I received my new T-ECHO which has 2.3.9 installed. The BT pairing was good and the device had been configured and running well for several hours I cannot remember. Next day I found the phone app cannot connect to T-ECHO and pressing any buttons didn’t have response except the LED is blinking amber. The e-ink screen always shows short name and “screen paused”. Even I disconnect and reconnect the builtin battery, the screen still shows the same text and buttons have no response like before.
However, it can connect to the computer USB-C and enter DFU mode. I managed to put erase UF2 firmware and then copying newer firmware 2.3.11 and reboot. Everything now works except all settings have been factory reset.
Again, in this morning I found the device screen showed the same “Screen Paused” and buttons also have no response anymore. It is the same symptoms like it was previously. What will be the problem of hardware or software or anything else? Tried of erase and resetting everything again if it will die again next day.
The amber blinking shows that it has reboot and entered the bootloader. The image on the screen seems normal for a device on standby; it just didn’t change when the device crashed. If you haven’t already, I would try updating the bootloader, but I don’t know if it is super likely to help.
There is one mystery bug out there that no-one has been able to consistently reproduce yet. I think you might be seeing that bug. It seems to be related to Bluetooth connection / disconnection. There isn’t any answer yet, but maybe your experience would be valuable info for others to hear on the Meshtastic Discord server? I’ve seen this bug discussed there before.
Thanks for the replay and tip. I already tried updating the bootloader when I encountered the symptoms first time, so I had put factory erase UF2 file, bootloader, and the latest 2.3.11 firmware. BUT, unfortunately the issue happened again and so I posted the question after looking for several Q&A or helps. Last night I managed to put factory erase UF2 file again for the 2nd time and manually restore settings back. Sadly within 24 hours, it happens again, but this time I’m lucky to just press the reset button once and my T-ECHO can reboot and everything looks good.
Just need to speed time frequently checking the device is OK or not, otherwise, I won’t notice the phone app didn’t connect to the device and also won’t get any message after all.
Actually I’ve seen a few other comments today about 2.3.11 being unstable, so maybe there’s something weird going on.
There are three of us in our area who ran remote RAK router nodes, they’ve all crashed since updating to .11 to the extent that we’ve all thrown the towel in for the time being
I have a solar rak node on alpha .11 froze up it seems at 2.3 days in
Good to know there is some issues about the latest 2.3.11. Initially the stock firmware was 2.3.9 when I received my T-ECHO and I didn’t upgrade anything. I experienced the issue of that device died and reset button doesn’t work to bring the device back. No matter how many times I copied some firmware of new bootloader, 2.3.10, 2.3.11 and the device restarts after done copying, it did not actually reboot and not run to Meshtastic logo, but the display always showed “screen paused”.
It only worked after I first copied erase firmware. After that erase, and update bootloader, upgrade to 2.3.11, unfortunately I experienced the same symptom of that reset button cannot reboot and bring the device back to normal again and the display always stayed in the same “screen paused”, but can only get DFU mode and erase again.
In the first and 2nd time when the device died, I suspect the device got stuck during rebooting before showing MESHTASTIC logo, and used web interface to connect to serial port and tried to read any debug message, but there was “//\ESHTAST/C [??:??:??] DEBUG”, nothing else.
Hmm, maybe it’s not related then?
When you erase, are you also doing the second step? After you copy the nrf_erase.uf2 file, you need to open a serial monitor to finish the process.
Just want to ask, to make sure.
Yes, I did if you mean running the console script to finish it after copying nrf_erase.uf2
Hmm, in that case, honestly, I don’t really know… sorry.
If I was trying to solve this problem myself, I would connect the T-Echo to a computer, open a serial monitor to see the debug log, and wait overnight, to see if there’s any sort of error when it eventually chashes.
On the Meshtastic Discord server, the user “anonymousshindeiru” has been dealing with a similar issue, I think.
Was downgraded to 2.3.10 and after 1-2 day of use, again this time the device completely died and had no response to buttons.
Nothing I can do but just follow your advice and connect it to my laptop and log all serial port debug information. The device is completely useless because I cannot bring this T-ECHO if I have no laptop with me when traveling and cannot erase and recover it once if again it has no response to buttons again.
Will check Discord to see the similar issue if I have some time.
I’m sorry I don’t have anything more helpful to suggest. It’s a mystery to me but I really hope something can be done.
If you feel like it, it might be worth reporting this officially, by opening an issue on the firmware github repo. I’m not sure what the response would be, but at least that way you can make sure everyone is aware of what’s happening.
No answers here but I do have T-Echo although I only tested it briefly. It is at 2.3.10 and I just turned it on and will leave on to see if I see the same issue as you. Will get back to you.
Although, not likely the issue, you should take at look at the antenna that came with it. Mine was way off and no where near 915MHZ. I replaced it with one from Rokland . It is spot on and while larger, very flexible. I did have to 3d print a little spacer.
Its 22 hours later and my t-echo still seems to be fine. I’ll let it go another 24.
Had the same issue with my T-Echo on 2.3.9. Assumed it was me being a noob.
I reset it to factory settings and flashed to 2.3.11 and has been fine since. Don’t know what caused it or if it was me doing something wrong, but I haven’t had it since.
Had running 2.3.10 for last 2-3 days without any issues and always connected to USB to log serial output to files in order to get few last info/debug message before the device dies. As a system software engineer, I’m also eager to see any message that can shows clue and helps narrow down or locate the root cause and report to github or have pull request if I have time to do so.
However, when connecting to USB-C all the time, the device e-Ink screen won’t get paused, and the device seems to stay awake (not get into sleep or whatever), and the issue cannot be reproduced.
If it is the case, trying to get any debug logs with USB-C is always connected won’t trigger or lead to the issue, I don’t know how to check/debug further when it dies with no response to buttons if USB isn’t always connected. BT connection is impossible when the device has no response.
Anyway, the issue might be related to screen pause or device sleep mode. Will disconnect power/USB and trying different configuration and see.
Huh, I hadn’t actually realized that was the case, although I’m not surprised either. It probably would be good for the screen to pause, even when connected to USB. I’ll have a look into that one.
I haven’t noticed this freezing behavior particularly on my device, but I’m going to flash my T-Echo from master today, so I’ll give it a long run and see if I can reproduce anything here.
I’ve never had any luck reproducing that issue where something weird with Bluetooth reconnection causes a loss of config; although the issue is very real. If it’s related to this, I might have a hard time spotting it…
I had no luck again. After around 1-2 days of use without plugging into USB-C for previous log recording, my T-ECHO finally died suddenly since my Android bluetooth cannot connect to it. This time I also pressed “reset” button but the screen had no response and not boot into Meshtastic logo.
I tried to plug into my Android phone, the Meshtastic app did recognize it as an USB device, like /dev/bus/usb/002/002. But unfortunately it seemed to be in a infinite loop of rebooting, so every time I saw in Mechastic device list were /dev/bus/usb/002/002, /dev/bus/usb/002/003, /dev/bus/usb/002/004, /dev/bus/usb/002/005, … and so on and it kept connecting and disconnecting with new device number appeared. That’s also why I cannot get the serial debug log from the device when I connect to a laptop after rebooting since it died.
I also tried press “reset” twice and my Android recognized it as removable folder and can copy firmware into it. However, after reboot, the situation continues and the device cannot boot into Mechtasic logo. Eventually I still need to copy the factory erase firmware and connect to PC/laptop that can run “meshtastic” tool to format and copy firmware again and so it eventually can boot.
Could it be any hardware defect or NVRAM issue that cause something or setting wrong, and reboot cannot resolve it but continue to reboot over and over again.
It wouldn’t surprise me, but honestly, I have no idea. It’s probably worth asking in the #nrf52 channel on the Meshtastic Discord server if anyone has any ideas, if you didn’t try already.
I’ve had my T-Echo running for several days now and haven’t seen anything similar happen here, but I’m still watching it, just in case. They do seem to do weird things rarely, but I haven’t ever had to deal with what you’re going through, so something seems really wrong there!