I have a number of Emlid Reaches I’m aiming to use in fieldwork next month (firmware image v2.3, ReachView 2.5.3-r0). However, as I’ve been getting to grips with using them, errors appear to occur fairly regularly that terminate the startup process and mean I cannot communicate with the units via ReachView. Whether starting up in range of wi-fi or not, these variously appear as:
Getting stuck during network scanning (i.e. yellow light flashing indefinitely).
Flashing magenta/green indefinitely, with a created hotspot that is visible but ReachView is inaccessible.
Cycling through normal startup LED pattern, and displaying a green light, but without any time synch period (i.e. no green/magenta or blue/magenta cycling) and not appearing on the wi-fi network or creating a hotspot.
Once an error happens once, it happens continuously, so the only way I’ve found to fix the problem is to reflash the unit, which of course then requires going the set-up process and connecting to wi-fi. This is fine for use in a testing environment, but once we are in the field we will be without access to any wi-fi/internet for a month straight, and so if one of these errors occurs I will be unable to go through the startup process on the reflashed units. Is there a way to get the units from initial flashing through to full working setup, without access to any wi-fi or internet connection?
(Of course, I’m interested in solving the individual problems as well, but in case any new ones appear I’d rather be safe in the knowledge we can start afresh in the field…)
Hi Bide, thanks for this. Hopefully Emlid might be able to pull through here. Failing that, out of interest what is your solution with the older version of ReachView?
In a nutshell, you create your own software repository based on the packages that Reach needs after being reflashed with the latest image. Save the software packages on your computer. Then you can transfer them to Reach after you flash in the field. That way you can run the latest software without needing an internet connection.
If you attempt to perform first setup in a Wi-Fi network without internet connection the update process will fail and show you an option to skip. That should work for you in the field. Wi-Fi hotspot can be created on a smartphone or a laptop.
We are also looking forward to find the cause of the individual issue that you have mentioned. When you have a unit stuck in one of the conditions mentioned above we can try to debug it.
Hi both, thanks a lot for the help. It sounds like the easiest option here is to set up an ‘empty’ wi-fi network in the field, so I’ll carry on exploring that option.
Igor: the unit that appears to get stuck during network flashing is still doing it consistently. I can confirm it was previously working before and have downloaded data from it. I can’t give you any other information to help replicate it however, as I am unable to connect to it. The indefinite magenta/green flashing was simply me forgetting to insert the antenna for time sync to occur (my bad!). I have reflashed all the units that displayed the final issue and am unsure how to replicate, but will report back if it happens again. Thanks a lot for your help.
