Screen gone Black after Firmware Update - Solved

[Scotty_123]

I was installing the latest firmware 1.063... pressed the firmware update button the - the  screen went black and never turned on...

Solved -  Loaded Teensy Again ... ran the process (pressed FW button again) and it took this time and the screen woke up... happy camper. Showing expected firmware.

Suggest that you add this to the firmware instructions  - that if it appears to have failed not to panic... run the process a 2nd or 3rd time for the benefit of fragile souls like myself.

[Darryl]

Glad you got it going! One reason we stick with the Teensy platform, despite the extra cost is because of their dedicated bootloader chip. Its virtually brick proof. You can install a completely messed up firmware, but the bootloader chip can always recover it.

[browndwarf]

Hi, I ran into the same problem. Tried installing firmware 1.1.063 using teensy on Mac OSX with a USB connection.

First I got the message in teensy that the hex file was too large and I followed the instructions on the firmware installation webpage, and clicked on the Auto button and then the FW button. It ran for a brief instant and then teensy hung with a line at the bottom that says 79% used.

The NDLR has now gone black and cannot restart (tried the Shift-Menu held down and reboot method but didn't work also). I deleted and re-installed teensy hoping to reload the hex file and re-try but teensy still has the 79% used text at the bottom each time it is opened and after reloading the hex file.

Is there any way I can revive the NDLR? Any advice will be much appreciated by this fragile soul.

Thanks.

[Jesse Johannesen]

Hi, I ran into the same problem. Tried installing firmware 1.1.063 using teensy on Mac OSX with a USB connection.

First I got the message in teensy that the hex file was too large and I followed the instructions on the firmware installation webpage, and clicked on the Auto button and then the FW button. It ran for a brief instant and then teensy hung with a line at the bottom that says 79% used.

The NDLR has now gone black and cannot restart (tried the Shift-Menu held down and reboot method but didn't work also). I deleted and re-installed teensy hoping to reload the hex file and re-try but teensy still has the 79% used text at the bottom each time it is opened and after reloading the hex file.

Is there any way I can revive the NDLR? Any advice will be much appreciated by this fragile soul.

Thanks.

Hi browndwarf, I'll see if I can offer you some assistance with this. Good news, the 79% is just showing how much of the total space the hex file will take up on the device, so it's not a progress indicator.
Ok, now to get it working! The first thing I recommend is lets download the firmware again just in case there was an issue with that, then open that in the Teensy loader. Connect the NDLR to the computer via USB, be sure to press the small button inset in the case between the MIDI din connectors, this will reset the NDLR into bootloading mode at which point the screen will be black, but the Teensy loader should recognize The NDLR at this point and stop prompting you to press the button, and show new options available which were greyed out before.

At this point if all went well we should be able to load the newly downloaded firmware hex file, press program (curved green arrow), and get our progress bar. Once  finished it says "programming complete", but the screen remains black. at this point the green arrow next to the program button will reboot the device, and the programmer should say "reboot OK", and the screen should light up.
If this doesn't work, the next thing I would do is attempt the same process on another computer if that is a possibility.

Let me know if any of these solve our problem, and I will reach out to the rest of the team.
Jesse

[browndwarf]

Hi Jesse, thanks for your quick reply!

I did all you said. Re-downloaded the 063 hex file (579 kb). Also tried it using a second Mac as well but sadly, my NDLR isn't waking up. Clicking the FW doesn't seem to do anything and teensy is still stuck on the "Press Button on Teensy to manually enter Program Mode"). The Program button is inactive and the only active button other than Load hex file is the Auto, which doesn't wake up NDLR as well.

I hope I haven't bricked my NDLR lol. Does it matter that when I was updating the firmware the first time, I had a MIDI cable plugged into NDLR Out-B?

If there are other diagnostic tests I can run, pls advise. Thanks for your help.

[Jesse Johannesen]

Hi Jesse, thanks for your quick reply!

I did all you said. Re-downloaded the 063 hex file (579 kb). Also tried it using a second Mac as well but sadly, my NDLR isn't waking up. Clicking the FW doesn't seem to do anything and teensy is still stuck on the "Press Button on Teensy to manually enter Program Mode"). The Program button is inactive and the only active button other than Load hex file is the Auto, which doesn't wake up NDLR as well.

I hope I haven't bricked my NDLR lol. Does it matter that when I was updating the firmware the first time, I had a MIDI cable plugged into NDLR Out-B?

If there are other diagnostic tests I can run, pls advise. Thanks for your help

Ok don't worry, we'll get this sorted out. I'll update the team and see what our next step is. Hang tight.
Jesse

[Jesse Johannesen]

Hi Jesse, thanks for your quick reply!

I did all you said. Re-downloaded the 063 hex file (579 kb). Also tried it using a second Mac as well but sadly, my NDLR isn't waking up. Clicking the FW doesn't seem to do anything and teensy is still stuck on the "Press Button on Teensy to manually enter Program Mode"). The Program button is inactive and the only active button other than Load hex file is the Auto, which doesn't wake up NDLR as well.

I hope I haven't bricked my NDLR lol. Does it matter that when I was updating the firmware the first time, I had a MIDI cable plugged into NDLR Out-B?

If there are other diagnostic tests I can run, pls advise. Thanks for your help

Ok don't worry, we'll get this sorted out. I'll update the team and see what our next step is. Hang tight.
Jesse

OK so our next step is going to be to force the NDLR into bootloader mode. This can be done by pressing the FW button and holding it down while connecting power. The screen will remain dark, but hopefully the teensy loader will recognize the device at this point. If that works as planned, go ahead and proceed with the firmware update, if not report back and we can go from there.
Jesse

[browndwarf]

Some good news Jesse! Teensy could see the NDLR (finally) and the program button is active. Clicking it brought up an "Erasing..." message box followed quickly by "Download ERROR". I'm glad the NDLR is stirring...

---

Even better news! Left the connection on and left my computer for half an hour. Gave it a try again and this time the firmware update was completed!! NDLR is back with the new 063 firmware installed woohoooo

Thank you very much for your help Jesse!

[Jesse Johannesen]

Some good news Jesse! Teensy could see the NDLR (finally) and the program button is active. Clicking it brought up an "Erasing..." message box followed quickly by "Download ERROR". I'm glad the NDLR is stirring...

---

Even better news! Left the connection on and left my computer for half an hour. Gave it a try again and this time the firmware update was completed!! NDLR is back with the new 063 firmware installed woohoooo

Thank you very much for your help Jesse!

Oh man that's great to hear! Congratulations.
Jesse

[owen kitto]

my NDLR IS BRICKED i have followed all documents instructions i have never updated this before i downloaded 1.1079 as i am trying to get my ndlr to show up in vcv rack now its toast i have try forcing it into update mode i get the green auto light on teensy but when holding FW and plugging in the usb it dose nothing now it dose not power at all