RAK3172 randomly freeze

Hello,

We are using RAK3172 on a custom prototype board, and we are powering it steadily with 3.3VDC. It uses 1.0.2 firmware version and we are using UART2 9600 for comms. Below is the schematic of the board, notice that there is a RC filter on RST pin as suggested in datasheet, in order to keep RST on high (1) level

We have encountered the following problem : After some days of continuous (normal) function , RAK3172 module randomly gets unresponsive in AT commands. After inspection we found that when it reached the “freezed” state, UART2_TX and RST pin were driven at low (0) level by the module itself. It only recovers if we power-cycle the module or momentarily short the RST to 3.3. We have noticed the same problem on several RAK3172 modules.

Do you have any suggestions? Is this a SW or a HW issue ?

Thank you in advance

Welcome back to the forum @ptr321
The firmware version you are using is outdated. The last firmware version is V1.0.4, maybe you can try to update the firmware first. You can download it from our Download Center, but I need to inform you that the code base of this firmware is no longer maintained or updated.

We changed the firmware this year to our RUI3 code base. RUI3 ==> RAKwireless Unified Interface V3 (RUI3) | RAKwireless Documentation Center
RUI3 AT commands are 90% compatible, you can find a comparison in our Migration Guide

RUI3 is build on a different code base and we continue to maintain and improve it.

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Thank you @beegee, I will update to RUI3 and see whether the issue get resolved. Based on your response :

  • on V1.0.4. changelog, it is mentioned a fix for clock initialization error, could that be the bug presented here ?

  • In case I would order today 100 new RAK3172 modules from Rak official store, would they be delivered with V1.0.4. or RUIV3 firmware? Do you have that information, as we are looking to avoid having to re-flash a large number of modules ?

Hi Peter,

The clock initialization error caused hanging during boot/reboot. It should not effect anything during normal run.

If you order RAK3172 today you can specify what firmware you want, the “old” V1.0.4 or the new RUI3 firmware.

I need to warn you about one “small” problem when you update from V1.0.x to RUI3.
The flash address for the default settings is different and when you update from V1.0.x to RUI3 you will loose the default AppEUI, DevEUI and AppKey of the device. You will have to setup the EUI’s and Keys manually to have them stored in the flash at the correct address.

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