In this post I shall explain how to recover a non responsive XBEE modem.
I’ve an USB XBEE adapter on which a S1 PRO modem is plugged on.
When I tried to reconfigure a S1 PRO (802.15.4) Modem , it went unresponsive.Any attempt to write Firmware failed & Recovery process was unsuccessful.
Before starting the Recovery process I understood that I’ve to Optimize the USB – Serial port settings so that the PC can respond to the XBEE USB adapter. An XBEE USB adapter uses a FTDI chip .By default the FTDI drivers have a latency time of 16msec & Transmit/Receive size of 4096 Bytes.
The PC doesn’t get the Bytes fast enough to respond to the Serial device , before it times out.So any attempt to recover or update an XBEE on USB adapter may fail.
To optimize the port settings I opened the Device Manager & Right clicked the USB Serial port where the USB adapter is connected & selected Properties.
Under Port Settings Tab I clicked on Advanced..
& Changed the Receive as well as Transmit Bytes to the lowest one 64 from the drop down list.
I Set the Latency Timer to the lowest possible i.e., 1
Clicked OK & closed the Device Manager.
Now I pulled out the Modem from the USB adapter.
I confirmed that ,under Modem configuration of XCTU , correct type of Modem is selected.Mine is S1 PRO ,so I selected XBP24 & confirmed that firmware is XBEE PRO 802.15.4 . I selected the latest version 10ED.
I check marked ‘Always Update Firmware’ & clicked Show Defaults.
Now I clicked Write button (note that XBEE is not yet plugged on to the USB adapter).
A new INFO window appeared requesting action.
At this point I plugged on the S1 module on to the XBEE USB adapter with Reset button kept pressed.Care was taken to confirm that pin 10 goes to GND & pin 1 to supply.
Now I released the Reset button to see the Reprogramming in Action.
The Modem has been successfully recovered & Test/Query operation in XCTU recognizes the Modem.
Watch the recovery procedure in video below :
alselectro 