How to fix deploying to netduino hanging

I thought I'd summarise the following which I'd picked up from a few separate threads, as I had this issue when my brand new netduino arrived today and initially thought it was faulty. It should help someone else having the same problem as I had and save a few hours of frustration!

Problem:
Can connect to netduino, but when deploying from visual studio, deployment never finishes. Unable to ping netduino from MFDeploy, in other words netduino is there but unresponsive.

Solution: (Update to the latest firmware whilst in the tiny boot loader):

• Download the latest firmware as of now (version 4.1.0.2, you'll need to be logged into this forum to download it.)
• Unzip the contents to your hard disk
• Start MFdeploy: Start Menu -> Microsoft .NET Micro Framework 4.1 -> Tools -> MFDeploy.exe (the one with the church window like icon).
• Hold down the button (and keep holding it down) on the netduino while plugging it in (the blue light will stay on)
• In MFdeploy change the Device to Usb and make sure your netduino is selected in the dropdown alongside (probably as netduino_netduino)
• Now quickly click the ping button in MFDeploy before the netduino's blue light goes out.

You should now get a response something like:
Pinging... TinyBooter
Bootloader build info: Netduino by Secret Labs LLC

Now quickly before the tinyboot loader starts loading the .net framework code

• click the browse button in MFDeploy and browse to where you unzipped the new firmware.
• Select the ER_CONFIG and the ER_FLASH files, they will now be listed something like C:\netd\ER_CONFIG; C:\netd\ER_FLASH in the box.
• Quickly click deploy, (you need to be quick before the boot loader exits - I didn't manage the first time and the deployment will hang before it starts if your too slow, just start again).
• If it's working you should first see an erase progress bar followed by a writing (I think it was) progress bar.

The update will take a minute or two.

After this your netduino should be working normally.

Roy

Hi Roy, Thanks for the post, and welcome to the Netduino community! All Netduinos shipping to resellers have the newer firmware (v4.1.0.2), so most (but not all) Netduinos ordered today should have the update installed already. If not, Roy has written up some good instructions to upgrade to the newer firmware. Chris

thanks for the welcome! I'm guessing that the UK stock is probably older, so there may be a few older ones like mine floating around.
And oops yes typo that should read
Microsoft .NET Micro Framework 4.1 and not Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 1.0

roy

ah, just found the edit functionality, typo gone

I'm still having this issue even with the newer firmware any ideas on what else might cause it?

I'm still having this issue even with the newer firmware any ideas on what else might cause it?

Arceon,

Have you tried the v4.1.0.3 ("alpha") firmware? We're about to upgrade a subset of it to "beta" status, and would love your input (you can move back to 4.1.0.2 if it doesn't work well for you).

Chris

Arceon,

Have you tried the v4.1.0.3 ("alpha") firmware? We're about to upgrade a subset of it to "beta" status, and would love your input (you can move back to 4.1.0.2 if it doesn't work well for you).

Chris

I'll give it a go now and let you know how i get on!

I'm still having this issue even with the newer firmware any ideas on what else might cause it?

Are you sure the newer firmware flashed fully? It may appear to have - but actually have hung, only if you get both progress dialogs followed by a fair bit of output in MFDeploy (along the lines of sectors, read, written to) will it actually have been updated.

Are you sure the newer firmware flashed fully? It may appear to have - but actually have hung, only if you get both progress dialogs followed by a fair bit of output in MFDeploy (along the lines of sectors, read, written to) will it actually have been updated.

Yes I got the full output with all the attributes and assemly info printed out, the weird thing is it worked perfectly fine whilst I was trying it out at work, but upon getting home these problems started (shame I cant find the time to develop for it at work ). Could it be IDE/OS related?

Ok I've flashed the Aplha firmware, and now it hangs on:
The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting...

There was a hairy moment during flashing when the MFDeploy tool locked up on connecting to tinybooter, and I had to start the process again. Should I try reflashing?

Edit: Tried reflashing, is still locking up on connecting to tinybooter

Arceon, Are you running inside of a VM (Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox, etc.)? What operating system are you running? Also, are you running the .NET MF 4.1 SDK or last week's "QFE1" bugfix release? Finally, if you push the pushbutton on the Netduino when Visual Studio hangs, does that prompt Visual Studio to finish deploying? Chris

Yes I got the full output with all the attributes and assemly info printed out, the weird thing is it worked perfectly fine whilst I was trying it out at work, but upon getting home these problems started (shame I cant find the time to develop for it at work ). Could it be IDE/OS related?

Ok I've flashed the Aplha firmware, and now it hangs on:
The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting...

There was a hairy moment during flashing when the MFDeploy tool locked up on connecting to the bootloader, and I had to start the process again. Should I try reflashing?

hmm, not sure really, are you using the same usb cable? Maybe worth retrying the flashing again but to the more stable .2 version, but not really sure, it did take me two attempts to get it to flash fully - it is a bit hair raising seeing the memory getting erased!
Could well be the OS or drivers, take it you've tried reinstalling the sdk, rebooting etc.

Not sure I can help much, other than mention I'm on 64 bit windows 7 ultimate, 64 bit cpu, and a uniwill laptop - rebranded acer, esystem etc., with the express version of visual studio 2010 C#, if that gives you any pointers.

Failing that find a reason to borrow your machine from work

Arceon,

Are you running inside of a VM (Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox, etc.)? What operating system are you running?

Also, are you running the .NET MF 4.1 SDK or last week's "QFE1" bugfix release?

Finally, if you push the pushbutton on the Netduino when Visual Studio hangs, does that prompt Visual Studio to finish deploying?

Chris

I used the downloads on the Main Download page (the 1,2,3 section) for both home and work.

Work: Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit, VS C# Express 2010, 64bit SDK (Non-VM)
Home: Windows XP 32bit, VS C# Express 2010, 32bit SDK (Non-VM)

When it hangs, the LED lights up for around 2-3 seconds, then goes off, nothing happens after that. If I press the button while hung, the LED comes on and stays on, but Visual Studio remains hung.

Also I can't ping the device from MFDeploy while VS has hung.

hmm, not sure really, are you using the same usb cable? Maybe worth retrying the flashing again but to the more stable .2 version, but not really sure, it did take me two attempts to get it to flash fully - it is a bit hair raising seeing the memory getting erased!
Could well be the OS or drivers, take it you've tried reinstalling the sdk, rebooting etc.

Not sure I can help much, other than mention I'm on 64 bit windows 7 ultimate, 64 bit cpu, and a uniwill laptop - rebranded acer, esystem etc., with the express version of visual studio 2010 C#, if that gives you any pointers.

Failing that find a reason to borrow your machine from work

Same USB cable, will try .2 again next. Yes it was slightly scary ! It still hangs when reflashing it now, so something is amiss!

Will try the reinstall after testing .2 again, hope I dont have too though!

When it hangs, the LED lights up for around 2-3 seconds, then goes off, nothing happens after that. If I press the button while hung, the LED comes on and stays on, but Visual Studio remains hung.

That's the Netduino resetting. We might need to increase the timeouts on your machine.

If you go into "Programs and Features" in Windows' Control Panel, does the .NET Micro Framework SDK say "QFE1" after it?

Also I can't ping the device from MFDeploy while VS has hung.

That's probably okay. Only one program can talk to the Netduino at a time. If Visual Studio still has a connection to the Netduino, MFDeploy won't be able to ping it. Once Visual Studio gives up, can MFDeploy ping the Netduino successfully?

Chris

That's the Netduino resetting. We might need to increase the timeouts on your machine.

If you go into "Programs and Features" in Windows' Control Panel, does the .NET Micro Framework SDK say "QFE1" after it?

That's probably okay. Only one program can talk to the Netduino at a time. If Visual Studio still has a connection to the Netduino, MFDeploy won't be able to ping it. Once Visual Studio gives up, can MFDeploy ping the Netduino successfully?

Chris

Yes it's the QFE1 version. Visual Studio doesn't give up, I have to force close it from task manager as otherwise it will quite happily sit there for more than 5 mins doing nothing . After I kill VS, the device is still unpingable.

After MFDeploy is force closed (after hanging on connecting to tinybooter), when I ping the device it returns bootloader build info, and it doesn't do that normally?

Edit: After reflashing .2 it seems to be working fine so far? Very strange, if you want me to go back to the Alpha for more testing just let me know I'd be happ to help. I'll be sure to post back if it crops again in the meantime, thanks for the help!

Arecon, If you get bootloader build info when you ping the device, do you get "Pinging...TinyCLR" or "Pinging...Netduino by Secret Labs LLC"? If you get the latter, the .NET MF runtime was unable to boot. The blue LED should also still be on... The remedy for this is to erase the current Netduino app through MFDeploy and, if that doesn't work, to reflash the Netduino .NET MF firmware. Chris

Arceon,

Are you running inside of a VM (Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox, etc.)? What operating system are you running?

Also, are you running the .NET MF 4.1 SDK or last week's "QFE1" bugfix release?

Finally, if you push the pushbutton on the Netduino when Visual Studio hangs, does that prompt Visual Studio to finish deploying?

Chris

I have the same problem running 4.1.0.3 and the QFE1 bugfix.

Running on XP SP3, virtual PC is installed but not running, and VS 2010 Express is running from the main OS.

Pressing the button on the netduino doesn't fix it.

Waiting till deployment is complete, VS gives a message along the lines of "The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting..." but will sit there forever.

If I unplug and replug the netduino when VS gives the "The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting..." message, debugging goes ahead normally.

Also, similar symptoms sometimes occur when stopping debugging, VS will sit there forever waiting for it. Unplugging the netduino hastens things along a bit.

Arecon,

If you get bootloader build info when you ping the device, do you get "Pinging...TinyCLR" or "Pinging...Netduino by Secret Labs LLC"?

If you get the latter, the .NET MF runtime was unable to boot. The blue LED should also still be on... The remedy for this is to erase the current Netduino app through MFDeploy and, if that doesn't work, to reflash the Netduino .NET MF firmware.

Chris

I got "Pinging...Netduino by Secret Labs LLC", however the LED was off. How do you go about erasing the app through MFD? Is it as simple as clicking erase? If so I will reflash the Alpha and play around with it a bit more tonight (I only had about 20 mins with it last night after reflashing .2).

I have the same problem running 4.1.0.3 and the QFE1 bugfix.

Running on XP SP3, virtual PC is installed but not running, and VS 2010 Express is running from the main OS.

Pressing the button on the netduino doesn't fix it.

Waiting till deployment is complete, VS gives a message along the lines of "The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting..." but will sit there forever.

If I unplug and replug the netduino when VS gives the "The debugging target is not in an initialized state, rebooting..." message, debugging goes ahead normally.

Also, similar symptoms sometimes occur when stopping debugging, VS will sit there forever waiting for it. Unplugging the netduino hastens things along a bit.

Have you tried reflashing .2? That was what sorted it for me. Also does your MFDeploy hang upon flashing the Alpha like mine did?

I got "Pinging...Netduino by Secret Labs LLC", however the LED was off. How do you go about erasing the app through MFD? Is it as simple as clicking erase? If so I will reflash the Alpha and play around with it a bit more tonight (I only had about 20 mins with it last night after reflashing .2).

Yes, just press the ERASE button and it will erase your app from the Netduino. Let me know how that works for you...

Have you tried reflashing .2? That was what sorted it for me. Also does your MFDeploy hang upon flashing the Alpha like mine did?

No, I've moved on to the 4.1.1.0 Alpha to try my microSD shield...

I thing I broke it for good I try reflash with the latest version 4.1.0 Patch 2, but, with the one enabling the serial communication. I saw the file TinyBooterDecompressor.bin but since the MFDeploy did not load it with the ER_CONFIG and ER_FLASH. So, I tried to flash it only with the ER_CONFIG and ER_FLASH. And now, can't communicate with it, or ping it, in MFDeploy, USB and Serial, nothing, Tried the procedure at the top of the thread, nothing... I did not even see the board name in the combo box where the Netduino appear previously! Is there a work around for that or it's completely over?