Updating the Firmware - nexdome/ASCOM GitHub Wiki

The ASCOM driver contains a firmware update utility within the Setup Dialog. To update firmware, there must be no clients currently online (these would lock the serial port and cause the update to fail).

After clicking the Update Firmware button, you'll see the firmware update utility, which looks like this:

In the top section, there are two drop-down selection boxes which list available firmware images and valid COM ports, respectively. Only COM ports that have NexDome hardware attached will be shown. If your COM ports don't show up, please see the Troubleshooting section below.

The lower section of the window shows log output from the Arduino firmware uploader.

We recommend that you only attach one of your NexDome devices (Rotator or Shutter) at a time, so that it is clear which COM port you need to use for which firmware image.

Note that firmware update requires a direct USB connection to the device. Updates cannot "pass through" the rotator to the shutter, you must attach a USB cable to each device in turn and update them separately. It is strongly recommended that you plug the USB cable directly into your computer and not via any hubs or extenders.

The Rotator firmware contains the word Rotator and the shutter firmware contains the word Shutter - hopefully that is clear enough. Other special-purpose firmware images may be present, but those are for advanced troubleshooting and shouldn't normally be uploaded.

Select the firmware image you wish to upload and the COM port where the appropriate device is attached, then click the Update button. You may hear some sounds as USB devices disconnect and reconnect and you may also see mention of a different COM port in the output window. This is a normal, if confusing, part of the Arduino firmware update sequence. If the windows store Arduino App has been being used rather than the official Arduino IDE program is is entirely possible that the names associated with the COM ports for both rotator and shutter will be missing "Arduino" from the names in device manager. If this is the case the procesdures below to properly update the drivers must be followed.

After a short time, you should see the message Firmware update SUCCESSFUL prominently displayed inthe log output window. If you do not see this message, then the update hasn't worked.

Troubleshooting

Problem: No COM ports are shown

Solution: The firmware update utility only shows COM ports where it can detect NexDome hardware, and this requires that the correct serial port drivers are installed. If you do not see any ports and you know that the NexDome hardware is connected via a USB cable, then you may need to update your serial drivers so that they use the official Arduino drivers.

To determine whether you need to update, check in the Windows Device Manager whether your ports are listed as Arduino Leonardo (COMx) (where 'x' is a number).

If not, then you need to update your drivers. Follow this procedure.

1. Visit the Arduino software download page and download the Windows ZIP file for non admin install package. Save this download in a convenient location.
2. Unzip the downloaded archive by right-clicking it in Windows Explorer, and selecting Extract All.
3. You do not need to install the Arduino IDE. We are only interested in the Drivers folder, where you will find the serial driver installer:
   
4. Run one of the above installers depending on whether you have a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) computer. You must accept the security challenges and allow the device drivers to be installed.
5. Check again in Windows Device Manager. Your COM ports should now appear correctly.
   
   These ports should now show up in the firmware update utility the next time it is opened.