The SSC-32U controller on my AL5D arm has stopped responding. I tried to use the Lynxterm and the Servo-Sequencer Utility and they are unable to communicate with the controller. I have tried this on two PC’s with no success. Using the Lynxterm utility it ask for the SSC-32 to be connected. I disconnected the servos motors and tried teh utilities again with no success
Is there a way to reset the controller or reload the firmware. If so how do I do this.
I have only used this board for a few weeks and all was working well.
When you connect by USB the SSC-32U to a computer, does a new device under Ports (COM & LPT) in Device Manager?
If so, could you open the Properties for this device, go the Details tab and change the Property to Hardware Ids. Then, right-click the first line in the Value box and select Copy. Please paste this value in your reply.
If a device does show up under Ports (COM & LPT), what COM port is it? Also, please note that the SSC-32U has to be powered for it to be able to respond. The USB power only provides current to the FT232R (the USB interface chip) on the board but not anything else. The external power (usually provided by a external power supply) is required for the SSC-32U’s microcontroller to respond to commands, such as those sent by Lynxterm.
The SSC32 was working well in the last few weeks ad I had programmed the use of the AL5 arm with no problems. The SSC32 makes use of the power supply unit as provided + the USB. I had not used the AL5 for a few days and when I went t use it yesterday I encountered the problem.
I make use of a Windows 10 PC for my development.
The SSC32 when plugged in appears as COM3. A screen snapshot that display the drivers is below. I uninstalled the device from the Device Manager and allowed it to be found and reloaded and the problem continued.
The Hardware Id value was FTDIBUS\COMPORT&VID_0403&PID_6001
When powered on the blue LED (near the power in point is lit. The two LED’s ( A & B) near the baud switch are on; I set the baud rate to 115200 when I first started using the AL5.
I think I have identified the problem. Fortunately I have a third PC that has not been touched for a while and also runs Windows 10. I connected the SSC-32U to it and installed LynxTerm and servo Sequencer utilities and both were able to access the control and turn a servo.
On digging deeper I looked at the drivers that were loaded on the COM port and they were not as new as the ones on my development PC’s. These devlopment PC’s have gone thrugh a number of updates lately and additional software for Arduino devices.
There are four drivers loaded to the comm port.
On the systems where the SSC-32 does not work, they are:
driver provider FTDI dated 10 July 2015 ver 2.12.6
ftser2k.sys ver 2.12.06.3
serenum.sys ver 10.0.102.40
ftcserco.dll ver 2.01.03.1
ftcserui2.dll ver 2.12.06
on the system that the SSC-32U worked, the drivers are:
driver provider FTDI 26 Aug 2014 ver 2.12.0.0
ftser2k.sys ver 2.12.00.2
serenum.sys ver 10.0.102.40 (same as failed system)
ftcserco.dll ver 2.01.03.1 (same as failed system )
ftcserui2.dll ver 2.12.00
so I suspect ftserc.sys or ftserui2.dll is at fault and I will attempt to find the older versions and try them and let you know if I have success.
I have re-attached the SSC-32U to my AL5 and reconnected the five servos and it all works well.
Beware of updating drivers!
Sebastien you may want to re-visit the the firmware of the SSC-32 to handle the newer drivers.
Either of these two modules is the culprit
ftcserui2.dll
ftser2k.sys
Thank you for helping each other out! That is indeed the point of any community.
Concerning the drivers issue, this was most likely our next recommendation. We have contacted FTDI directly recently and they mentioned this to be an known issue (hence why the older drivers are still available). Unfortunately, there is no known fix at this time short of removing the current drivers and installing the older ones manually instead (2.12.00 or even 2.10.00 in some cases).
Glad to help. I encountered the problem because of an update to 2.12.6 and after I suspected they were the cause I tried version 2.12.04 of the drivers which did not work either. Going back to 2.12.00 gave us the success. I suspect I must have been on this or an earlier version before the maintenance upgrades.
I will watch the forums to see if FTDI gets back to you with an updated set of drivers.
Take care and have a great day. I should receive the Arduino kit that I ordered from you guys tomorrow and I am looking forward to playing with that.
We have been bitten again. the latest Windows 10 update (Version 1511) a few days ago updated the drivers again. I uninstalled the drivers using the CDM Uninstaller and attempted to reload version 12.12.00 of the drivers and they would not load. I could load 12.12.4 or to the latest release 12.12.6. So I am back to not being able to communicate with the AL5D through the SSC-32U
I think the priority is now rising for a SSC-32U firmware version that is upgraded to cater for the newer Windows 10 systems and rivers.Users can keep older versions of the firmware fro there older systems.
or
is there another more up to date control unit that could be utilised?
Unfortunately, the issue is entirely with the FTDI FT232R (the USB-serial interface chip) and how it communicates with the drivers. Therefore, it is entirely out of our hands.
The SSC-32U firmware is not the cause of this issue but really the interaction of the newer drivers and the FT232R chips on the SSC-32U board (the one near the USB port).
Once possible option is to turn off automatic drivers updates (not all updates, just for system/device drivers). There are many online guides detailing this, such as this one.
Unfortunately, at this time, there is no way to “lock” a driver or device to prevent updating of that one only. It is a “all-or-nothing” type of deal. Hopefully such an option will be available in the future.
An alternative solution would be to reprogram the FT232R chip with a different product ID (PID) to prevent the automatic updates.
For example, one could reprogram the FT232R with a PID of F460 (default is 6001) and use these drivers instead. These drivers are not being updated (currently, at least) and are meant to function with this FT232R chip as intended.
Doing this would require the FT_PROG utility from FTDI, available here.
Hopefully this solution can give you a bit of peace of mind and stop the constant reinstalling of drivers causing issues to you.
Sincerely,
P.-S.: Please see the attached images for an example of the FT_Prog steps. The numbering might differ.
Perhaps prospective purchasers should be made aware of this problem prior to purchase.
If they intend using the SSC-32U with Windows 10 then they certainly will have a problem, and may not be aware of that a “solution” exists on this forum.
We are working with our chip suppliers to ensure this issue will be corrected with future SSC-32Us (using different version of the FT232R).
Unfortunately, there was no way for us to plan for drivers from FTDI causing such issues. The only solution offered by FTDI is to use older drivers (which they left available on their website for this purpose). Unfortunately, Windows 10, by default, automatically forces drivers update and therefore repeats the issue indefinitely unless configured otherwise.
As always, I am thankful for your knowledge and advice. I will have a good look at this and give it a try as the AL5 cannot be used at the moment. BTW the drivers zip file that your suggested is an empty zip file. robotshop.com/media/temp/RB- … rivers.zip
Do you have another servo controller that can be utilized by the AL5 and controlled via a VB.net program?
Here is the proper link, too. We did tests on two Windows 10 computers and they actually installed the proper drivers automatically (without needing to manually install them), which seems like good news. Just make sure to change the PID to F460 (as mentioned previously) and you should have no issue afterwards to connect to the SSC-32U.
We strongly recommend that you use the SSC-32U for simplicity of future debugging. You could probably use any other USB enabled servo controller that we sell (from other manufacturers), but we will not be able to provide as much support as they would not be from our products.
I used the FTDI update program and changed the SSC-32U to an F460 product id and I now am able to control the AL5D arm again with my VB.net program. Th Device Manager now displays the SSC as “2002 Design, Inc. USB Download Interface (COM9)”
We are glad to know it works well for you. Though we have tested a few Windows 10 computers (and Windows 7/8) with this solution already, it is not a “standard” solution nor is it very well tested, so it is always nice to know it worked out.
As a side note, those drivers have been stable since 2013 and we don’t foresee any changes as this hardware is (most likely) not going to get updated.
That is indeed the point of any community.
