Re: Odd EFIS problem
Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2022 9:17 am
anybody having the rebooting problem...
It's been difficult to get a system to do this here due to lack of information on circumstances.
Eventually I got some more detailed information from a customer with the problem, a video and a wiring diagram. Armed with this I could simulate the issue. However, this only happens with "lite" versions incorrectly configured or wired.
It is related to the iEFIS extender. It is enabled in the setup but is either not connected or connected incorrectly. In the above case the extender was connected to both panels in a master/slave connection (i.e. the extender was connected to both RX and TX lines on both panels). This cannot work and the result is that any TX from the extender is never seen by the EFIS.
The problem happens because the EFIS is trying to initialize the extenders serial ports - at the same time it configures the devices you have selected for the ports and sets initial states - this depends on the device you have selected in the serial port routing setup menu.
The setup of the ports does not get the expected acknowledgements and a few seconds later the EFIS will try again - this repeats endless. Everytime this happens device states are reset - this can cause undefined behavior. The exact effect is very dependent on circumstance and your systems individual configuration but one thing stands out - the GPS becomes intermittent and in severe cases the system crashes either immediately or after some time. In a case I could simulate here - the GPS status would show a red cross after all was OK and a second later the system would reboot.
As a result of this the system has been hardened to handle this case by gracefully shutting down the serial ports and any related drivers before re-initialization attempts. The updated code is here: www.mglavionics.co.za/Beta/EXP3.BIN
I make this available to the affected customer and another one but never received any feedback afterwards so please give this a try.
To recap - this fix affects "Lite" systems only - if you have a problem like this with a normal system that has an ibox if will (likely) not have an effect - but trying it will not hurt.
It's been difficult to get a system to do this here due to lack of information on circumstances.
Eventually I got some more detailed information from a customer with the problem, a video and a wiring diagram. Armed with this I could simulate the issue. However, this only happens with "lite" versions incorrectly configured or wired.
It is related to the iEFIS extender. It is enabled in the setup but is either not connected or connected incorrectly. In the above case the extender was connected to both panels in a master/slave connection (i.e. the extender was connected to both RX and TX lines on both panels). This cannot work and the result is that any TX from the extender is never seen by the EFIS.
The problem happens because the EFIS is trying to initialize the extenders serial ports - at the same time it configures the devices you have selected for the ports and sets initial states - this depends on the device you have selected in the serial port routing setup menu.
The setup of the ports does not get the expected acknowledgements and a few seconds later the EFIS will try again - this repeats endless. Everytime this happens device states are reset - this can cause undefined behavior. The exact effect is very dependent on circumstance and your systems individual configuration but one thing stands out - the GPS becomes intermittent and in severe cases the system crashes either immediately or after some time. In a case I could simulate here - the GPS status would show a red cross after all was OK and a second later the system would reboot.
As a result of this the system has been hardened to handle this case by gracefully shutting down the serial ports and any related drivers before re-initialization attempts. The updated code is here: www.mglavionics.co.za/Beta/EXP3.BIN
I make this available to the affected customer and another one but never received any feedback afterwards so please give this a try.
To recap - this fix affects "Lite" systems only - if you have a problem like this with a normal system that has an ibox if will (likely) not have an effect - but trying it will not hurt.