OWL stuck after firmware upgrade

OWL Firmware
#1

Hi all, I have a misbehaving Owl Modular, board is Rev 6, I am using Win 10. It is accessible via dfu-util and appears to accept new firmware. WebDFU also appears to send firmware, but cannot read it back - I get a read error when attempting to dump from the Owl. When the Patch Library site connects, it reads:
FIRMWARE: OWL Modular v21.2.1
DEVICE UUID: 00210035:32334719:38323431
but it won’t apparently download patches to the Owl.
Owlnest and Owlcontrol don’t read data back from the patch either. The LED button doesn’t light until after I load the firmware, at which point dfu-util says:
File downloaded successfully
Transitioning to dfuMANIFEST state
can’t detach
Resetting USB to switch back to runtime mode

and the LED button starts to flash green.
I’d be reasonably happy just to go back to the original firmware, but I can’t find a binary. Can anyone help? Thanks, Dave

Bricked OWL Modular?
#2

Hi @dmusker

but it won’t apparently download patches to the Owl.

Is it not working both when you use the “load” function to run patches from memory and “store” to store them on flash storage? Not 100% of patches from the library can run on OWL1, because it has less SDRAM compared to OWL2/3 and slower CPU compared to OWL3. So it’s best to test that it can run before storing it permanently.

In case if patches can run from memory, you could try to erase flash storage from this page - OpenWareLaboratory . This is recommended on every firmware upgrade or if there are errors when storing patches.

Legacy firmware releases are in a separate repo

#3

Thanks so much for the prompt reply! I have fiddled around so much over the past few hours that the device is now in a different state. Where I now am is, I can force DFU mode using the jumper and see it as STM Bootloader device. In that mode, both dfu-util and WEBDFU appear to send bootloader and firmware. So I think I have downloaded the latest of each. Swapping the jumper back, the device now shows up in Device Manager as OWL-MIDI as a USB device, and it sits flashing its green LED button, but it isn’t showing up in Audio Input Devices or Sound and Vision Controllers. Neither the Patch Library page nor the OpenWareLaboratory page can connect to it. Which is a change from yesterday, when the Patch Library page did. Yesterday, at one point I appeared to have got the Patch Library to “Load” the Ping Pong delay patch to slot 2 but not to “Save” it - maybe that one was too big for the device? But today I just can’t connect. That’ll teach me to fiddle about. Any thoughts as to what to try using dfu?

#4

OK, I started all systematic today and made a lot of progress. I’m setting out the steps in case it’s useful to anyone else. But I still don’t have a usable product I think - the Owl Modular sits there with a solidly red LED on.
1 - Put Owl into DFU mode with jumper
2 - Erased memory using STM32CubeProgrammer
3 - Downloaded bootloader from [solved] Can't connect to Magus - #12 by mars onto Owl using dfu-util. Seems to go fine. Now it appears on Device Manager as STM32 BOOTLOADER under “USB devices”.
4 - Connected using WEBDFU. Looks good.
5 - Downloaded firmware 24.2 and pushed it onto OWL using WEBDFU. Looked like it was done.
6 - Disconnected, powered down OWL.
7 - Powered on OWL, got a tiny green flash, then no light for a second, then flashing Green/Red, then steady Red. Now it appears on Device Manager as OWL-MIDI under “USB devices” - a generic USB device.
8 - Tried to connect using Owl Patch Libary. No joy. Likewise the OpenWareLaboratory link, likewise OwlNest, OwlControl.
9 - Re-started Windows. Same outcome.
10 - Deleted device OWL-MIDI and driver.
11 - Unplugged and powered down Owl. Switched on and plugged back in. Now Device Manager finds it as OWL-MODULAR under Sound, Vision & Game Controllers.
12 - Not recognised by OwlNest or OwlControl. But recognised by OpenWareLaboratory - “Connected to OWL Modular Boot v21.2.1”
13 - Seems to be recognised by Patch Library. Reports Unique ID. Appears to save patches - the Owl LED button changes from solid red to amber as the download occurs. But display does not show the patches as being present on the device. I have tried to pick nice short and simple patches.

So, how to get the last mile to a working device? Holding down the LED button doesn’t get it to start flashing and it doesn’t appear to select a patch, or go green afterwards.

#5

This means that OWL is in bootloader mode. You can only use it to flash firmware, not patches. Hard to tell why exactly you get it, but it means that firmware can’t run (either it crashes or is not flashed).

Try sending firmware in SysEx format (.syx instead of .bin like with DFU). Once correctly flashed it should run the firmware. You might have to delete the USB device like you did before in case if windows won’t like the change of device type. When firmware runs, it would give you a composite audio + MIDI device.

#6

HUGE thanks - you are a top gent. I now have what looks like a working OWL modular again. The syx trick didn’t work, but the key clues were (a) I’d never gotten out of the bootloader and (b) to keep deleting the USB device.
If anyone else has the same issues, what finally did work for me (briefly) was
1 - Put the chip into DFU mode with the jumpers
2 - Erase the whole chip with STM32CubeProgrammer,
3 - Use Zadig to put a WinUSB driver onto the device that shows up in Device Manager,
4 - Use dfu-util to flash the bootloader .bin on (the one in the link I gave above). At that point dfu-util doesn’t work again - what you have to do is,
5 - delete any device in Device Manager (plus driver),
6 - restart the Owl,
7 - restart Windows, and then
8 - get Device Manager to pick up the Owl again. And for safety,
9 - use Zadig again to add the right driver.
10 - Then flash the new firmware using dfu-util - I used v21.2.
11 - Then switch the Owl off, and change the jumper back.
12 - Then delete the USB device in Device Manager (again)
13 - Restart Windows.
14 - Switch on the Owl. At this point you are hopefully getting green or green flashing LED.
15 - Let Device Manager find it.
16 - Now start OWL Patch Library – Rebel Technology and hopefully it all works.

OK, enough firmware-wrangling, time to make music. Thanks again.

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Firmware update problems owl mk1