Author Topic: Rosetta not working after software upgrade  (Read 4146 times)

MartinTB20

Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« on: February 12, 2021, 08:37:41 pm »
I have had pilotaware rosetta in my aircraft semi-installed and working ok for over a year.  Have not been flying much due to Covid restrictions, but on Dec-30-2020 I flew and it all worked ok.  On 5-Jan-21 I updated the firmware to 20201101 using the PilotAware Updater App and the update seemed to work ok, but I did not fly or test it properly on that day.  Today (12-Feb-2021) I went flying and PilotAware was not working.  Connecting from Sky Demon it was stuck on "Looking for Satellites".  Looking at the PilotAware homepage is sais "GPS unavailable" (photo attached).  I am sure that this is related to the software update but I can't find a way to downgrade to the previous software to check.  Any ideas?

Martin Lea G-JHMP

Ian Melville

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2021, 06:54:46 am »
There is no easy roll back option. It can be achieved by wiping the SD card and starting afresh. However I don’t think that the software is the problem. I can see from screenshots other issues.

Firstly there is a voltage supply issue, and second that the CPU is throttled. There are probably the same cause. What is your power supply and cable? If the aircraft battery is the supply, is the charge status low?

exfirepro

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2021, 10:40:29 am »
Hi Martin,

It might be a glitch in the update, though unlikely as the Home Page implies it has loaded correctly, however there are two areas you need to look at.

Firstly, I agree with Ian, you need to investigate your power source and cable as your PAW is clearly indicating power issues, which are resulting in throttling of the CPU and possibly affecting other areas. This could be due to low supply voltage, a poor (or loose) connection at either end, or a fault in the cable.

Next, you need to check the GPS - ‘Unavailable’ and a Red Warning Light generally means the GPS dongle is either ‘missing’ or not being recognised by the software - perhaps because it’s come loose or not properly seated in its USB Port. Without a working GPS and a proper position fix PilotAware can’t supply position or traffic data to the Nav App and won’t transmit its own position either.

My advice would be to check your power supply first, then reboot the unit then if the GPS Light is still Red, carefully remove and reattach the GPS dongle (you can do this safely with the unit powered up). If it is recognised, the Red GPS Light will change from a Red to Orange and the display will report ‘Satellites Available’, then ‘In Use’ and once a proper position fix has been achieved (unit needs to be outside) the GPS Light will go Green and all should be good.

If that doesn’t work, I suggest reformatting your microSD card as per the full Operating Instructions (available on https://www.pilotaware.com) and load a fresh copy of the latest software from https://PilotAware.lode.co.uk, but before you do, take a careful note of your Licence Key and other settings as you will have to reconfigure the unit from scratch. Any problems please come back to us.

Best Regards

Peter

MartinTB20

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2021, 01:20:29 pm »
Thanks for the quick replies.  I should have noticed the "Volt=Error" and "Thro=Throttled" status messages.  The unit is normally powered from a USB supply wired into the aircraft's 14V supply, using the original 20awg USB cable supplied when I bought it.  However that photo was taken after I had landed with the engine stopped so it was running off the aircraft battery which only give 12V compared to 14V when the alternator is running.  I don't normally use the PAW in that way and the problem showed up with the alternator running to.  I do sometimes see "Volt=Warning" but that does has never caused this problem before.

Anyway, I have now removed the unit from the aircraft.  I am running it with an Anker Powercore 20100 power bank.  This was the recommended power bank when I bought it, but that was just at the time that there started to be problems with it powering off when only the Rosetta is plugged into it.  I work around that issue by having an LED light plugged into the other USB socket which stops it switching off.  I am using a 1m Juicebitz 20awg USB cable.  I have also now replaced the original inernal GPS dongle and antennas, rather than the external ones as installed in the aircraft. With that setup it shows exactly the same behaviour.  With that power configuration I am also seet "Volt=Error" which sometimes reverts to "Volt=Warning" and on one occasion it stayed in "Warning" state long enough for the GPS to start working after it had been powered on for at least 15 mins.

So it does seem that the problem is casued by the voltage error, but this is now on a recommended power setup, which used to work fine.  So it seems very likely to me that the new software has made it even more sensitive to supply issues.  Am I really the only person to have experienced this?  I have ordered an Anker Powercore 13000 which is your current recommendation so I will see if that makes any difference and let you know.

I have also tried re-formatting the micro SD card and re-installing the latest software from scratch as suggested.  That made no difference.

What would really like is a way to downgrade to the previous version of software.  Is there really no way to do that?

Thanks,




Ian Melville

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2021, 03:30:56 pm »
Do you know what version you had?

Admin

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2021, 04:26:09 pm »
It could be the cable, rather than the power source
The cables do wear with flexing
Its extremely unlikely to be software related
Thx
Lee

exfirepro

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2021, 05:05:58 pm »
Martin,

As Lee has advised, this is highly unlikely to be software related. New software is always tested extensively prior to release and no issues of this nature came to our notice during pre-release testing, or have been reported by any of our users.

The fact that you are still getting the Voltage Error warnings using the unit’s original GPS and antennas with your previous battery pack obviously precludes my suggestion to test for an effective GPS connection as this has already been swapped. It doesn’t however rule out the possibility that the problem may be due to a faulty connection at the plug/socket where the power cable plugs into the Rosetta or the power supply, a fault in the cable itself, or that your battery pack isn’t playing up again.

If you want to check these, there is a Red Power LED on the main motherboard just to the left of the power socket, below the 869MHz antenna socket, which isn’t immediately obvious, but should be visible through the ventilation slots. If the power supply is adequate this LED should be solid red from the point when the power supply is first connected and should remain so until power is deliberately disconnected again. You can check the integrity of the power supply / cable / socket(s) by gently manipulating the cable at the connectors and at various points along the length of the cable, while maintaining this red LED in view. If the LED flashes or disappears - even for a fraction of a second, this indicates a definite power supply interruption.

Having said all that, if you still want to try reverting to the older software, you can do a ‘backwards install’ of older software from the site I listed above if you want to try. Full installation images of the previous software versions from May 2018, June 2019 and September 2020 are still available. there is no way to simply ‘revert’ the software already on the card.

Best Regards

Peter

MartinTB20

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2021, 06:14:03 pm »
Thanks again for the help.   I have tried reverting to the 20190621 version which is what I was using before.  With that version it appears to be working fine, albeit with a "Voltage=Warning" status.  I have attached a screenshot of the status.  This is with with Anker Powercore 20100 (with an LED light to stop it switching off), and the almost new 20awg USB cable (no no problems with a worn out cable).  I will try both versions of software with the new Anker Powercore 13000 when it arrives tomorrow, which I think will be a perfect "approved" setup.

However it is clear that exactly the same setup works with the old software but not with the latest. So the new software must be more demanding on the power supply than the old version.  If no one else is reporting these problems is it possible that my Rosetta is for some reason more power hungry that others?

If all else fails I will just stick with the old software which had been working fine, but it is a shame if I can't take advantage of any new features.

Martin.

MartinTB20

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2021, 06:26:56 pm »
Forgot the screenshot on my last post.

AlanG

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2021, 02:28:18 pm »
Hi Martin

I note that your 1090 dongle is showing Red  and Unavailable.  Is this actually plugged in, I am aware this can happen momentarily when first booted until some traffic is detected but if this is continuous it may indicate a faulty dongle drawing excess voltage.  Just a thought.

Regards
Alan

MartinTB20

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2021, 05:19:04 pm »
Hi Alan,

I think you may be on to something.  Yes the 1090 dongle is certainly plugged in. I had assumed that the 1090 red status was due to there being no traffic around to detect because of lockdown.  If the 1090 dongle was working OK but there was no traffic for it to detect, what status would you expect to see? Also, would it cause any harm to the dongle if I had powered it on with no antenna connected?

Today, I first tried the new Powercore 1300 battery pack, and with the old software (20190621) I saw the same behaviour.  Usually "Volt=Warning" and sometimes "Volt=Error", and it would eventually go to green GPS status but would take several minutes.  The 1090 satus was always red "Unavailable", as it has been throughout this testing.

After seeing your messgae, I tried unplugging the 1090 dongle, and then it got green GPS status much quicker, within about 1 minute, and always showed "Volt=OK".  After verifying this a few times I tried going back to the new software (20201101), still with the 1090 dongle unplugged, and that also worked fine with GPS green within 1 minute and Volt=OK.  Again I verified this a few times. 

When I plugged the 1090 dongle back in, with the new software, the status was solid "Volt=Error" although it did manage to get green GPS status, which it didn't yesterday.  I don't know why this is different from yesterday as I am back to the exact same configration, and I have tried it with both powercore battery packs.

Anyway it does look as if the 1090 dongle is causing extra current drain whch is giving me "Volt=Warning" with the old software and "Volt=Error" with the new software.  I don't know if this is because the dongle is faulty or just that the whole system is too marginal.  The best way to determine this would be to try a new 1090 dongle.  Do you know how I can get a replacement for that?

Thanks,

Martin.

PaulSS

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2021, 08:00:14 pm »
If my dongle hasn’t seen traffic for a while it turns orange. I don’t think I’ve seen a red apart from when I first tried to use a blue Flight Aware pro dongle. It didn’t like that but behaved itself once I switched it for a Noelec thingy (or whatever they are called)  :)

exfirepro

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2021, 09:02:44 am »
Hi again Martin,

The 1090 indicator should show Green when receiving traffic and reverts to Orange when no traffic has been received for something like the last 15 seconds - so can be orange a lot, especially during the current pandemic, even if you are near an airport! Red however is bad - it usually denotes the dongle (of whatever type) is missing, has a very poor connection to the motherboard, or has stopped working.

I did notice the Red 1090 indicator in your OP, but that fact got lost in discussion about power feed and GPS, sorry - well spotted Alan!

The 1090 dongle won't have been affected by running with no antenna as it is receive only (it's not recommended to run the 869MHz transmitting side of the unit without an antenna though - although probably unlikely to be fatal if only briefly).

We have seen SDR dongles fail in the past causing this type of effect (i.e. overloading the power supply and affecting GPS performance).  Swapping the dongle is the easiest way to check this. 1090 dongles aren't currently listed in the shop on the PAW website, but if you drop an email to 'support@pilotaware.com', Ash should be able to sort something out for you.

If that doesn't resolve the issue, it would be worth asking Ash about sending the complete unit back and getting him to run a full test on it on the test rig - just in case there is an issue with the motherboard, though a faulty SDR dongle now sounds the most likely scenario.

Best Regards

Peter

MartinTB20

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2021, 02:31:39 pm »
Good news!  I bought a replacement 1090 dongle (Nooelec NESDR Nano 2 from Amazon next day delivery), and that does seem to have fixed the problem.  The 1090 status is now mostly green but occasionally orange as expected.  The power status is usually "volt=OK" and "Thro=OK" although I have seen "Warning" a couple of times.  I have tried the old and the new software and both seem the same.

The only odd thing is that when I first tried it, the GPS status seemed stuck on orange for at least 10 mins even though it could see satellites:
"RX=1455(+27) Fix="No fix" Mode="Not Available" Sat=0(use)/14(view)".  It did this over several reboots.  I then tried removing the 1090 dongle and the GPS then worked fine, and it was still fine when I put the new 1090 dongle back in (powering off each time).  Of course I had to remove the GPS dongle to get the 1090 dongle in and out so it could be just that it wasn't quite in right, although it seemed quite secure.

Anyway, it seems to be working solidly now, I just need to try it back in the aircraft next time I am able to fly.

Thanks for all your help.  I've certainly learned a few things about how Pilotaware works.

Martin.

exfirepro

Re: Rosetta not working after software upgrade
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2021, 04:06:53 pm »
Hi again Martin,

Well done on the new SDR. Glad to hear it's now working again. The NooElec NESDR Nano 2 is a good bit of kit and should work well.

10 minutes to obtain an initial GPS fix isn't exceptional, particularly if the unit was powered up indoors, or in a substantially different position from its last run. Although the software was reporting 14 satellites 'in view', none of them were yet 'in use'. To get an effective 3D 'Fix' the GPS needs at least 4 reliable satellites 'In Use', and without an accurate position 'fix', Rosetta won't transmit or report  position or traffic data. Some of the satellites reported as 'In View' may in fact have been obscured or part obscured by building structure, or metalwork (conservatory glazing can be very opaque to relatively weak satellite signals and venetian blinds are remarkably effective at blocking them - even when 'open'). Nearby trees or terrain can also have a negative effect. It takes time for the GPS to re-establish its 'ephemeris data' from the satellites and work out where it actually is, the less satellites - the longer it takes. On subsequent reboots this is usually much quicker (especially outdoors with a clear view of the sky).

(p.s. You don't have to power down each time to remove or refit the GPS or SDR dongles in Rosetta, but be careful not to short out the boards if they are not cased)

Best Regards

Peter
« Last Edit: February 15, 2021, 04:11:08 pm by exfirepro »