PilotAware
British Forum => Technical Support => Topic started by: pioneer on September 27, 2020, 07:57:45 pm
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Help please, have classic PilotAware which has been working ok but now seems to connect erratically.
Have taken unit out of aircraft and now running on desk at home. it occasionally connects but cannot access USB or internet so cannot update via USB.
When it does not connect I get messages such as"http request not supported " I also get this message when trying to save a change in the configuration or if I try to change to traffic or any other page.
Does not seem to be any rhyme or reason .
My tablet and phone show that they are connected to the Pilotaware wifi.
I know this all sounds a bit disjointed but nothing is consistent.
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Hi pioneer,
Can I ask what type of tablet and phone. Are you aware of the ongoing issues with recent Apple firmware releases reported elsewhere on here. Could this be the problem you are experiencing?
Regards
Peter
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This issue is Android I would assume
There is an incompatibility introduced by the latest Android browser
This is fixed in 2020 release
In the meantime do you have access to. PC or iOS device?
Thx
Lee
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Thanks for coming back to me.
I use an Android tablet and android phone my iphone only runs ios ver12 so cannot use update app.
my phone is running android 10 and tablet android 5.1.1, neither have given a problem before.
I use android Chrome as my browser, am trying to update with usb stick but cannot get access via 192.168.1.1.
I have access to pc running win 10.
thanks
Brian
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Hi Brian
Please try your windowsPC
If you update your software to the 20200916 release, this has a fix for the Android browser issue
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Hi will try when I get home.
At the airfield at moment and tried to update with an iPhone, similar problem, the WiFi keeps cutting in and out, stayed connected long enough to update via the iPhone but cannot connect WiFi cutting in and out!!!
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Thats very odd, can you get a connection for long enough to take a screenshot of the home page ?
This may give some indication
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Hi
Update carried out ok with Iphone, checking config page and update shows as installed but wifi keeps cutting in and out
thus loosing the setup page, will open the unit and check for dry joints and cracked tracks or it could be the usb wifi module can I obtain one from PilotAware shop or are they freely available?
Will keep you advised.
Thanks Brian
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Hi Brian,
One other test to try is to power the unit up without the 1090 SDR and GPS, just to check that there is no interference to the WiFi. If you are convinced it’s the WiFi chip, you can get a replacement from the PilotAware Shop on www.pilotaware.com . I’m always wary of buying elsewhere as it needs to have the correct chipset and you can’t always trust random internet suppliers.
Best Regards
Peter
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Hi
Have the PilotAware unit out of aircraft on desk at home, yesterday it worked intermittently, tried this morning with only wifi dongle, have checked the boards for dry joint and broken tracks ,nothing obvious .
With only the wifi dongle and power plugged in looking through holes in end of case i can see flashing red light bottom left and another flashing red on the board above it and occasionally a flashing green. still no wifi connection.
Brian
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Hi Brian,
Flashing red light at lower left (opposite side to the P3i antenna) indicates a power issue. This LED should be constant red. You should also see a green one - also at lower left, which is the disk access light. This will be on and off intermittently during power-up then only on infrequently during operation. The upper LEDs on the Bridge will show red until a GPS fix is achieved (obviously not achievable without the GPS dongle) then changes to flashing or fixed green when the unit is operational.
Back to the power issue. What are you powering it from?
Is the microUSB Connection tight in the socket?
Do you have another ‘decent quality’ power cable you can try (temporarily)?
Try removing the WiFi dongle and reboot - does this make any difference to the power situation (you obviously won’t be able to connect without the WiFi). Don’t reinsert the WiFi dongle without powering off the unit first.
Regards
Peter
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Hi Peter
Power from 240 volt / 5Volt 10Watt charger also tried pwer bank with 2.1 amp output and originally from aircraft supply via plumbed in 5 volt supply( worked on this for a couple of years ok).
Microusb tight in socket.
Have tried various power cables including the one supplied with the unit which is used in the aircraft setup.
Have tried with and without wifi dongle as you suggested, no different, have also tried with another Wifi dongle.
Have also tried my unit in my friends aircraft with all his power/wifi/gps etc. still no joy.
Regards Brian
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This is leaning towards a hardware fault
Just to check, can you power up whilst connected to an HDMI monitor / tv
this may give some indication
Good behavior should be a 'rainbow' boot screen followed by a stream of console booting messages
Thx
Lee
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Hi Brian,
Thanks for the update. Your tests should certainly have shown up if a power cable or power supply issue was present and would also appear to rule out a fault with your WiFi, SDR or GPS dongles.
Looking forward to hear what happens when you boot up the unit with a monitor or tv screen attached as Lee has suggested.
The boot messages he mentions should continue (with a few relatively brief pauses) through to a point where a ‘login’ prompt appears. (You don’t actually log in, but this is the point where the unit is fully booted up, the WiFi Hotspot appears and the unit starts to run normally.)
Best Regards
Peter
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Hi Lee and Peter
Powered up with hdmi connected , just rainbow screen flashing up nothing else!!!
Power light comes up solid red with an occasional flashing green next to it.
Regards Brian
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Sounds like a disk failure
You could try reformat and install
Thx
Lee
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Hi Lee
Have reformated the SD card and installed latest software, still only get flashing rainbow screen, will get new card and give it an other go.
Rgds Brian
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Hi Brian
How are you formatting, what tool ?
This sounds like it is formatted incorrectly
Thx
Lee
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Hi
Formatted with recommended tool, reloaded fresh up to date software, looking good,monitor shows a long list of actions with ok against most.
last in the list was " paw login" but still no wifi connection, just burnt my fingers disconnecting the wifi dongle . the lights in the case are flashing bright red and green.
Rgds Brian
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Hi
Formatted with recommended tool, reloaded fresh up to date software, looking good,monitor shows a long list of actions with ok against most.
last in the list was " paw login" but still no wifi connection, just burnt my fingers disconnecting the wifi dongle . the lights in the case are flashing bright red and green.
Rgds Brian
From your report the software is loading fine. If you mean that ^^^ literally, sounds like the WiFi dongle has failed. I have seen a few actually melt!
Regards
Peter
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Hi Peter and Lee
I have reformatted the sd card with the correct program and reloaded with latest software, now I get a rainbow screen then a whole list of items on screen ending in paw login, still no wifi.
Decided to change the wifi dongle(with power off) but on removing the original dongle it was too hot to touch, the red plastic has melted, put new dongle in the unit and powered up,every thing booted the same as before ending in paw login but still no wifi, I have even put the old GPS dongle in and that appears to be working, flashing green.
Temperature of the board is fairly even 28 to 34 Deg C.
Any more thoughts please.
Thanks Brian
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Hi Brian,
The last time I saw those symptoms with a melted WiFi dongle on a Classic, the 1090 SDR was also running seriously hot, so not sure which had caused the initial failure. (That’s why I suggested testing without the SDR and GPS earlier in the thread). That might not be the case here of course. My thoughts are that it might be time to upgrade - either to a new Rosetta, or if you want to keep the Classic setup, swap the motherboard to a Raspberry Pi 3B, which has on-board WiFi (and Bluetooth). If you choose to stay with the Classic, I would also consider swapping to a new SDR at the same time to be on the safe side, or at least be prepared to do so if things still don’t work.
Regards
Peter
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Hi Brian
I have reformatted the sd card with the correct program and reloaded with latest software, now I get a rainbow screen then a whole list of items on screen ending in paw login, still no wifi.
I think that you are saying that after a format - it booted straight away ?
That is not right, it should have gone to an installation screen for at least 10 minutes.
If it booted straight up, it means the original OS was not removed and hence the disk was not actually reformatted
What version of SD Card Formatter are you running ?
mine is version 5.0.1
What size SD Card is being used ?
When prompted to reformat - The 'Select card' entry has selected"E:\RECOVERY"
is this what you see ?
are there other options to select ?
Please try setting "Overwrite Format" Rather than the default "Quick Format"
Thx
Lee
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Hi Lee
After the first format ( using version 5.0.1) and loading of the latest software it took quite a while before it started scrolling through a list but stopped and hung then came up with a message disk corrupt use scandisk , so I Scandisked the sd card and tried again this time it scrolled through quicker and finished at the paw login, I then turned it off and inserted the wifi dongle the screen came up with the rainbow then after a couple of seconds scrolled through to the paw login, but still no wifi, turned it off to change the wifi dongle,that's when I found the dongle was hot and had melted the red plastic.
Stripped unit from it's case checked for any obvious signs of burning, found none. Then leaving unit out of it's case put the new wifi dongle and my old gps dongle in and powered up, ran through the scrolling screen and it stopped at paw login.
Still no wifi, temperature of the board was ok no hot spots, the gps dongle started flashing green.
I have now ordered another wifi dongle , will give it one last try when that arrives next week.
Thanks to you and Peter for your time and patience.
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Hi Brian
I am now a little confused
After the first format ( using version 5.0.1) and loading of the latest software it took quite a while before it started scrolling through a list but stopped and hung then came up with a message disk corrupt use scandisk, so I Scandisked the sd card and tried again this time it scrolled through quicker and finished at the paw login, I then turned it off and inserted the wifi dongle the screen came up with the rainbow then after a couple of seconds scrolled through to the paw login, but still no wifi, turned it off to change the wifi dongle,that's when I found the dongle was hot and had melted the red plastic.
Are you referring to the boot on the PI ?
I have no idea what scandisk is, so, I am thinking you mean the Linux utility fdisk on the PI, not scandisk ?
Or do you mean you ran scandisk on another machine, ie PC or MAC for example.
I have no idea what scandisk would do to an installation, and have never had to run this utility on any installation
Thx
Lee
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Hi
When running the newly formatted sd card with the latest software on the Pilotaware unit part way through the boot sequence it hung and a message came up saying errors on disk use scandisk, put the sd card in pc and ran scandisk then put sd card back in pilotaware unit it then booted ok.
Rgds Brian
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looks like a faulty SD Card, though I must say I have never seen a message asking to run scandisk, I don't think this is a Linux utility, the equivalent on Linux is fsck, I have sometimes seen a message to run fsck
thx
Lee
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Hi
The message said use fsck or scandisk. as I run windows I used scandisk which appears to have worked , when I power the Pilotaware up connected to the monitor it runs through the boot sequence to the paw login, just the wifi not working
new dongle on order,
Rgds Brian
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Hi Brian
Great please update when you get new wifi dongle
Thx
Lee
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New wifi dongle installed still no wifi, screen shows boot sequence up to paw login.
Thanks for trying to help.
Regards Brian
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Hi Brian
Just to clarify, you have tried browsing for the WiFi Hotspot from both the Android and iOS devices, and nothing is visible ?
And you are using your 10Watt power supply
Thx
Lee
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I have seen several times, that SDFormatter will not correctly format a SD card that has previously been used for PAW. Reported symptoms are much like those reported by Brian.
The fix is to delete all partitions on the SD card in Windows Disk Management tool(other tools available). Make sure that you have the right drive . Then use the SD Formatter as instructed.
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Hi
Have replaced sd card with new card ,formatted with SD Formatter and latest software also installed new WiFi dongle, unit is running on 2.4 amp 5volt wall adapter, unit goes to rainbow screen then initially took a long time to load new software then ran through a long list of actions finishing with "paw login", checked for wifi on my android tablet which I have used in aircraft for past 18 months also on android phone running Android 10 neither showed any wifi signal.
I videoed the last part of the loading screen if that is any help.
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Hi Brian
I can understand this is frustrating.
The image you have posted - is that the final state after the software has installed etc, if so this is not good.
If this is the initial state, that is understandable.
Do you have a dropbox where we can look at the video you mentioned.
It sounds like a hardware fault, maybe on the baseboard USB ?
Thx
Lee
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Hi Brian,
I agree with Lee (as I usually do) - looking like a board fault, but don’t rush to order a replacement (as per my earlier post in Reply #21) until Lee has seen the boot video - just in case!
Looking forward with interest to see (or hear from Lee) what the video ,shows.
Best Regards
Peter
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Hi Peter and Lee
Sorry for delay in getting back to you .
Actions to date.
reloaded latest update via sd card, no wifi, installed new wifi dongle still no wifi, tried another wifi dongle no change.
Formatted new 8gb sd card, installed previous working update, no change no wifi, gps is flashing green.
Looking at end of PilotAware case can see, bottom left solid red led, on the board above are flashing red and flashing green led's , still no wifi.
Changed the Raspberry Pi circuit board for a known good one, new wifi dongle ,new sd card original gps dongle .
As viewed via the hdmi connection the software was installed then the rainbow screen then the long list of actions terminating with
Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 paw tty1
paw login: ( flashing cursor)
I am out of options now, nothing to change except the pc board plugged in on top of the Raspberry Pi board are these available?
Thanks Brian
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Brian, I will send you a PM
Regards
Keith