XBP24-ZB Bricked after firmware upgrade from AT to API

XBee & XBee Gateway XBee Programamble (S2C & 900 HP)
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Hi,

I have 3 XBEE pro series 2 modules (XBP24-ZB) each connected to an arduino shield and an arduino. I had no problems communicating 1-to-1 using transparent mode but cannot switch the firmware to API.

  1. The first XBEE (used to be co-ordinator) appears to have bricked. XCTU won’t load it, at all. Tried all the methods on this forum and other websites including bridging RST+GND, but nothing seems to work. I get error messages that

  2. The second XBEE (one of the routers) loads perfectly well but as soon as I try to access firmware I get:

<< ERROR READING AT PARAMETERS, CONNECTION TIMED OUT >>

I try to perform the firmware change to API, but I don’t get anything. At least this still loads with the old parameters.

Besides being incredibly pissed at ruining one expensive XBEE, when I followed everything to the letter and will have to pay for a new one, I still can’ understand what is going on, and moreover I need this finished as soon as possible, and I can’t seem to switch AT to API.

My questions:

  1. Is there any other way to try and recover the module besides XCTU’s recovery which is completely useless?
  2. How can I ultimately successfully switch from AT to API? Did anyone else encounter my problems?

Thanks and regards,

William.

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William, interface board should have hardware flow control lines available for successful firmware upgrade.

As this is not the case with Arduino boards, first optimize USB setting of system;
http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbaseresultdetl?id=3418

then recover modules using old XCTU 5.2.8.6 and recovery guide:

http://www.digi.com/support/productdetail?pid=3352&amp;type=utilities

http://www.digi.com/support/kbase/kbaseresultdetl?id=3402

1 Like
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Thank you so much for your help. Sorry it took me some time to reply but I ordered an XBEE explorer before I tried what you suggested.

In short this is what I did, based on your answer:

  1. Bought an XBEE explorer (for hardware control lines)
  2. Installed XCTU on my old Windows computer (was using MAC when firmware upgrade failed)
  3. Installed Driver & checked settings in device manager.
  4. There was no need to even recover, just installed Router & Coordinator API on XBEES and all worked properly.

Thank you!