Ultimate7e tutorial: Processor upgrade

If that's the case you should be wired to specific pins. HOLD should be on C11. You can find more information here: https://www.deviationtx.com/wiki/hardware/devo7e

That is what I needed. That is indeed good news I think I can remedy that pretty easly. I haven't tried touching up that pin. If a touch up doesn't work it won't be hard to solder to the pin and then to the trace on the board.

This is indeed a learning process, it has been a real challenge but that is part of the fun/reward. At one point I had given this board up for dead and decided to give it one more try and here I am with one pin touch up to do to have complete function.

Touched up C11 and all is working. Thanks for the help.

Add another Ultimate 7E successfully upgraded to the list!

MultiMod / Switchmod seems to be working. Just some testing missing.

But looks good so far!

nice one bud, it's amazing how this little tx has blossomed into a powerfull fully 12ch tx thanks to deviationtx and it's users

Indeed!! First when I read about Ultimate7e I thought not to do the mod (well most of the sw building).

I was already planing to buy a Taranis TX...

I followed the process, finally decided to go for the mod, save the money and stick to my Devo 7e

Big thanks for all making this possible!!!

Absolutely spot on there!

I have now done three of the Ultimate upgrades, although not to the full extent yet with full sound etc. as I am out of wire to solder the relevant hardware in! LOL!
But in all seriousness, the Deviation TX firmware is a revelation for usability and capabilities, and in some ways is superior to the absolutely brilliant firmwares on offer for the 9X/Taranis transmitters that I really enjoy using.
Now it were only to be/could be ported to those ...

Smarti wrote: Indeed!! First when I read about Ultimate7e I thought not to do the mod (well most of the sw building).

I was already planing to buy a Taranis TX...

I followed the process, finally decided to go for the mod, save the money and stick to my Devo 7e

Big thanks for all making this possible!!!

Another one in the u7e club!

Looks great! Wish I had the balls to do that upgrade..lol. Have the 4in1 and the 3 way switches mod working great so far..
My question is what did you use for the lettering to label your switches? I removed the metal stickers and I like how that looks.
Cheers!

ClittleJ, I paid a friend for changing the processor! I don't have air gun....
The stick labels can find here! www.deviationtx.com/forum/custom-skins/6...evo-7e-switch-labels

Thanks! Those are great!!

I have one lifted pad on the board (pin 2) from earlier attempts (received stm32's from china with bent pins), so I went back to the factory installed MCU, TX ran fine without that pin though.

Finally the new ones arrived so I replaced the MCU (third attempt), flashed the bootloader successfully, uploaded Deviation. So far so good...
I did notice that it started immediately in the 'Program update' screen ever since I flashed the bootloader. But it starts always in update mode.

I guess it is one of the pins that has a loose connection, any idea which pin(s) I would have to focus on?

The "Program update" mode is activated by holding down "EXT" as you power up. Try looking along those connections for a potential short. The pins involved would be GPIOB8 (Pin 61) and GPIOC9 (Pin 40). You can find more information here at https://www.deviationtx.com/wiki/hardware/devo7e .

I just did an MCU replacement on my second Devo7e. It is installed and I was able to load the bootloader just fine. However I can't load Deviation as Defuse doesn't recognize the device.

When I power up the transmitter it immediately goes to the program update screen without any buttons being pressed. Is this normal before deviation is flashed or does it mean that I have a bridged pin somewhere in the button matrix? If there is a bridged pin could this be keeping the usb from being recognized or is that a seperate issue.

I have checked that the usb tx and rx lines are connected to the pins on the mcu. Are there other places to check?

I had similar when I did my second MCU swapout. (mine went into USB mode on switch on!) I am unsure what was bridged, as I could not see anything untoward, even with a 30x magnifier, but a quick re-flux and couple of runs one side of pins at a time with my hot air gun re-flowed it and cured the problem.

Also had the same problem - albeit a different symptom - when replacing the ARM M3 MCU in my Sky9X boarded TX for an ARM M4 - and that has 100 pins!

This is driving me nuts I am so close. After mcu flash it powers on to the program update scene like it should but it is not recognized by sub driver and defuse.

I have checked and rechecked for shorts on the pins. I have tested continuity from pin to pad on all mcu pins. I have tested continuity on the usb cable to pins on the mcu.

I just updated the firmware on stink tool and reflashed the bootloader again after full chip erase. All went perfect. Did a compare of the file and mcu this verified.

Any ideas where to look. I did knock a capicator loose when removing mcu. I put it back with hot air rework tool. This capacitor was neat pins 60-64.

I have reflowed the pins on all four sides
twice no change.

I verified it isn't my computer by connecting my other U7e. It connects fine. I am about ready to try another mcu as I have a spare.

I am attaching photos and asking for any advice or suggestions. This replacement is so much cleaner than my first but doesn't working.

On power on, does it boot into Program Update mode on its own as you said before? Or do you need to press the EXT button? If it is booting to update mode without EXT being pressed, something is shorted/bridged somewhere. A few posts up from here mention is made of Pins 61 & 40.

Not sure if it is the photos or lighting, but there are a couple pins on your MCU that are not looking to be soldered well, and the row of pins furthest from the RF module do not look to be particularly tidily soldered. It may pay once more to flux and run a fine round tip soldering iron over them all again.

It's a poor photo combined with some extra flux because I have been over the pins quite a lot.

It is going automatically to program update, but I thought I saw somewhere that this is default behavior until software is loaded with defuse. I may be wrong about that and forget how it worked with my other U7e.

I have checked all pins in the button matrix for shorts and couldn't find any even checking them for non adjoining pins.

I am looking for the magic bullet as I am out of things to try.

Not sure of what flux you used, but a really good scrub with some isopropyl alcohol should clean it off - it is possible there is very fine solder bridges. I have had that before where even under the strongest loupe I have nothing showed.

I too am not 100% sure, but I am thinking I had to hit EXT to boot into Update mode for the first time on both Ultimates I have done.

I have tested for bridging of pins with multimeter and with fine needle like tips. There is no pin bridging.

What would keep the bootloader from turning on usb MODE? I noticed on the wiki that there is s pin to turn on usb mode. Is there a way to force this like tie the pin to ground?

Can you test the button matrix with a multimeter to see which if any button is pushed/on?

Is it possible to flash the dfu file to the chip with STLink utility?

Here is a much better photo