Help ! mBot does not work anymore

#1

Hi everyone,

my son got an mBlock recently. He’s been using it until last Wednesday without any problem. But on Thursday it did not work anymore. When powering it up, the LED “PWR” lights up, the bluetooth module blinks as usual, we can even connect through bluetooth on MakeBlock. But when executing any program (involving motors, LED, etc…) it has absolutely no effect (unlike the day before when it was working of course)…

Could anybody help us ?

Thanks !

#2

FYI, mBlock is the Scratch-based programming environment. The robot kits are the mBot STEM, Starter Kit, mBot Ranger, and the Ultimate Robotics Kit. You will need to select the correct board in the Boards menu to match your robot kit. It sounds like the board may have been changed but without seeing your program (a screenshot would be great in this regard), it’s difficult to see what might be going on. :slight_smile:

#3

Hmm, likely it is because the firmware is not there in the robot. Try connect the robot to the computer with a USB cable, open (and download/install if you do not have it) mBlock 3.4.11, in the menu:

  1. ensure Boards > mBot (or other robots you bought) is selected;
  2. Connect > Serial Port > (select a serial port that will make your robot beep)
  3. Connect > Upgrade Firmware.

The reason for this is that the mBots use an Arduino chip, whose firmware that communicates with Bluetooth will be erased if you upload your own program. So “Upgrading Firmware” is needed before you use the Bluetooth controlling function again.

Please write if you have any further issues.

#4

Many thanks bigeyex ! It was indeed due to the problem you mentionned.

#5

Thank you chuckmcknight ! bigeyex actually gave me the solution. And thank you for clarifying the name of the different components (HW and SW). We are still newbies… :wink:

#6

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