Sigfox freezing

[derchris]

Dear all,
I'm currently a bit disappointed, sorry in advance for that.
I'm trying to execute the sample Sigfox script and as soon as I do "sigfox = Sigfox(mode=Sigfox.SIGFOX, rcz=Sigfox.RCZ1)" (I'm in Germany) the terminal freezes and nothing else happens. I have to do a reset to reconnect. Please help!

[jmarcelino]

@derchris
Which firmware version are you running? Check with os.uname()

[derchris]

@jmarcelino (sysname='SiPy', nodename='SiPy', release='1.9.2.b2', version='v1.8.6-796-g489fafa0 on 2017-10-15', machine='SiPy with ESP32', sigfox='1.0.1')

[jmarcelino]

@derchris
Ok thanks and where do you have your SiPy, are you using the Expansion board from Pycom?

[derchris]

@jmarcelino it's on the expansion board :)

[jmarcelino]

@derchris
Can you post the rest of your code? Do you have anything extra in your main.py / boot.py or any other files

[derchris]

@jmarcelino thanks for the quick support!

Here's the code (note that even if I remove everything after the Sigfox init, it does not work):

boot.py

from machine import UART
import machine
import os

uart = UART(0, baudrate=115200)
os.dupterm(uart)

machine.main('main.py')

main.py

from network import Sigfox
import socket
print("hello WiPy!")

sigfox = Sigfox(mode=Sigfox.SIGFOX, rcz=Sigfox.RCZ1)

s = socket.socket(socket.AF_SIGFOX, socket.SOCK_RAW)

s.setblocking(True)

s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SIGFOX, socket.SO_RX, False)

s.send(bytes([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]))

print("hello WiPy!")

[robert-hh]

@derchris Just some non-related notes: The content of boot.py is not needed, because the dupterm part is done by _boot.py, which resides in frozen bytecode, and "main.py" is the default name for the main script.
A hint on style: code sections can be enclosed in line with three backquotes (```). That keeps indentation.
The content of _boot.py is:

# _boot.py -- always run on boot-up, even during safe boot
import os
from machine import UART
os.dupterm(UART(0, 115200))

[robert-hh]

@derchris Another question: You said it's mounted on the expansion board. Which kind of antenna are you using?

[derchris]

@robert-hh see, that's why I wanna go C ;)

the "official" Sigfox Antenna Kit (SKU 0700461242598)

Plus: I'd expect the board not to completely freeze if there's something wrong with the antenna (I've read the note that it might break the board, though) - because that might happen in real life uses where we can't control the user's setup

[jmarcelino]

@derchris

I don't think it's related to the antenna because there is no transmission when initilializing the Sigfox class, but in general if you operate RF devices without an antenna there is this surge of reflected energy that goes nowhere and could cause problems - it's not usual in Sigfox because it's low power.

Can you try running a firmware upgrade again, maybe something didn't get quite right.

I do this all the time with SiPy and never seen one crash like that.

Also there is no messages at all when it crashes?

[derchris]

@jmarcelino well, maybe (probably) it‘s me who‘s doing something wrong. As stated in the other thread, I flashed the Sipy with some basic esp32 stuff but afterwards re-flashed it with the firmware upgrade tool 3 times and always get the Sigfox credentials after it flashed. I even did a makefs flash...
Is there another way for a factory reset, just to be sure?
And when I say it freezes, I mean the terminal within VSCode is not responding, I can‘t enter anything and there‘s no output (It shows my prints before the init though) until I reset the device (power cycle or reset button)

[jmarcelino]

@derchris
If you have a development environment setup as in https://github.com/pycom/pycom-micropython-sigfox/tree/master/esp32 you can do a

make erase

to really clear the flash

[derchris]

@jmarcelino
In the meantime I downgraded to 1.6.0b1 and at least with this version it's only blocking at the socket.send - which might have to do with weak RSSI or so, I guess. Trying to upgrade to 1.9 now

Edit: upgraded to 1.9, freeze with init as before... strange :(

[derchris]

giving up for now and hoping for the FiPy