Hey everyone, new here, and currently grounded due to a weird issue I'm trying to understand. 

To start off, I have an Eachine Wizard X220 that we got RTF. It has (I believe) an F3 board and Eachine BLHELI_S 20a ESCs. It had been flying well (as far as I could tell) but the engines would twitch when I plugged in the battery so I was looking through some things trying to sort that issue out. 

Eventually, I came across some advice that said I should flash the ESCs before tweaking any settings to make sure they were up to date. I downloaded the BLHELI Configuator for Chrome, plugged up and went through the steps. I had 4 ESCs showing, I flashed them all to 16.6 G-L-20 (latest version I saw) and disconnected. 

I realised at that point that Betaflight had also been connected through this process and I'm unsure if that ay have a hand in what happened next. Once back in Betaflight I went to the motor controls and tried to spin up the motors. 2 and 4 spin fine, 1 and 3 didn't even twitch.

Thinking I had missed a step I disconnected and went back to BLHELI Config. Connected, read the setup, annnnd only 2 and 4 show up. 

That's where I am now. I can't get any response on 1 and 3 through any control method. 

I started tearing things down today but I lack proper soldering tools and expertise. I sent these photos to some local folks and the suspicion is a bad connection. Since I'm so new to all this, though (and terrified of frying a component) I wanted to reach out to a larger group of folks as well and see if there are some other things I should be checking. I don't want my first solder job to be murdering my quad when it turns out I just overlooked something basic.

This kind of sounded like a couple of issues I found while searching here but I really don't know so I wanted to ask. 

Any ideas what is going on and how I get these back? I just missed a beautiful day for flying and I was just getting good controlled hovers. 

I didn't think it was possible to have Betaflight "connected" at the same time as BLHeli. But, just in case....

Do this:
Connect your USB cable to your quad and open Betaflight and "connect" (to make sure it will).
"Disconnect" Betaflight, but leave the USB plugged in.
Plug in your flight battery (props removed).
Open BLHeli configurator and "Read config" (and reflash if all goes well).

Please report back if you tried this.

Hope you didn't burn them... as i don't have a "smoke-stopper" i do such stuff with a 2s battery only.

(05-Feb-2017, 10:58 AM)sloscotty Wrote: I didn't think it was possible to have Betaflight "connected" at the same time as BLHeli. But, just in case....

Do this:
Connect your USB cable to your quad and open Betaflight and "connect" (to make sure it will).
"Disconnect" Betaflight, but leave the USB plugged in.
Plug in your flight battery (props removed).
Open BLHeli configurator and "Read config" (and reflash if all goes well).

Please report back if you tried this.

Betaflight connected just fine. Disconnected just fine.

Plugged in flight battery and got the usual startup chimes.

BLHeli configurator connected. Read config but still only recieved two escs. I'm attaching the log file here. I hadn't looked at it before but it looks like it mentions errors with 1 and 3.

Running - OS: MacOS, Chrome: 56.0.2924.87, Configurator: 1.0.11
Selecting last used port: /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART
Connecting to: /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART
SERIAL: Connection opened with ID: 2, Baud: 115200
Serial port successfully opened with ID: 2
MultiWii API version received - 1.21.0
Flight controller info, identifier: BTFL, version: 3.0.1
Running firmware released on: Oct 18 2016 10:35:52
Board: SRF3, version: 0
Unique device ID received - 0x3e002f5933570e20313237
Reading setup
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 0
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,0,0
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,0,0
ESC 1 read settings failed cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 1
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_OK 0 177,232,100,1
sending cmd_DeviceRead 1a00 112
received cmd_DeviceRead ACK_OK 1a00 16,6,33,255,255,255,255,255,255,9,255,1,255,85,170,1,255,255,255,255,255,3,255,255,255,6,255,40,80,4,255,2,255,122,255,7,1,255,255,0,0,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,35,71,95,76,95,50,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,35,66,76,72,69,76,73,36,69,70,77,56,66,49,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32
sending cmd_DeviceReset 0 1
received cmd_DeviceReset ACK_OK 0 0
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 2
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,100,1
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,100,1
ESC 3 read settings failed cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 3
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_OK 0 177,232,100,1
sending cmd_DeviceRead 1a00 112
received cmd_DeviceRead ACK_OK 1a00 16,6,33,255,255,255,255,255,255,9,255,1,255,85,170,1,255,255,255,255,255,3,255,255,255,6,255,40,80,4,255,2,255,122,255,7,1,255,255,0,0,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,35,71,95,76,95,50,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,35,66,76,72,69,76,73,36,69,70,77,56,66,49,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32
sending cmd_DeviceReset 0 3
received cmd_DeviceReset ACK_OK 0 0
Reading setup finished

If I had left Betaflight connected (like you indicated the first time), and this happened to me, I think I would suspect something got corrupted on the FC.  I hesitate to suggest this, because it means you would have to set up Betaflight from scratch afterwards (not hard for me, but maybe for you), but what I would do (if it were me), is I would reflash Betaflight on the FC, then try BLHeli flashing again (after disconnecting BF).

Others on here may scold me for that advice,  or suggest saving the BF configuration first (won't hurt to do that, but if it's corrupted, I wouldn't trust the current settings anyway), but I'm just saying that's what I would try before dismantling my quad.

Maybe someone one else has a much better idea.  If you decide to go this route, I'd go for the latest BF as well. Joshua Bardwell has a video on setup and flashing the X220 - he even includes his complete configuration.  (I posted it somewhere else on the forum - I'll try to dig up the link.)

Here's the video. Flashing instructions are at the end. Watch on Youtube to get the configuration dump (in the description).

 

Quote:received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,100,1

This line usually indicates a wiring issue. If FC cannot communicate with these two ESCs, something is wrong. Check your connections, try using BLHeliSuite, and if it works in BLHeliSuite, please save log file.

What version of betaflight does it run? If it's newer than 3.0.1, maybe go back to 3.0.1 as that was working fine before all the resource reallocation stuff was thrown in. If in doubt, in CLI, type: version

Alright, went through the process and flashed from 3.0.1 to 3.1.3 without any problems. Put a clean configuration in (didn't load form a backup) then disconnected and connected in BLHeli.

Reading in the setup still results in only ESC 2 and 4.

So next I'll see about getting someone to help me go through the wires and re-solder. I can't see any issues but I'm not experienced.

In case it's any value, here is the new log.

Running - OS: MacOS, Chrome: 56.0.2924.87, Configurator: 1.0.11
Selecting last used port: /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART
Connecting to: /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART
SERIAL: Connection opened with ID: 9, Baud: 115200
Serial port <span style="color: green">successfully</span> opened with ID: 9
MultiWii API version <span style="color: green">received</span> - 1.31.0
Flight controller info, identifier: BTFL, version: 3.1.3
Running firmware released on: Feb 2 2017 13:58:33
Board: SRF3, version: 0
Unique device ID <span style="color: green">received</span> - 0x3e002f5933570e20313237
Reading setup
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 0
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,0,0
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,0,0
ESC 1 read settings failed cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 1
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_OK 0 177,232,100,1
sending cmd_DeviceRead 1a00 112
received cmd_DeviceRead ACK_OK 1a00 16,6,33,255,255,255,255,255,255,9,255,1,255,85,170,1,255,255,255,255,255,3,255,255,255,3,254,40,80,4,255,2,255,122,255,7,1,255,255,0,0,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,35,71,95,76,95,50,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,35,66,76,72,69,76,73,36,69,70,77,56,66,49,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32
sending cmd_DeviceReset 0 1
received cmd_DeviceReset ACK_OK 0 0
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 2
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,100,1
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR 0 0,0,100,1
ESC 3 read settings failed cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR
sending cmd_DeviceInitFlash 0 3
received cmd_DeviceInitFlash ACK_OK 0 177,232,100,1
sending cmd_DeviceRead 1a00 112
received cmd_DeviceRead ACK_OK 1a00 16,6,33,255,255,255,255,255,255,9,255,1,255,85,170,1,255,255,255,255,255,3,255,255,255,3,255,40,80,4,255,2,255,122,255,7,1,255,255,0,0,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,35,71,95,76,95,50,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,35,66,76,72,69,76,73,36,69,70,77,56,66,49,48,35,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32,32
sending cmd_DeviceReset 0 3
received cmd_DeviceReset ACK_OK 0 0
Reading setup finished

Just guessing, maybe esc flash failed and it killed the bootloader... think there's ways to recover but i'm the wrong guy to help on this.

AndreyM is the expert.

(06-Feb-2017, 02:49 AM)fftunes Wrote: Just guessing, maybe esc flash failed and it killed the bootloader... think there's ways to recover but i'm the wrong guy to help on this.

AndreyM is the expert.

Would that be a bootloader on the esc?

And would there be a way to check them before desoldering them? I've seen some things regarding bootloaders where an Arduino is used as a tool to load them. Unsure though where I'm going from here.

Should I just redo the connections and hope it works?

I'm sorry reflashing BF didn't work. (I thought it was at least worth a try.)

fftunes is correct, AndreyM is the expert (he produced BLHeli Configurator). I think when he suggested using BLHeli Suite, he was talking about trying the old way (before BLHeli configurator was around). Hopefully he'll chime in again here.

To use BLHeli Suite on a Mac though is not simple - it's a native Windows program and on a Mac, you have to use Wine, which is how I used to do it. It would be better if you can borrow a PC from someone if you want to try that. But I'm thinking also that fftunes could be correct about the bootloader (at least on one of the two esc's).

Flashing via Arduino will require unsoldering and a special adapter, but I think that's where I would go next. Andrey?

(06-Feb-2017, 10:58 AM)sloscotty Wrote: I'm sorry reflashing BF didn't work. (I thought it was at least worth a try.)

fftunes is correct, AndreyM is the expert (he produced BLHeli Configurator).  I think when he suggested using BLHeli Suite, he was talking about trying the old way (before BLHeli configurator was around).  Hopefully he'll chime in again here.

To use BLHeli Suite on a Mac though is not simple - it's a native Windows program and on a Mac, you have to use Wine, which is how I used to do it.  It would be better if you can borrow a PC from someone if you want to try that.  But I'm thinking also that fftunes could be correct about the bootloader (at least on one of the two esc's).

Flashing via Arduino will require unsoldering and a special adapter, but I think that's where I would go next. Andrey?

No worries at all. Worth it to learn a good but more about the configuration and to get things updated.
I do remember seeing something about the adapter, that may delay me a bit though since I can't get one at the moment. 

I may have someone who can help show me how to resolder the connections so I may give that a try and hope for the best for now. Although the bootloader issue seems to make some since since the FC appeared to be communicating fine with the ESCs when I tried to flash them the first time. 

I will also grab my other laptop and see if I can BLHeli Suite on there and working. It's slow as dirt but it's Windows. I'll get a log from there as well.

Thank you everyone!

I don't know of a way for BLHeli Configurator to corrupt bootloader, not me not any of my testers or ~15k users ever reported it. There was a bug in BLHeli 14.5/16.3, but only that particular version, and to trigger it you had to do very weird stuff like disconnect ESC phisically at a specific moment.
I ask you to try BLHeliSuite in logging mode and report your result in this thread. Either it will work and help us improve BLHeli Configurator, or will find that something is wrong with the ESCs.

(06-Feb-2017, 05:11 PM)AndreyM Wrote: I don't know of a way for BLHeli Configurator to corrupt bootloader, not me not any of my testers or ~15k users ever reported it. There was a bug in BLHeli 14.5/16.3, but only that particular version, and to trigger it you had to do very weird stuff like disconnect ESC phisically at a specific moment.
I ask you to try BLHeliSuite in logging mode and report your result in this thread. Either it will work and help us improve BLHeli Configurator, or will find that something is wrong with the ESCs.

Thanks Andrey, totally understand now. Originally I wasn't thinking about the difference between Suite and COnfigurator. I will give it a try tonight and report back.

Alright, I got connected to BLHeli Suite and read in the setup. Still just ESC 2 and 4. I'm working out how to pull a log if it's worth having.

It has raised another question, though. If I have flashed the wrong firmware on the ESCs could that have caused them to stop reading?
I ask because I connected and reconnected a couple of times to see if anything would come up from 1 or 3. The second time I read the setup only ESC 4 came up, ESC2 was gone. I cycled the connection and re-read the setup and ESC 2 came back.

Through BLHeli Configurator I flashed all four ESCs with G-L-20 but have seen something that suggests the Eachine 20a BLHELI_S should have C-H-15 installed (which I don't see anywhere).

If all else fails I'm planning to de-solder with a friend tomorrow. What next?