Flash Firmware

[zirschkyd]

I can't seem to flash the firmware on my NXT. I get the message "No response from the Back End." Is there something I else I should do or know?
Thank you for your response.

[clintonb]

I can't seem to flash the firmware on my NXT. I get the message "No response from the Back End." Is there something I else I should do or know?
Thank you for your response.

Hi zirschkyd.

There are two parts to Enchanting; the Front End ('FE' for short), which provides the graphical user interface, and the Back End, which interfaces with the robot.

If you get a message saying, "No response from the Back End" it means one of two things:

• You have started EnchantingFE instead of Enchanting.
• Your computer's firewall is blocking communication between the Front End and Back End.

If your problem is the first one, quit out of Enchanting and restart it without using a shortcut -- by running Enchanting from the Start Menu (on Windows) or from the Finder (on a Mac). If this resolves your problem, then you have a bad shortcut. Unfortunately, when you start Enchanting properly, the application launches, the Back End starts the Front End, and the launcher application disappears. If you then 'pin' Enchanting to your menu or add it to your Dock, and run it from that, you only get the Front End application, which has no way to talk to the robot by itself. [I swear I added a message to pop up after a minute to alert users of this, but perhaps it doesn't come up.]

As for the second problem, the Front End and Back End communicate using a network socket. The first time you run it under Windows, you are asked if you want to allow it to communicate (and it could potentially communicate with strange sites on the internet -- the message box has no idea what its intentions are). You need to allow it for Enchanting to work. (If you disallow it, it won't work, and there must be a place you can go in an adjust your firewall settings to allow it again.)

One last thing -- which will help other people who have trouble flashing the firmware, but isn't the step you need to take for your symptoms -- Enchanting comes with a utility program called 'Flash Firmware' that flashes the firmware (actually using a leJOS utility called nxjflashg). This utility works better than Enchanting's built-in firmware flashing tool, because it can identify an NXT that is already in firmware update mode, and Enchanting can not, at least at present. You'd only need to use it if Enchanting isn't detecting your NXT and you know it is plugged in right and turned on.

[AnK]

Re: 'Flash Firmware' - make also sure you run this as administrator (right click on file to get the option)

I have flashed the firmware but still can't RUN or UPLOAD code to the NXT block (the command icons in Enchanting are not enabled)

AND THEN I DID ALSO RUN ENCHANTING AS ADMINISTRATOR AND IT WORKED

[clintonb]

Re: 'Flash Firmware' - make also sure you run this as administrator (right click on file to get the option)

I have flashed the firmware but still can't RUN or UPLOAD code to the NXT block (the command icons in Enchanting are not enabled)

AND THEN I DID ALSO RUN ENCHANTING AS ADMINISTRATOR AND IT WORKED

Really? Which operating system are you using? I didn't realize that some OSes are requiring admin rights to run Enchanting properly.