Well, you are going to love this one:
I have 2 Dash units (early 1.1) up and running for development work. They get every update, and both have been frequently programmed OTA. All was well until last Friday, when the OTA system got flaky. I updated both boards over USB to 0.9.10. At that point, I recall that all was well (which is key for the next paragraph). I then tried another OTA, and that hung up both boards on sketches where the SMS handler was included. On a hunch, I downgraded both boards to 0.9.8, and VOILA – both working well again on the same sketch. Another upgrade attempt to 0.9.10, and the hang repeats. TonyM is seeing identical behavior (also Mac Arduino IDE) on his Dash 1.1.
Here’s where it gets interesting. I recalled that 0.9.10 initially seemed okay, and that Erik could not reproduce the issue, even with the SMS handler. On a hunch, I took a new virgin Dash from my “future development” inventory minutes ago. It was at FW 0.9.3 right out of the anti-static bag, (had the factory modem serial debug) and I updated that board directly to 0.9.11. Screenshot attached. The same sketch as I posted above, w/ SMS message handler, now works perfectly.
So there you have it. A new (virgin) unit, next to a well-used unit. Both are free standing (no breadboards). Both are 0.9.11, and both are running the same sketch (with SMS handler). The virgin board works great, the older board hangs on the SMS handler 100% of the time. Both are Dash 1.1 units. On the older board, hardware power reset (disconnect / reconnect) does not help; sketch always hangs. Reloading same sketch: no joy there, either. Removing the SMS handler from the sketch returns the older unit to normal function. Both units – jumper set to USB mode.
My system: Mac 10.12.5 Sierra, Arduino 1.8.2, Dash Board Manager 0.10.2. TonyM is also using a Mac, same SW levels, same hangup behavior on an early Dash 1.1 (long header pin version).
So, my inferred hunches, based on nothing other than above:
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The OTA on Friday or Saturday (pre-Reuben fix) did something to the FW (or boot loader?) that later FW uploads did not negate. Either that, or the sequential / incremental FW updates have a different effect at 0.9.11 than the 0.9.3 to 0.9.11 (leapfrog) update.
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There may be HW updates or changes to later 1.1 units since we received our early 1.1 units.
As I say, uninformed guesses, but the behavior of old, incrementally updated units = bad, and new, direct upgrade to 0.9.11 is solid. For what it’s worth…
New Dash unit on left happily blinks its LED. Same sketch on right unit – no Blinky. And yes, I did plug it in!
Any thoughts greatly welcome!