Computer not recognizing BT controller

Hello!

I've installed the latest version of Pattern Paint. The program opens and shows the example patterns. When I connect the LED strip (WS2812) and BT controller to the computer, the LED strip flashes every LED for a split second then goes dead. After reading through some other discussions, I looked to see if the computer was recognizing the controller - it is not. I followed the instructions on the trouble shooting page to reset the controller. Again, the LED strip flashed, then went dead. The computer gave a notice that it did not recognize the device plugged into the USB port. Pattern Paint still shows no controller.

I tried this on two computers, one running Windows 8 and one running Windows 10. Same problem on both computers.

Any thoughts? Thank you for your help

Comments

  • Quick question- do you have a different USB cable you can try?

  • I've tried three different cables. They're all phone charger cables though. Not sure if that matters. I can pick up another kind if there is one that you'd recommend?

  • As long as they are data cables they should be fine- does the computer recognize your phone as a device when it is plugged in?

    A couple more questions- did the BlinkyTape work previously? If not, send us a message at: support@blinkinabs.com and we can arrange a replacement.

  • I'm actually having the same exact problem. I first thought it was my USB cable. Had the same failure on all of them. This was only occurred when I installed update. Tried rolling back, still no luck.

  • Also the support email doesn't work

  • edited December 2016

    Error

    Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

    support@blinkinabs.com:
    No MX or A records for blinkinabs.com

    --- Below this line is a copy of the message.

  • Hmm, can you try the email again? It appears to be correct in the code (and works on my machine):
    https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/blob/master/PatternPaint/gui/systeminformation.cpp#L93

    @slyrunner said:
    Error

    Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

    support@blinkinabs.com:
    No MX or A records for blinkinabs.com

    --- Below this line is a copy of the message.

  • We've had a few more reports of this happening with PatternPaint, and I've been able to reproduce the issue at least once on my Windows 10 machine. There's a bug report for it here:
    https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/issues/166

    And I'm working on how to repeat it reliably so that we can fix it.

  • edited December 2016

    @slyrunner @klight Can you try installing this version, and seeing if the firmware and let me know if it improves things? The main change is to increase the timeout length during device communication. I can brick a device by loading bad firmware onto it, then restore it successfully using this version on a Windows 10 machine.
    https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/releases/tag/2.1.1

    Note: updated URL for new version

  • So I too am in the same position. My issue started tonight, hadn't used the BlinkyTape in a while and installed the latest version, 2.1.1, and had the same brick effect happen. Tried the reset trick and also the one with shorting the fourth pin on board to ground. I can get it to start the firmware upload but it dies around 50% for me. New version still not fixing issue?

  • Any chance the firmware is functional when it fails at 50%? There is a second issue with the 2.1.1 update where the actual firmware upload appears to work, but the verification stage where it reads it back fails:
    https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/issues/166#issuecomment-266943240

    Working on tracking that one down now.

  • I ran into the error as well...everything was running smoothly when I had version 2.1(although I had never tried to restore firmware) it was however loading patterns onto the blinky no problem. Then earlier today I clicked the"check for pattern paint updates" in the preferences, and it stated that my version was up to date. Then the next time I tried loading patterns onto the blinky, I got the brick error, computer wouldn't even acknowledge a device plugged in at all...I then saw the new 2.1.1 version, installed it, held down the button while plugging it in with restore firmware ready, and it worked no problem! The only thing is that it still bricks every time I try to upload any pattern, causing me to do the "hold button while plugging in technique" to get the firmware restored.
    I realize you're working on fixing the bug, so hopefully that helps narrow it down.

    -Kurt

  • Thanks for the report! That is helpful

  • Sorry for the delayed response, was trying some different things to make sure it wasn't something on my end....

    I actually bought 3 of the controllers a couple of weeks ago. 2 of them are not working, and never have worked. I've tried them both with two different LED strips, 2 computers, and 4 USB cables. I just tried the third controller for the first time, and it is working. Is it possible that I ended up with a couple of defective controllers since one of them is working, or should I try installing the other version of the firmware?

    Thank you!

  • Hmm, sorry they are giving you trouble. It's possible but very unlikely, we test them all individually before packing them. What kind of LED strip are you using, and how many LEDs are connected to it?

    Also, were you able to connect to them initially, and if so did you load any firmware on to them?

    @klight said:

    I actually bought 3 of the controllers a couple of weeks ago. 2 of them are not working, and never have worked. I've tried them both with two different LED strips, 2 computers, and 4 USB cables. I just tried the third controller for the first time, and it is working. Is it possible that I ended up with a couple of defective controllers since one of them is working, or should I try installing the other version of the firmware?

  • They are both WS2812 led strips, 150 LEDs each strip.

    Two of the controllers have never worked at all. The first time I plugged them in, all of the LEDs flashed for a split second, then went off. The computer says that it does not recognize the device plugged into to the USB. I never loaded any firmware onto them.

    The third controller that does work never did the above. It worked the first time I plugged it in (to the same computer, same LED strip, same USB cable as the two controllers that don't work).

    @Matt Mets said:
    Hmm, sorry they are giving you trouble. It's possible but very unlikely, we test them all individually before packing them. What kind of LED strip are you using, and how many LEDs are connected to it?

    Also, were you able to connect to them initially, and if so did you load any firmware on to them?

  • Having the same issue of when I connect a BlinkyMatrix or BlinkyTape and BT controller to the computer, the LED strip flashes every LED for a split second then goes dead. It first happened with a BlinkyMatrix I purchased this past week. I had it connected to my Win 10 machine, and when I tried to save a .png to it in PatternPaint, I got an error and the BlinkyMatrix died. I thought it was an issue with that particular BlinkyMatrix, so I plugged in my other BlinkyMatrix (purchased 2) and had no issues. I then connected some BlinkyTape that is a year old. It was working fine as I was creating a pattern in PatternPaint, but when I tried to save to the BT controller I got an error message and the BlinkyTape died. Now it does the same flash every LED for a split second then dies, just like the one BlinkyMatrix.

  • Hi Matt and all,

    I just updated PatternPaint from 2.0.4 and ran into the same bricking problem as others have reported. However, I have found that when I uninstalled 2.1.1 and reinstalled 2.0.4, I was able to restore the firmware and have had no further issues. I suggest that everyone else try rolling back to the previous version until the apparent bug has been identified.

    I hope this info helps, Matt!

    -Trav

  • @puxnstx It sounds like you're seeing this same issue- should be possible to revive both of the broken ones once we fix the problem (or try @bigtrav261 's method of using the older PatternPaint!)

    I'm back to work after a short break for Christmas, and am having difficulty reproducing the issue reliably on a newish Windows 10 laptop- I actually wasn't able to get it to fail until I tried to demonstrate it to someone :p

  • Matt,

    Just a FYI - my machine is running Win 8.1 .

  • edited December 2016

    (that one was meant for the issue tracker: https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/issues/166)

  • @bigtrav261 Thank you. I uninstalled PatternPaint and reinstalled 2.0.4. The computer is now recognizing the BT, but I do have to restore the firmware every time it's plugged in. Unfortunately the problem that I'm having now is when I go to save to bt, it shows that it's saving, but when it reaches 100% the LEDs go dead and the computer beeps as it does when something has disconnected from the USB port. The computer no longer recognizes the controller unless I restore the firmware again. If I try to connect it to an alternate power source, the entire LED strip blinks once again and then dies. This is happening with all 3 of the controllers that I just recently bought. Is this a problem that you've had as well?

    I pulled out an old bt controller and tried it. It is connecting to the computer fine, and it is saving the same pattern fine as well. When connecting it to the same alternate power source, it works. So it doesn't seem to be the computer, usb cord, usb port, patternpaint, the led strip, or the alternate power source.

    Any thoughts? Thanks for your help

  • @klight Try an even earlier release. I ordered and received my BlinkyPixel string after my last post, and ran into the same problem I had with my BT. I rolled back to 2.0.0 . Might not have need to go back that far, but it worked.

  • edited January 2017

    I tried to use the support email to report this very error, but that doesn't seem to be working. I ordered 2 BTs and neither worked properly using PatternPaint 2.1.1 across 3 machines (Win 10 x64, Win 7 x86 and Win 8 x86), at least 6 USB cables and 6 ports. Loading 2.0.4 worked a treat for one of them, but the other I'm still experiencing the dead strip after "save to BT'. I loaded Leonardo firmware to it using an Arduino Mega, then reverteed back to default, but the issue persists.
    I suppose I'll try going back to 2.0.0 as bigtrav261 suggests and see if that works.

    And whaddya know. Installing 2.0.1 fixed the non-working one.
    Now I need to bring the other one home and test it with this version to make sure it works too. Thanks bigtrav261!

  • Question, is the firmware used to restore different through different versions of pattern paint? I'm wondering if I could install 2.1.1 again, and as long as I don't restore firmware from it, if the quirky BT wouldn't continue working?

  • Hi all-

    TLDR: Here is a new version of PatternPaint (version 2.1.2), with a rewritten upload procedure. If you've been experiencing this issue, please try it and let me know if it makes an improvement for you:
    https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/releases/

    Longer version:
    Apologies that this has taken so long to resolve. The root cause is a bug that's cropped upsomewhere between PatternPaint and the BlinkyTape bootloader (a modified version of Caterina) that sometimes prevents the first page of the firmware from writing correctly. This started causing issues in PatternPaint 2.1, because I added a verification step that stops the upload process if a write error is detected. The good part is that it exposed this bug, but the bad part is it would stop at the first issue, leaving the BlinkyTape with a corrupted firmware. The new 2.1.2 version attempts to retry the upload process if it fails once, which in my testing with a number of BlinkyTapes on Windows 10 and macOS computers seems to catch the bug whenever it comes up, and fix it.

    There are a couple other bugs that have cropped up that I want to roll into a 2.2 release ASAP, however this one should fix the major upload bug. I'm still stuck on a configuration change that's preventing me from building a macOS version, but expect to have this worked out in the next few days.

    I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is causing this issue. It's intermittent, but it seems to happen more on the Windows machine than the Mac, and it also seems to happen more with a long USB cable plugged into a hub than a short cable plugged directly into the computer. I didn't notice it at all until after releasing PatternPaint 2.1, however if it succeeds in uploading new firmware once for a new version, then even if it fails the next time it might create a noticeable bug.

    To prevent this from happening in the future, we're implementing some changes in our development procedure. First (and this is something we started working on in the fall), we now have a continuous integration server running Jenkins, that automatically builds all of our software whenever we commit it to github. This should make it a much quicker process to make new builds, since it happens automatically. Second, I've split PatternPaint up into a library and a main application, and am building unit tests to cover all of the logic blocks. The goal with this is to remove as much complexity from the design as possible, so that it is easier to work on and maintain. Third, we're repurposing one of our test jigs to run longer automated tests on the actual BlinkyTape hardware, by using relays to simulate plugging it into USB, uploading firmware, etc, to standardize and improve our test coverage as we make changes to the software.

    This has been quite an interesting project, and we really appreciate the support from everyone in the community. Also, everything I've mentioned is open source, and you are welcome to follow along with the development, and even contribute if you're interested.

    Cheers,
    Matt

  • @keno1964 said:
    Question, is the firmware used to restore different through different versions of pattern paint? I'm wondering if I could install 2.1.1 again, and as long as I don't restore firmware from it, if the quirky BT wouldn't continue working?

    The last few versions of PatternPaint have included updated firmware updates, to allow LED strip lengths >60, programmable max brightness, and to automatically store the last pattern and brightness settings that are in use. So, unfortunately, switching to a version of PatternPaint with the upload bug will cause it to happen again.

  • And it looks like the new 2.1.2 version has solved these ills!

    Well done!!

  • @klight said:
    Hello!

    I've installed the latest version of Pattern Paint. The program opens and shows the example patterns. When I connect the LED strip (WS2812) and BT controller to the computer, the LED strip flashes every LED for a split second then goes dead. After reading through some other discussions, I looked to see if the computer was recognizing the controller - it is not. I followed the instructions on the trouble shooting page to reset the controller. Again, the LED strip flashed, then went dead. The computer gave a notice that it did not recognize the device plugged into the USB port. Pattern Paint still shows no controller.

    I tried this on two computers, one running Windows 8 and one running Windows 10. Same problem on both computers.

    Any thoughts? Thank you for your help

    Hi,

    I'm not sure if you've solved this issue but I had exactly the same problem.

    The solution is simple. Just download this newer version of patternpaint https://github.com/Blinkinlabs/PatternPaint/releases

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