Avatar IV (QiDi Tech)

Shamez · 2015-11-23T02:28:16.000Z

Hey Adam I managed to get version 7.5 firmware uploaded by using board version replicator 2x. Let me know if that works for you as well. Thank you Shamez

MaceyTech3D · 2015-11-23T02:50:32.000Z

Shamez,

I just tried doing 7.5 again (several times), but it always fails for me. Do you remember all the steps and settings you used? I really want to get past 7.1. At least the good news is that I now know it is definitely possible if you were able to do it!

Adam

Shamez · 2015-11-23T03:37:46.000Z

Adam The only different thing I did was use replicator G saltfish version. I tried several times and found clicking the upload button 2 sec before the reset button worked. Another thing I noticed, my printer was on version 7.2 to begin with. Maybe an update to 7.2 prior to 7.5 will do the trick. Let me know if I can help with anything Shamez

MaceyTech3D · 2015-11-23T17:23:40.000Z

Using Makerbot Desktop, I was able to step through their firmware from 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 in order. But I still can’t get it to accept Sailfish 7.5. Are you absolutely sure you have Sailfish 7.5 and not just the Makerbot 7.5? If you go into the version info on your LCD screen, does it say Replicator or Sailfish?

Adam

Shamez · 2015-11-24T02:11:05.000Z

Ah! I’m sorry, you might be right. It just says firmware 7.5 does not say sailfish

MaceyTech3D · 2015-11-24T04:15:28.000Z

That’s too bad, but at least it means I’m not going crazy!

I’m not sure of the differences between the proper Sailfish 7.1 and the Makerbot 7.5 (or which one is better), but there has to be a way to get the later Sailfish versions on this bot. I’m not giving up on it…

Shamez · 2015-11-24T05:21:03.000Z

Same here I will keep at it and if I make any progress I will let you know

Dresch · 2015-12-05T20:27:18.000Z

Hi, Thanks for the info. I have a QiDi Tech 1 metalframe and I was also able to upgrade to SF 7.1 using your settings but now it seems my SD card will no longer work. Have you run into this? (I see that QiDi has come out with a new version printer that comes with SF 7.8, on their eBay store).

Thanks,

Bill

MaceyTech3D · 2015-12-05T20:40:40.000Z

Hi Bill,

Yes, the SD card will not work after upgrading to SF 7.1, unless you reformat it to regular FAT (not FAT-32). I think it also has to be 2GB or less. This will get it working for you again, although it also limits you to a 30 character file name.

That’s interesting about the new ones coming with SF 7.8. And unless they also upgraded to a board with the Atmega 2560, then there’s a good chance it’s exactly the same as ours. Not to mention that the linked You Tube video works on a CTC that also has the exact same board as ours, so I’m sure we should be able to do it as well. Just need to get the right procedure nailed down, as well as the timing. If you’re willing to keep trying and update us with any progress, then at least there is 3 of us working on it!

Adam

Dresch · 2015-12-05T20:47:27.000Z

Adam,

Many thanks, I will give that a try. I know the card is FAT-32. I will scrounge up an old one and try again.

The ebay ad does say the controller is now a Atmega 2560. I am planning on trying to get some information out of the QiDi Tech company… I know, good luck. If I get any info I will certainly post it.

Bill

MaceyTech3D · 2015-12-28T20:30:57.000Z

Has anyone made any progress on getting the firmware past Sailfish 7.1? I’m curious to see what this machine can do with the latest improvements, especially in terms of speed. I feel limited to 40mm/s at the moment. Anything faster than that, and the machine has difficulty maintaining the quality of the print.

Shamez · 2015-12-29T03:32:45.000Z

I’ve had no luck. I made several attempts.

Dresch · 2016-01-03T17:47:32.000Z

Hi Adam,

Are there any instructions on reloading the original firmware? I don’t even know the version (Creator 1?).

The board itself looks pretty much like a MightyBoard Rev E with the Atmega1280 and mega8u…

This website appears to to provide the original firmware but does not reload it thru the boot loader but via the ISP port:

http://www.unclechucks3dprinterstuff.com/firmware%20restore.htm

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks,

Bill

MaceyTech3D · 2016-01-03T18:08:30.000Z

Hi Bill,

Is there a particular reason that you want to go back to the original FW? I’ve seen that website you mentioned before as well (back when I thought I had bricked my printer), but it seems to be easy to always get it back to either the MakerBot FW or SailFish 7.1, both of which seem better than the original.

So in short, no, I don’t know of an easy way to go back to original. But I wouldn’t recommend it anyway - SF 7.1 seems to be the best for it so far. Although I still want to get to the higher versions…

Adam

Dresch · 2016-01-03T18:54:34.000Z

I would certainly like the option of loading the original firmware. QiDi Tech has emailed that they do not support SF for this printer, so if I ever have to return the controller board, this might become an issue.

My complaints are minor. The front panel is a bit twitchy with SF 7.1, something I did not notice with the original software. Sometimes it responds OK, other times I need the press the buttons a number of times for a response. I also would like to use any available SD card I have. I have not seen the stunning improvement in print quality that people are showing but again, any number of factors may be at play there. It does, generally, seem to print better.

I have done a lot of programming with atmel and arduino products, including instrumentation development, and I find it really weird to be able to load only one version of this software. Is QiDi using a slightly larger bootloader, or some weird setting of flags in the Atmega1280 that is preventing loading later versions? I mean a 1280 is a 1280 and the amount of of Flash, EPROM and RAM should always be the same.

Again, I would like the option of going back (this is not a dig at SF at all) to whatever level of Creator was on the original equipment and if anyone can show me that, I would appreciate it. Thanks, Bill

Dresch · 2016-01-03T19:59:33.000Z

Thinking about it, maybe the fuse bits are the problem. If QiDi did not set the fuse bits to the standard configuration used by the other manufacturers, then perhaps there are protected memory areas that are kept from being written to by the later versions of the software. The standard Atmega Arduino bootloader is 1K:

androm12.blogspot.com

Burn Arduino Bootloader into an fresh ATmega2560

Arduino, easy to use, easy to learn and whats the best part? Its open source. Anyone can modify it in whatever way they want. So why not m...

If QiDi set the fuse bits to something other than 1K bytes for bootloader and SailFish 7.x (x > 1) needs some of that Flash memory, then the newer SF versions will not load and checksum correctly…

eleccelerator.com

AVR Fuse Calculator for ATmega1280

A javascript web-based Atmel AVR microcontroller fuse calculator tool. Apply chip features to see fuse bit settings or apply fuse bit settings to match against known features.

What we need is the fuse bit settings for the QiDi and then the fuse bits settings for the CTC. A simple ISP change to the fuse bits is all that maybe needed to upgrade to SailFish 7.x (x >= 2). Let me do a little poking around.

MaceyTech3D · 2016-01-03T20:55:48.000Z

That’s a very good theory. Let us know how you make out. I am very eager to get past 7.1 (as I keep mentioning). And let me know if you need me to do any testing once you get things sorted out.

Dresch · 2016-01-04T02:30:39.000Z

It worked! I have an old STK500 Atmel programmer and I hooked it up to the ISP-1280 port of the QiDi MightyBoard.

The fuses read: 0xFF, 0xD8, 0xF5. I reprogrammed them to be: 0xFF, 0xDA, 0xF4. I ran ReplicatorG, did the normal selections you specified but tried SF 7.6 and it programmed fine. I have not tested beyond that, but I will explain the fuse choices in another post. Trust me they make more sense than what QiDi had left in there.

Bill

SF7_6.jpg1175×567 145 KB

MaceyTech3D · 2016-01-04T03:23:09.000Z

Amazing! That news just made my night. Although I was kinda hoping it would be a fix through the USB port. So your programmer is similar to the one mentioned in that website? I may have an old AVR programmer from years ago - any chance that might work? You’ll have to explain the reprogramming part in more detail…

Dresch · 2016-01-05T02:27:10.000Z

Here is a quick write up on how I reprogrammed the fuse bits on the Atmega1280 of the QiDi controller board. I will post more info as time permits. SF 7.6 seems to be working OK. I can use my 4Gb SD card again. I did do some printing and things worked as expected. Works very much like the FlashForge Creator Pro, including the same PITA things.
Setting Up the QiDi Tech 1 for SailFish 7.pdf (1.42 MB)