Sometimes the system settings on a Garcia robot can get corrupted.  This may occur if the robot receives erroneous commands that alter its system parameters or if the battery power gets too low.  If the system settings get corrupted, it may no longer be possible to communicate with the module through the serial link.  To regain control of the robot, a user may try the Recover feature in the GarciaTool application.  If the recovery procedure fails, it may be necessary to perform a hardware reset on both processors.

Reset Procedure

Resetting the robot requires a jumper wire with a 1-10K resistor.  The process requires connecting the jumper to some widely spaced pins in the board and sending some commands via the Console.  It is necessary to reset the GP 2.0 processor first then reset the Moto 1.0 processor.  Here are the steps for resetting the robot:

1.  Turn off power to the robot.

2.  Disconnect the serial link.  If the robot has a modem module, remove the H-Bridge board located above the modem module.  Then remove the modem module.

3.  Connect the jumper between the SRX pin on the "GP Serial" connector and an available SDA pin located on one of the two "I2C BUS" connectors.

4.  Reapply power.  The green LED on the right side of the head will blink rapidly for a moment, turn off briefly, then continue to blink rapidly.  This indicates a successful hardware reset of the GP board.

5.  Turn off power to the robot and remove the jumper.

6.  Connect the jumper between the SRX pin on the "Moto Serial" connector and an available SDA pin located on one of the two "I2C BUS" connectors.

7.  Reapply power.  The green LED on the left side of the head will blink rapidly for a moment, turn off briefly, then continue to blink rapidly.  This indicates a successful hardware reset of the Moto 1.0 board.

8.  Turn off power to the robot and remove the jumper.

9.  The GP 2.0 will have a baud rate of 9600.  Configure the Console program for 9600 baud, connect your computer's serial cable to the "GP Serial" connection with an appropriate connector, and turn on the robot again.

10.  Restore the link and baud rate settings for both modules with the following commands:

2 18 4 4
2 19
4 18 1 2
4 19

11.  Turn off the robot.  Configure the Console program for 38400 baud.  Replace the modem module and h-bridge if necessary.  Close and reopen the Console program to enable the new baud rate.  Turn the robot on again and you should see normal messages and heartbeat indicators.

Effect on Stored Programs

This reset procedure will not alter any stored TEA programs or reflexes, but it will wipe out Garcia's normal system settings and PID motion control settings.  It is possible that the condition which corrupted the system settings could have also corrupted some TEA programs or reflexes.  Perform a BrainDump to be sure that the Garcia has the correct files, reflexes, and motion control settings.

Troubleshooting

If the reset process failed for one of the modules, you may need to change the I2C address for the other module then try again to reset the module which could not be reset.  Since the SDA line is shared by both processors, it is possible that one processor could interfere with the physical reset signal of the other processor.

If the Moto 1.0 processor won't reset, change the I2C address of the GP 2.0 processor with the following commands:

2 18 1 254
2 18 0 254
254 19

Then try to reset the Moto 1.0 processor again. (See steps 6-8 listed above).  If the processor resets, change the I2C address of the GP 2.0 processor back to its normal value:

254 18 1 2
254 18 0 2
2 19

Then perform steps 9-11 listed above.