firmware update

End-Of-Life Products & Services RePhone
#1

Hi there,

At the moment I try to get my RePhone GSM+BLE module started up.
To say is that I am an absolute beginner with such things…

What I have done so far:
-I followed the instructions on this web site. seeedstudio.com/wiki/Arduino … ePhone_Kit
-I downloaded the Arduino IDE for RePhone on my Win7 32-bit computer.
-No SIM card is in the GSM+BLE module
-The battery is fully charged and connected to the module
-The antenna is connected to the module
-Nothing else is connected to the module
-I installed the drivers via the path: Arduino_IDE_for_RePhone-master\drivers\mtk\Win7
When the GSM+BLE module is switched off and I connect the USB cable to my computer, the green light appears (steady light) and the mass store of 5Mb appears. When I disconnect it the green light disappears again. When I switch on the GSM+BLE module by pushing the power switch for 2sec then the green light appears…turns into violet and starts to blink green. When connecting the module to the computer by the USB the MTK USB Debug Port and the MTK USB Modem Port appear.
-As a next step I plug the GSM+BLE module out of my computer. I start the firmwareUpdater.exe I found in the previous downloaded file. I make sure that I choose RePhone. Then I click on this green button and when it tells me to plug-in the usb to the PC I make sure that the GSM+BLE module is switched off before I connect it to the computer via the USB port.
-After one minute the following information appear: Timeout! Please click download button to upgrade your device.

What shall I do? I even downloaded the RePhone Kit Create VXP and copied it into the mass storage as described further down on the above mentioned instruction website…but it does not help anything.
When I open the Arduino_IDE_for_RePhone and I want to run the Hello World program (Board-RePhone, Port-MTK USB Debug Port), even after 2hours the uploading process never stops.

Thank you for your kind help.
MFerstl

#2

Hi MFerstl,

Apparently this is a pain for you too, I had and still have the same issue but here is how I managed to flash it for Arduino:
I used windows XP SP2, it was the only way I could do it. Follow exactly the wiki steps but under XP and be aware that for XP Service Pack 2 there is a fix on the GitHub for RePhone that needs to be apply to windows otherwise will not work.

Good luck!

#3

Fortunately I could drive two hours to get to my parents place where I knew that my mom still had an old computer with win xp. Finally it worked!!! Thanks a lot for the help.
The only thing with arduino flash is that the display works when I carry out the touch test and all the other screen tests but it does not start as in the beginning when I first started the RePhone…meaning I cannot carry out a phone call or getting in those menus anymore. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.

#4

Ferstl70,
Glad to know you managed to flash it with XP to use Arduino IDE.
According to other posts, if is flashed for Arduino then you loose the default phone app.
To reset everything to default you have to re flash it back to initial state, you can find this information somewhere (I think is on wiki) if not is on the forum posts. But then you loose the Arduino IDE programming capability.
There are some example to make calls under Arduino IDE in the example folder …
Enjoy!

#5

Thanks for the information!
As a total beginner in programming…which language can you recommend to start with to enjoy the RePhone the most?

#6

No worries,
Google is full of Arduino informations and code samples.
Read this for an insight of the language (C/C++) used with Arduino
http://hackaday.com/2015/07/28/embed-with-elliot-there-is-no-arduino-language/

Enjoy!

#7

Hi there
l read the article thanks…but I’m still a bit helpless in which language I should start programming the RePhone and what I can do with it and how. Are there some example projects or some tutorials how to do something?
As I flashed it with Arduino now I don’t have any display on my screen anymore. The default one where I even can do calls. What was the original firmware on the RePhone?
Tanks for your help!

#8

Ferstl,
Arduino is an IDE (the interface used to write and upload code on compatible devices like Arduino boards or RePhone in your case) only. The language is “the Arduino language is merely a set of C/C++ functions that can be called from your code”.
To get started go on SeeedStudio recipe page and take a look there … or better go see the Arduino official forum.
http://www.seeedstudio.com/recipe/
To go to default working RePhone you need to flash it back as I mention, the info you need is on the wiki (sorry but you should do at least some research)

RePhone is a great platform and his strength is not “use it as a phone” but the fact that you can program it to interact with external world …

Small project to have fun: attach the break-up board to it (no screen needed); attach a LED; write a program to light the LED when a predefined SMS is received …

Regards!