Got the stm32 driver installed but no improvement. How the heck can you update the firmware on the Iflight f7 mini?

Slight change with a different laptop with windows 11.

The configurator now says it's opening th port in dfu mode which seems to happen but then it says failed to open serial port.

Windows device manager seems to have a working stm32 driver on the usb port.

I can't see how the FC is faulty when everything else in the quad setup works I just can't update from bf 4.4.0 to 4.4.2

I just put a reply in your other thread on the same issue (HERE), but one thing that hasn't yet been asked is if you have another quad or FC you can try flashing Betaflight firmware to. If you do and it works fine then you know that the drivers on your computer are fine as is the cable you are using, so that would then firmly point the finger at a fault with the bootloader partition on the MCU of the FC, or some other internal hardware fault with the MCU which isn't affecting what is already stored on it, but which is preventing the uploading of new firmware to it.

I've now lost the bind to my Sixty9 crossfire from the microtx, don't know how but I did get the Zorro back to Open region and not sure if that did it. I've set the microtx frequency to 868mhz for Europe and powered up the sixty9 then pressed the bind button. All I get is an occasional flashing amber led and a red led also flashing periodically but not in sync! The Iflight blitz that the sixty9 is wired too also flashes green in sync with the amber. I've tried to do a video of that.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JOBNrjZdpUA&...ZKcFUkhw2v

Video showing the bind problem

Whenever you change the region or frequency on a Crossfire module it will lose it's binding with any bound receivers, so you need to re-bind any receivers to it again.

That green LED on the iFlight Blitz F7 FC illuminates when the FC is putting out voltage on the 5V power rail. It should never be intermittently flashing like that. It should be a constant green colour once the FC has booted up. So you appear to have an intermittent cycling 5V supply being produced on that FC for some reason. It's also the reason that the LEDs on the Sixty9 are flashing in sync. The 5V power rail becomes active on the FC which illuminates the green LED. The 5V supply then passes to the Sixty9 which in turn powers up with the LEDs on that also coming on. Then something (probably a short circuit or brown out) is causing the 5V rail on the FC to cut off with the green LED going out and your Sixty9 also getting powered off with it's LEDs going out too. Then the whole process cycles again, and again, and so on.

You need to try and find out what is causing a short circuit / brown out on the 5V rail. The first thing I suggest doing is to disconnect the Sixty9 from the FC and see if the green LED on the iFlight Blitz F7 FC then remains on constantly without cycling.

You're right again! I found a bent pin in the socket for uart 6 on the fc hence my battery in the xt60 fell too low to provide the voltage to the sixty9 which apparently needs minimum 5v hence it has a vbat connection rather than 5v.
Anyway having sorted that and got a used 3s lipo just in case I rebound the Rx removed from everything. Still no joy in upgrading the FC firmware whilst removed though
I will have to stick to 4.4.0 and hope to get an m10 GPS with compass to work

That's good news about the power issue.

There definitely appears to be some kind of issue/fault with the bootloader partition on that FC. Did you try flashing a different FC from the same computer (assuming you have a spare one)?

As already mentioned, there are some known issues when using an M10 GPS module with Betaflight 4.4.x. Have a watch of the video linked to below to see what you need to do to get it working properly and reliably. If that all seems too daunting then I advise just getting a replacement M8 GPS module instead.

Good thinking Snowleopard thanks!

My only other FC is the one in the DARWINFPV baby ape pro . I had help with that in another thread and have not dared flash it as it is all working and flying.
The Rooster is mainly a learning tool and it is certainly that!
Anyway I have now a new problem.
I have installed a m10 Foxeer M10q 250 which has a compass. I used the 4 pin plug to the FC for the GPS functions and soldered the scl and sda connections to the FC for the compass. Seems to be working as the betaflight GPS icon is lit. I haven't tried it outdoors yet to find satellites.
However I can't get the FC to recognise there is now a compass installed. Is that an issue with m10/bf4.4 or have I got the scl sda connections wrong?. I connected sda on the GPS to the sda pad on the fc identified from the wiring diagram . Ditto scl. Presumably that's how the compass communicates to the FC.

I also installed a led strip and beeper using the 4 pin socket for led/buzzer on the fc. Seems to work as a beeper ok. Not sure how to work the led yet.

Now the next problem...

Since this upgrade when all is back connected, the Rx channels work as do the modes etc. However I no longer see the barometer icon lit in bf. Secondly if I do a autodetect board it does nothing whereas it used to id it as Iflight blitz.

Sorry to keep coming up with these issues it's a steep learning curve! I'm thinking of changing the FC , not the esc stack, for a new blitz and check it flashes before installing whilst it is under warranty. Probably would not solder the sda scl pads at this stage.

Thanks for all the assistance

If using Betaflight, DO NOT connect the compass unless you want to risk a flyaway. Betaflight isn't optimised to make use of a compass very well and you would also need it high up on an extended mount to avoid any interference from the electronics and other metal parts on the quad, so it's not worth the bother or risk. Just disconnect the SCL and SDA wires and use it as a normal GPS module without the compass functionality.

Assuming you have programmable RGB LEDs installed, just follow Oscar's guide at the link below for configuring those...

https://oscarliang.com/setup-led-betaflight

As for the barometer issue, make sure you have the barometer option switched on in the Configuration tab of Betaflight Configurator. If that is already switched on, please post another CLI dump and also post the output from the "status" and "resource show all" CLI commands.

Many thanks for that info.
I followed the led setup and got all that working.
The M20 GPS found 12 satellites indoors.
The barometer just started working again after the LEDs setup. Not sure why. The magnetometer won't talk so I will do without that for now.
So basically it's ready to test fly now
I may go through the jb m10 setup next.

It just dawned on me as to the reason why your compass probably isn't working. In Betaflight 4.4.x onwards you need to explicitly select to include "Magnetometer" from the "Other Options" dropdown in the Build Configuration section of the Firmware Flasher. If you don't do that the magnetometer/compass functionality doesn't get compiled into the firmware which means you can't use it. My guess is that the previous owner of that quad didn't include the "Magnetometer" option when flashing Betaflight 4.4.0 firmware to the FC because the original GPS module didn't have that functionality so there would have been no point including that option. As you're unable to flash that FC with new firmware you're effectively now stuck anyway, so trying to make use of a compass is no longer an option on that particular FC.

This is what the Betaflight developers say about the compass in a big red box to get your attention...

https://betaflight.com/docs/wiki/archive/Magnetometer

It's not easy to get a compass working and properly calibrated on a 5" freestyle quad which is why the general advise is to not use it. GPS Rescue works perfectly fine using just the GPS coordinates. It doesn't need a compass heading. If you do include the compass you're just introducing the unnecessary risk of a possible flyaway and a lost quad if something goes wrong with the calibration mid-flight and the FC is being provided with incorrect heading values from the compass.

  BTFL_cli_Rooster_20230921_212557.txt (Size: 27.93 KB / Downloads: 25)

  BTFL_cli_Rooster_20230921_212627.txt (Size: 29.92 KB / Downloads: 18)

  BTFL_cli_Rooster_20230921_212435.txt (Size: 27.31 KB / Downloads: 14)




Thanks yes I wondered if magnetometer had to be specified in the bf build.
Still not a big deal to be without that.
Ive ordered a Speedy Bee Adapter v3 as according to Oscar Laing it may be better to flash firmware using this android app than through windows usb drivers. If so I can then reflash the 4.4.2 or 4.5
Im attemptimg to attach the cli files for dump status and resource show all

Working through JB video of m10 fix. How does he download the configuration file from Iflight Google drive. I can't find it.