ZWO ASI Air Plus Backup

rbrtdod

I just purchased an ASI Air Plus. In looking back at recommendations for the ASI Air Pro, there was a procedure for making a backup image of the SD card. The Plus has done away with the SD card OS and the OS now resides on an internal memory. Is there any equivalent procedure for making a backup for the Plus prior to first use? What happens if the internal memory becomes corrupted? Is there any means of recovery or is that going to be a "send it back to the factory" type thing?

w7ay

rbrtdod Is there any equivalent procedure for making a backup for the Plus prior to first use?

Not as far as I know.

What happens if the internal memory becomes corrupted?

You are SOL, unfortunately. I have not seen any published documentation on how to recover from a corrupted eMMC memory.

Generally, the failures that are caused by bad microSD cards are attributable to two things. (1) not doing a soft shutdown before removing power from the ASIAIR, and (2) constantly removing and reinserting a microSD card. The second is solved by using the Samba server instead of constantly removing the microSD card. So, both cases are really kind of "user errors" that are caused by lack of warnings in ZWO's documentation.

Thus the eMMC memory in third and fourth generation ASIAIR are much safer (you can't remove the eMMC storage in the first place), especially if you use a separate USB storage for images (and logs) -- that way, there won't be opened files in eMMC when you power ASIAIR off without a soft shutdown. I use a bus powered Samsung T5 SSD as my ASIAIR image storage.

There was one posting on this forum about not being able to recover from eMMC -- but I didn't read of any outcome -- perhaps the unit was returned or thrashed.

Even with the eMMC would still want to do a soft shutdown every time before powering the ASIAIR off.

Chen

Renefonteijn

w7ay I think the nice thing of having an actual image file available, would be for the units that are out of warranty and the RPi gives up (as in my case).
I would be able to fix it relative cheap by just replacing the RPi module and load their image.

Sadly till today no sight of having an image file for the 3rd gen AA+

Rene

rbrtdod

Thanks Chen,
I realize there are no removable parts and thought maybe the eMMC could be accessed using the USB connection to the AAP, not that it might be of any benefit if the eMMC is trashed.
The soft shutdown is something many YouTube ASI Air videos fail to include, so glad you mentioned that. I always use soft shutdown when available (unless I just happen to forget and pull the power).
Guess we'll just have to see how the internal eMMC approach plays out since it's still a form of flash memory with its write cycle limitations. Just hope we don't see failures with an internal component which can't be replaced as easily as an SD card.

Bonzer2u

This is the procedure to recover your AA+ OS from within the asiair app.

The ASIAIR Plus Os resides on the eMMC internal flash card and has diagnostic / self-healing capabilities. Should these fail, a reset Firmware function is available from the "i" About menu, this will restore FW to factory version.
Should you feel the need to do so, before reconnecting to ASIAIR PLUS, unisntall the ASIAIR App from your device, and proceed with a clean install of the last version.
Upon connection and FW upgrade, you may be required to re-activate your ASIAIR PLUS.

However there is NO documented procedure if you are UNABLE to connect to your AA+ with the asiair app.

The reset button has absolutely nothing to do with an OS restore, it only resets wifi parameters (hold button down for +5 sec) if you are NOT running in station mode, aka its currently broken.........

I asked this exact question 5 days ago and still no answer from zwo.

w7ay

Bonzer2u The reset button has absolutely nothing to do with an OS restore, it only resets wifi parameters (hold button down for +5 sec) if you are NOT running in station mode, aka its currently broken.........

1) soft shutdown the ASIAIR if it is on

2) turn power off on ASIAIR device (power switch)

3) while depressing and holding down the black reset button, turn the ASIAIR device on. Keep the reset button depressed for over 5 seconds.

4) release the Reset button, and power ASIAIR off.

5) power ASIAIR device back on, and connect to ASIAIR app.

6) when the ASIAIR app is connected to the ASIAIR device (still on the latest firmware), you will be asked to Reset Firmware. It will display this window, which is similar to firmware update window, but it says "Reset Firmware."

Tap on green Start button and ASIAIR copies the firmware from the eMMC (the green bus activity LED in the ASIAIR device is lit for a couple of seconds when copying), and you should see this when it is done:

Tap on the green Next button, and you will be now asked to update the firmware to the one in the current ASIAIR app. Notice that the firmware had been reset to v8.33. It did not just reset the WiFi.

From this point on, tap on Update Now just like usual firmware updating. I.e., reduced to previously solved problem.

I did this just now to get the screenshots, on a third generation "ASIAIR Plus" (Raspberry Pi CM4 based). I have not tried it on a fourth generation "ASIAIR Plus" (Rockchip based); I assume the behavior is identical.

Chen

Bonzer2u

w7ay

FYI, this procedure does not work with the new rockchip based AA+
I've just tried those steps but nothing happens. As long as the device is started with the reset button pressed, the SYS led keeps blinking like it's doing something but AA+ doesn't appear to be started and there is no wifi AP detected.
A switch power down and normal startup restores the unit to previous settings/operation.
Were you in AP mode when you executed the procedure and does your procedure work the same if your AA+ is initially in station mode?

Bonzer2u

Thanks , I will certainly give this a try on my rockpi...
Did you have to re register your device??
Curious, where did you stumble onto this procedure????

w7ay

Bonzer2u Did you have to re register your device??

No. But this was on a third generation ASIAIR.

In any case, you should be able to use the same QR code that you downloaded for your 4th gen ASIAIR.

Curious, where did you stumble onto this procedure????

I simply followed the instructions on "holding down reset button for 5 seconds when booting the ASIAIR" by the letter. It has been posted on this forum a number of times.

I added steps 4 and 5 because I didn't notice the device rebooting after I released the reset button.

(Engineers (at least my generation of engineers) are trained to follow processes very precisely -- otherwise bad things happen :-).

Chen

Bonzer2u

So steps 4 and 5 were never posted previously anywhere before your post above? Which I do appreciate.
Then suggest engineers of your gen follow processes precisely but only give you 3 steps out of 5 to complete a process and are left to figure out the last 2 for yourself?
That makes absolutely no sense… I worked in the Boeing avionics engineering lab for 13 years and if I pulled such a foolish stunt, I woulda been shown the door in 13 seconds….
Your absolutely right about one thing, very bad things can happen at 35,000 ft altitude traveling 500 mph.

w7ay

Bonzer2u So steps 4 and 5 were never posted previously anywhere before your post above?

No, I said exactly what I said. I used those two steps because I did not notice a reboot. For what I know, it does not require that reboot for the ASIAIR app to connect.

Chen

w7ay

Bonzer2u Were you in AP mode when you executed the procedure and does your procedure work the same if your AA+ is initially in station mode?

I avoid WiFi with ZWO devices. I directly connected through Ethernet.

But it should not matter, as long as you have communications with the ASIAIR. If WiFi is reset by the process, you would need to access the ASIAIR through its hotspot, since station mode parameters could be bye-bye.

Chen

Bonzer2u

w7ay
Agreed and have to assume its either a bug with the current firmware, zwo dropped this function with the rockpi or there is a different reset switch/usb-c activation sequence for the rockpi hardware?

w7ay

Bonzer2u is a different reset switch/usb-c activation sequence for the rockpi hardware?

I just took a look at my fourth generation "ASIAIR Plus."

There is "Reset Firmware" menu item in the ASIAIR app's About panel. When I enter that Menu, I see the familiar "Reset Firmware" window.

Tap on Start and the progress wheel starts, and when it is done, I see this (remember I am on Ethernet, so ASIAIR app had no problem reconnecting after the firmware was updated. YMMV if you are using WiFi station mode):

Again, since the ASIAIR app requires firmware 10.46, when I tapped on the previous window's Next button, I get the familiar firmware update alert.

This "reduces us to the previously solved problem" (actually, it has been reduced to the process I described earlier, even after the first screenshot above):

Chen