and perform certain operations. Dongle emulators were developed when dongles where more widespread, but as they were based on reverse-engineering, they didn't work exactly right.
To answer your question, no, what you need is not possible. You need to start thinking about migration to another application. A temporary solution would be to have a copy of older OS running in virtual machine and to have your application run in this virtual machine. Such solution will work for another 5-10 years for sure, and I think it's enough for migration.

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