My Flight Controller can’t connect to Betaflight (Serial port successfully opened -> serial port successfully closed)

TrpMbl · Sep 8, 2019

Hi everyone, I posted this to another quadcopter forum with no responses so I'm trying here now.

I’m trying to program this flight controller: (Micro F3 Flight Control: Torrent 110 FPV | HorizonHobby) for a personal project.

I got betaflight to open the flight controller with no problems whatsoever the first time I tried it and then many times after that as well. But then I couldn’t figure out how to connect my Taranis qx7 to it and so I was troubleshooting and disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times to test it.
All of a sudden I can’t connect anymore. Flight controller still powers up and Betaflight still recognizes it coming in as COM3 (115200) but when I click the “Connect” button it does the following:

Writes “2019-09-07 @ 21:14:26 – Serial port successfully opened with ID: 3” at the top left corner of the screen.
Waits about 10 seconds.
Writes “2019-09-07 @ 21:14:36 – Serial port successfully closed” at the top left.

I am pulling my hair out over how something can work so well and then die randomly. Here’s what I’ve tried:

installing all drivers that Beta flight has listed
Tried installing Zadig but it doesn’t show my FC in the drop down menu
Tried both the full software download of Betaflight and the Chrome extension (also tried RaceFlight)
Tried to flash the firmware but it tells me “No response from the bootloader, programming: FAILED”
Restarted my computer multiple times and uninstalled and reinstalled betaflight multiple times
Tried with and without the battery plugged in (don’t think it makes any difference)
Unplugged everything but the Micro-USB going to my computer

This thread: [RESOLVED] Betaflight - No Configuration Received
Says that they resolved the problem as just having a busted board, but then why would it connect and light up at all?
Does anyone have any ideas? Sorry I’m new here so I’m not sure if I’m breaking any rules. If you need any clarification just let me know.

tevek · Sep 8, 2019

Are you saying that it was a defective board? I’ve had defective boards that will power up off the USB and not be able to be connected to betaflight.
Having said that I’ve also had to change out my USB cable for a data cable and not the regular charging type found with a lot of phones etc.
Another tip is to run Impulse RC which I believe is a driver fixer, for whatever reason I have an occasional quad which despite having all the correct drivers installed on betaflight, won’t connect unless I run impulse RC in the background.
As for connecting your Taranis to your receiver, have you set up the switches on the controller as yet?

TrpMbl · Sep 8, 2019

tevek said:
Are you saying that it was a defective board? I’ve had defective boards that will power up off the USB and not be able to be connected to betaflight.
Having said that I’ve also had to change out my USB cable for a data cable and not the regular charging type found with a lot of phones etc.
Another tip is to run Impulse RC which I believe is a driver fixer, for whatever reason I have an occasional quad which despite having all the correct drivers installed on betaflight, won’t connect unless I run impulse RC in the background.
As for connecting your Taranis to your receiver, have you set up the switches on the controller as yet?

Hi thanks for helping!

I think the board might have become defective by my mistreatment of it (although I was careful when putting in the mini-usb and taking it out) but my guess is as good as any since this is my first attempt at a DIY drone.

Like I was saying, it worked before and I didn't switch the cable out. Maybe the cable became defective but that's unlikely as I tried other data transferring cables.

I tried impulse RC but it just sits on the screen that says "Searching for OSD Device" and never finds my flight controller.

I'm not sure about connecting the switches. Could you link me something that tells me more about that so I can figure it out after I get Betaflight working again? Thanks!

I attached some pictures to show you what I'm talking about:

tevek · Sep 8, 2019

That’s kinda weird, most boards either work or they don’t. From memory betaflight 4.0 is the last version that will run f3 boards due to the later F4 boards and so on using later versions of betaflight due to their greater computing power.
As for setting up your Taranis, this is the go to video that many people use:

TrpMbl · Sep 8, 2019

Ya it's really a bummer but I think I need to order a new board entirely... The thread I linked above is the only one that had my particular problem (that I could find) and he just ended up buying a new board. Do you mean betaflight 10.4.0 or just 4.0.0? I'll look into where I can download that.

tevek · Sep 8, 2019

TrpMbl said:
Ya it's really a bummer but I think I need to order a new board entirely... The thread I linked above is the only one that had my particular problem (that I could find) and he just ended up buying a new board. Do you mean betaflight 10.4.0 or just 4.0.0? I'll look into where I can download that.

I’m running betaflight 4.0 configuration version 10.5.1.
The link is here:

Releases · betaflight/betaflight-configurator

Cross platform configuration tool for the Betaflight firmware - betaflight/betaflight-configurator

github.com

Homelesscpgamer · Sep 10, 2019

If you have a andriod phone or tablet I highly recommend that you download the speedybee betaflight configurator app from the playstore and see if your flight controller will connect to that because I've been able to connect f.c.'s to that app that I couldn't get to connect to betaflight on my computer anymore but previously could.
If you haven't heard of the speedybee app it's a betaflight configurator for mobile devices that pretty a close match the computer version and last I new it was free too. I havent used a computer sense I found this app. The only thing that you will need is Ethier an otg cable/connector witch basically makes your micro usb cord a double sided micro usb cord so you can hook your phone to you flight controller or you can add a bluetooth module to your f.c. unless you already have one on there and then you can connect via bluetooth although come to think of it you would need to configure the bluetooth module before use so adding it wouldn't work until you got your f.c. to connect.
I would also like to add that I've had issues connecting a f.c. that before hand would no problem when my frsky reciever was Ethier connected to it or when the controller was interacting with the receiver,I'm not sure which caused it but I just unplugged the receiver from the f.c. altogether and it then I would connect the usb and it all worked just fine then I would plug the receiver back in after connected to configure it and that worked fine aswell.

HighTechPauper · Sep 10, 2019

TrpMbl said:
Hi thanks for helping!

I think the board might have become defective by my mistreatment of it (although I was careful when putting in the mini-usb and taking it out) but my guess is as good as any since this is my first attempt at a DIY drone.

Like I was saying, it worked before and I didn't switch the cable out. Maybe the cable became defective but that's unlikely as I tried other data transferring cables.

I tried impulse RC but it just sits on the screen that says "Searching for OSD Device" and never finds my flight controller.

I'm not sure about connecting the switches. Could you link me something that tells me more about that so I can figure it out after I get Betaflight working again? Thanks!

I attached some pictures to show you what I'm talking about:

View attachment 3531

View attachment 3532

That is not the right program to gain access to the FC, you want ImpulseRC Driver Fixer. You want to get this.

TrpMbl · Sep 10, 2019

If you have a andriod phone or tablet I highly recommend that you download the speedybee betaflight configurator app from the playstore and see if your flight controller will connect to that because I've been able to connect f.c.'s to that app that I couldn't get to connect to betaflight on my computer anymore but previously could.
If you haven't heard of the speedybee app it's a betaflight configurator for mobile devices that pretty a close match the computer version and last I new it was free too. I havent used a computer sense I found this app. The only thing that you will need is Ethier an otg cable/connector witch basically makes your micro usb cord a double sided micro usb cord so you can hook your phone to you flight controller or you can add a bluetooth module to your f.c. unless you already have one on there and then you can connect via bluetooth although come to think of it you would need to configure the bluetooth module before use so adding it wouldn't work until you got your f.c. to connect.
I would also like to add that I've had issues connecting a f.c. that before hand would no problem when my frsky reciever was Ethier connected to it or when the controller was interacting with the receiver,I'm not sure which caused it but I just unplugged the receiver from the f.c. altogether and it then I would connect the usb and it all worked just fine then I would plug the receiver back in after connected to configure it and that worked fine aswell.

Hmmm ok I'll have to look into that. I'll let you know whether or not it worked after I try. Just need to find the USB connector for my phone.

That is not the right program to gain access to the FC, you want ImpulseRC Driver Fixer. You want to get this.

That one doesn't seem to want to find my FC either. It just sits on this page:

HighTechPauper · Sep 10, 2019

That's the correct program and it can be quite useful, I think you should try a reinstall of the CP210X and STM driver packages. I am assuming you have no other FC's to try and see if they are connecting?
It is possible the FC has a dead serial port.

TrpMbl · Sep 11, 2019

HighTechPauper said:
That's the correct program and it can be quite useful, I think you should try a reinstall of the CP210X and STM driver packages. I am assuming you have no other FC's to try and see if they are connecting?
It is possible the FC has a dead serial port.

Well I ordered a new FC and it gets here tomorrow. I can try that again if the new one doesn't work but I uninstalled and reinstalled those drivers multiple times now after following instructions on various videos that all said to do about the same thing.

HighTechPauper · Sep 11, 2019

TrpMbl said:
Well I ordered a new FC and it gets here tomorrow. I can try that again if the new one doesn't work but I uninstalled and reinstalled those drivers multiple times now after following instructions on various videos that all said to do about the same thing.

Please
Let us know how it goes, if you still have any trouble, ping me, I am pretty good at figuring out driver issues, with pc’s anyway.

TrpMbl · Sep 12, 2019

So to update you all. It looks like the flight controller somehow got busted. The new one connects fine, thanks for the help anyway everyone!

Wr4ptr · Sep 14, 2019

Just wanted to add a couple thoughts I had as I was reading through this for anyone following this thread whose FC might not be busted.

If your FC LEDs light up under USB but not when you connect the battery, your 5 volt regulator is dead (USB provides it's own 5 volts of power). I hear it's technically "fixable" but usually not worth the trouble.

I had a similar issue with an F4 FC that came with a new BetaFPV 75x: connected many times, no problem, then, poof, wouldn't connect. And in my case, it didn't even do the thing where it was recognized, but didn't connect. Tried all the suggestions here. Finally decided to force it into bootloader mode and reflash firmware. This worked. Here's how I did it: That FC didn't have a bootloader button, so I had to jumper the boot pads. If you've never done that, it sounds daunting, but it's easy. I just made the device in the pic and bridged the bootloader pads as I connected the FC to USB. FC connected and went directly into DFU and I was able flash and was up in flying a few minutes later.

HighTechPauper · Sep 18, 2019

Yup, Wr4ptr is correct, it never hurts to reflash the Betaflight, sometimes it is just a corrupted firmware.

RFA_FPV · Feb 9, 2020

Hi,
I have the same problem using an omnibus F4 v6 with inav, and it is strange because i also have insalled both inav and betaflight in another laptop and in this secondary laptop everything works just fine and i am able to connect, enter the gui and even flash the FC.

Jtrjr · Feb 9, 2020

RFA,

Your issue definitely sounds like a serial issue with the faulty laptop. Did you do the things outlined in this post? The Impulse RC Driver Fixer usually works pretty daing good. Make sure your FC is attached via (known good USB post and cable) before you start the app. If that doesn't get you going, I'd install the drivers listed in this thread.

Jerry

RFA_FPV · Feb 9, 2020

Hy Jerry,

I also think it is the laptop, when i go to connected devices in the thevice admin, recognizes the drone as an stm microelectronics VCP device. I think this happened when i updated windows, so maybe there is a setting i am not aware of or just that my drivers are corrupt, i will reinstall them again, and as you say, run the impulse RC Driver fixer (Which i thought was only for the bootloader drivers). I'll tell you what is the result when i try it.

Thanks!

Razor15000 · Jun 20, 2021

had the same original problem today. after watching below video i solved my problem.

P.S. my board was functioning normally because it was already working and configured before. and these problems only occur on my computer. after i tried it on my friends computer it worked flawlessly. its all has been a driver issue.

fishvid · Aug 9, 2021

If your drone won't connect to Betaflight, you will want to check your radio transmitter, your receiver tab, the battery, the mode you are in, and your controller. Any of these could be causing the issue, but the most common is the simple solution that you missed a step when setting up the device. vidmate save insta