Flashed the wrong firmware

[cto]

I accidently flashed the _ThrottleBox_v1_99_6.vkb firmware to my black box. Now I can only flash older ThrottleBox firmwares to the box, but not any of the _BlackBox_MK2_ firmwares. The error is: "device signature not correct". The box shows up as VKB Throttle Box in the windows device manager applet. Any way to flash the BlackBox firmware again?

[Drano]

There's a process to reset the black box. It involves opening it up. This is contained in the manual but this is how I remember it off the top of my head. Inside there are a pair of contacts (pins) on the circuit board. Look for a mark near them something like boot or reset. I honestly forget. Unlug the black box. Short those pins together with something like a small screwdriver. Keep them shorted and plug it back in. Now remove the screwdriver. When the black box boots up it'll be at its base firmware. You can now flash normally. Gotta pay close attention to which one you're flashing! So many are contained in the zip file. Easy mistake to make. Hope this helps.

[cto]

Tried that already. I have the MK2 version of the BlackBox. Disassembled the box, took out the logic board and found the "boot" inscription marks the button that is accessible from the outside . No pins to shorten there. Pressing the button while the ZBootloader software is running, gets the device recognized and ready to flash. But it immediatly fails.

Sadly the ZBootloader happily flashed the wrong firmware in the first place but refuses to write the correct one afterwards

[Drano]

Ahh, I'm no help then. I have a MkI box. It does have the pins and I've had to reset it once so I know it works on mine. I found the procedure in the FAQs. In case I missed something. Dunno if anything is different for a MKII other than from what you're saying there's a reset button in place of the pins?

https://vkbcontrollers.com/?faq=is-ther ... kb-devices

[cto]

Yep. The MK2 has a reset button. VKB forgot to update the instructions and manual.

[Drano]

Hard to believe the process would be any different tho. Did you try the steps in that link exactly? Sure you're not still flashing a wrong FW? Not trying to be smart but it's easy enough to mess up. I'd imagine on the MKII you're just substituting holding the reset button for shorting the pins. Best guess. I had to reset mine like that only once but in my case it was due to a power blip back in March. It caused it to continuously type the letter p! Everything was p! Had to unplug the BB to get it to stop. Started up as soon as I plugged it in. Only way around it was to do the blackbox reset as described there and reflash FW. Worked perfectly and hasn't been a problem since. I've flashed many FW since without issue. Hopefully someone that knows more about the MKII BB will chime in. Hope you get it sorted out.

[fallout9]

Disconnect the USB cable from the BB, run the VKBDevCfg, press and hold the button on the BB, re-connect the USB cable to BB; when new device shows up in Device List release the BB button. Try to re-flash this way.

[cto]

Same error. Doesn't solve the problem. I hoped VKB had a version of ZBootloader or a firmware that skips the check.

[fallout9]

Do the same and when the BootLoader window is open erase the name of the firmware file and instead write the word save. This will create a file, send it to me by e-mail or upload it somewhere and pm me the link.

[fallout9]

Check PM.

[cto]

Using a file I got from fallout9 I was able to flash the correct firmware to the BlackBox. Problem solved. Thank you all for helping me out. I promise to be more careful with the ZBootloader in the future.

[Drano]

Sweet!