Fallen at the first hurdle - tiny / empty log files

[hogster]

Hi all,

Just got my AQ board and having exchanged the RECOMs (for higher voltage versions) and attached the header pins, I put it in the freezer for an hour, then let it warm up over 90 minutes. Red LED was solid, Green LED was flashing every time I checked it. Resulting log file? 0kB

I've just formatted the card and tried 5 minutes of logging ... resulting log file was about 3.1MB ... should have been at least 20MB from the average '4MB/min' statistic I've read in the Wiki. Should the default logging rate produce this approximate data rate?

Any ideas what to look for? I've bent that little pin down in the micro SD card slot, but other than that I don't know what to try next ... Didn't think I would be having problems this early on!

Many thanks for your help,

David

PS. Using a Samsung 8GB Class 10 Micro SD card.

[kinderkram]

Hi David,
try another SD card. The ones you use were reported as suitable ... but you never know.

Can you open the file from the dry log?

[hogster]

Hi Norbert,

Oh, I only have the one card

I could open the log files that were > 0kB. Seemed to be correctly telling me the temperature as rising from 25°C to about 28°C after 5-6 minutes.

I've just frozen the board again and will try another 60 minute warm-up cycle and see if that's any better.

Should I be seeing a guaranteed 4MB/minute data rate on these files?

Many thanks for your prompt response,

David

[kinderkram]

Yah, as a rule of thumb it´s 4MB/min.

Depending on where you bought the SD it could also be a "relabled" piece of crap, sold as genuine brand.
Using it in a smartfone or camera wouldn´t reveale that fact - but when writing big chunks at high speed in a frozen board might they fail...

[hogster]

Hi Norbert,

Hmm fair points. I got it from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C ... =computers

and it looks as genuine as any card I've seen ...

If I still have no joy I guess I'll have to buy another one. Would you recommend getting a different brand card from elsewhere?

Also, how should the card be formatted? I think it was shown as MSDOS FAT32?

Many thanks for your quick support,

David

PS. Are there programs that allow the speed and performance of a memory card to be tested to gauge its true performance?

... ah just found this one, will give it a go after the next temperature cycle:

http://www.flagsoft.com/cmswp/products/ ... peed-test/

[hogster]

No luck I'm afraid Screenshot of contents of SD card after 1 hour log. 001 and 002 were ~5 minute log files I did earlier. 003 was the 1 hour log file. Red LED was solid the whole time, green LED was flashing whenever I checked it (several times during the hour).

sdspeed application reports a continuous 20.59MB/second write speed, and 35.40MB/sec read speed for my card ....

Any thoughts chaps? Reflash the firmware?

Many thanks,

David

[kinderkram]

I use h2testw: http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html

[hogster]

By the way, should the blue GPS and Yellow DEBUG LEDs be flickering ever so slightly whilst the log file is being created?

Thanks, David

[JussiH]

The logs above points to a failing uSD card. The LED flicker is normal.

I found Transcend 4GB class 10 to be the most reliable card. In about 20 I have gone through for AQ´s only 1 have failed, producing similar files to what you have shown.

[hogster]

Hi Jussi,

Thanks for your reply

That's disappointing, I'd only just taken it out of the packet!

I've also noticed that if I go into the 'MAVLink Data Plot' section of the GCS, the plotted values (like acc or gyro) really don't match up with what I'm doing with the board ... is this normal until the static calibration has been completed? Or have I received a lemon?

Thanks, David