Megadrum won't save settings

[ignotus]

Hi

After reading a few posts where people had problems possibly related to overclocking, I decided not to risk it and changed my crystal to 16MHZ (I was using a 20MHZ crystal with an Atmega32 16pu). I programmed the latest bootloader, no problems there, and tried out elrules' new tool (great stuff by the way!). The thing now is that my megadrum won't save any settings after being powered down, it starts again with all the default settings, and now Megadrum Config Tool says "error sending sysex file" and won't update the firmware - it had been working shortly earlier. I tried flashing it again (without bootloader) but to no avail - everything works fine except it won't save the settings. Could the Atmega have got damaged while it had the 20MHZ crystal? It's just strange that it started misbehaving when I stopped overclocking it, if it is related to that at all...

Cheers!

[dmitri]

Do you mean it doesn't load settings when you first save them with 'Save Config' and then try to load them with 'Load Config'?

[ignotus]

What I mean is that I save the configuration, and set 'autoload conf' to 'yes', but when I power it up again 'autoload conf' is set at 'no' again; though using 'load config' does actually load the previously saved configuration (yes, it is actually saved, I just found this out). Well, it's not such a big deal anyway, though I do wonder why I get errors when sending sysex

[dmitri]

What I mean is that I save the configuration, and set 'autoload conf' to 'yes', but when I power it up again 'autoload conf' is set at 'no' again; though using 'load config' does actually load the previously saved configuration (yes, it is actually saved, I just found this out).

Autoload conf setting is only saved when exiting the menu. This is done to prevent EEPROM wear. If you set it to Yes and then power it down without exiting the menu, it won't be saved. Same true with some other settings.

Well, it's not such a big deal anyway, though I do wonder why I get errors when sending sysex

Can you give more details on how you get the errors, e.g. it's not even clear where you get the errors.

[elrules]

and now Megadrum Config Tool says "error sending sysex file"

Do you get that error when you try to send/get configs or when you try to update the firmware?

- If you want to get/set configs, it is better to have megadrum connected before you launch the config tool, as the config tool will open/register a connection with the megadrum device.

- If you want to update (in Windows), when you get the "Instruction" window (that one saying "press <Left> blablabla..") you have to disconnect megadrum and then reconnect but with <Left> key pressed, to boot to the bootloader screen.

Please be more specific when describing the errors

[ignotus]

Autoload conf setting is only saved when exiting the menu. This is done to prevent EEPROM wear. If you set it to Yes and then power it down without exiting the menu, it won't be saved. Same true with some other settings.

Sorted. Thanks Dmitri and sorry for being a nerd.

Do you get that error when you try to send/get configs or when you try to update the firmware?

I can't send/get configs because when using the Config Tool all I have in the Atmega is the bootloader - when I try to update firmware I get a message saying 'error trying to send sysex file' - this happens right after pressing 'yes' in the 'instructions' window. I was trying this out yesterday and it was working; I managed to update the firmware and send/get configs, but today it doesn't seem to want to work. I've tried it with a laptop and a pc, both running ubuntu, with the same result.

Please be more specific when describing the errors

Sorry, I simply thought this error might be due to a malfunctioning atmega chip and mentioned it in case it was coherent with that possibility.

[dmitri]

When I tested it with Linux I did it in this order:
1. Powered up MegaDrum while holding the key LEFT pressed.
2. In the bootloader menu chose proper crystal frequency (mine was 16MHz) with the key UP
3. Started MegaDrum Config tool
4. Made sure MegaDrum Config Tool was using proper MIDI ports from Options->MIDI Devices
5. Loaded a correct firmware from FIRMWARE->UPDATE FIRMWARE
6. When it showed a window with instructions (title bar "Intructions: Send update now?"), in the bootloader menu I pressed the key DOWN
7. In the instruction window (same "Intructions: Send update now?") clicked 'Yes'

And it updated firmware without any problems.

[ignotus]

When I tested it with Linux I did it in this order:
1. Powered up MegaDrum while holding the key LEFT pressed.
2. In the bootloader menu chose proper crystal frequency (mine was 16MHz) with the key UP
3. Started MegaDrum Config tool
4. Made sure MegaDrum Config Tool was using proper MIDI ports from Options->MIDI Devices
5. Loaded a correct firmware from FIRMWARE->UPDATE FIRMWARE
6. When it showed a window with instructions (title bar "Intructions: Send update now?"), in the bootloader menu I pressed the key DOWN
7. In the instruction window (same "Intructions: Send update now?") clicked 'Yes'

And it updated firmware without any problems.

Yes, that's the way I did it and it was working properly up until this morning. I'm going to check it out with a spare Atmega32 I have and see what happens, though I don't know when I'll get a chance, maybe the weekend. The fact that it's happening on two different computers and did actually work before makes me think it's a problem with my Megadrum and not related to software.

Thanks again.

[dmitri]

If Megadrum Config Tool says "error sending sysex file" when trying to update firmware, it is most likely a problem with selecting/opening correct midi ports and not with MegaDrum. If the problem were with MegaDrum, Megadrum Config Tool would happily send the firmware and reported it was successful (it is one way communication when updating firmware).

[elrules]

It depends on which OS are you running the app. If you are running it in Windows you have to follow step by step the intructions, so you when you get to the "Instructions: send now?" screen you have to disconnect and connect again with left key pressed. (In linux, as dmitri has experienced, he has boot the bootloader before opening the app). This is because by default, the tool opens at the begining a connection with the MIDI OUT. That way it is always ready to send sysexs so when you do "Send all to megadrum" it is quicker than if it had to open/close connection for each sysex message. The firmware updater in linux uses the same connection. But in Windows, it uses an alternative library to send the sysex firmware, so it opens a different connection. Maybe I have to change the way the application opens/closes the midi ports to make everything more clear for the user.