Hi Ian - thanks for the very detailed response. This has actually been kind of a nice learning experience.
Regarding the production date - It was stamped on a sticker on the bag I got the device in - I purchased it from a danish store who brought it home from seeed. (www.let-elektronik.dk). I believe it was the second batch to ship (not entirely sure though).
With respect to the firmware upgrades; The only successful firmware upgrades were with the jumper attached to the header. And I believe that this was the first FW update I attempted. I don't remember having a reason to update it immediately after reception.
as I've written in my update - I have now got fw v. 1.05 and it seems to be working fine.
UPDATE: I tried flashing from my windows 7 machine, with the jumper set. Apparently it worked. I unplugged the jumper and checked the device. it is still registered as a HID device. I then tried flashing it without the jumper. No Go. I then refitted the jumper and flashed it with fw 1.02 - Success again, and now when I plug it in to my linux box without a header, the LED is off, and I get the ACM port as expected: [font=courier:][10963.992078] usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 59 [10964.177922] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [10964.180800] cdc_acm 3-2:1.0: This device cannot do calls on its own. It is not a modem. [10964.180864] cdc_acm 3-2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device[/font:]
I then reconnected the header and upgraded to fw v 1.05 via the win7 machine. I must have compiled the fw_update utility wrong.
Oddly enough, the LED is still constantly on on the windows 7 machine. I haven't tried to connect to the IR_toy with a terminal in windows 7 - that will be another day.
I decided to update the USB IR Toy to FW version 1.05 (just done updating my BP to fw 5.4) . I connected with screen and entered "$". after that, my /dev/ttyACM01 entry disapeared, and I got the HID device.
I read Grant's post, and the apparent solution - to plug it in several times, and hope for the mode to switch. so far I have had no luck. I havde tried rebooting, plugging the device into a "usb power outlet" - so that it should just power up, but wouldn't have an OS to interfere, plugging it into a windows 7 machine, but to no avail.
I even tried booting it up with a jumper on the PGD,PGC pins, waiting a while, and then disconnecting the device, removing the jumper and trying again. no luck.
I have included a dump from one of my attempts below. any suggestions would be much appreciated.
best regards,
Jonas
[font=courier:]root@flaptop:~# lsusb Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 003 Device 029: ID 04d8:fd0b Microchip Technology, Inc. Bus 003 Device 005: ID 046d:c313 Logitech, Inc. Bus 003 Device 004: ID 046d:c525 Logitech, Inc. Bus 003 Device 002: ID 058f:9254 Alcor Micro Corp. Hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub root@flaptop:~# fw_update -e -w -v -m all -vid 0x04D8 -pid 0xFD0B -ix USBIRToy.v1.05.hex U2IO flash erasing: FAILED. Device is not found. Operation aborted. root@flaptop:~# dmesg|tail [ 3766.048104] usb 3-2: USB disconnect, address 27 [ 3766.060641] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0 [ 3766.060671] ftdi_sio 3-2:1.0: device disconnected [ 3804.976094] usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 28 [ 3805.140739] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 3805.151538] generic-usb 0003:04D8:FD0B.0006: hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Diolan Diolan] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 [ 4154.664107] usb 3-2: USB disconnect, address 28 [ 4159.120077] usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 29 [ 4159.283526] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 4159.297602] generic-usb 0003:04D8:FD0B.0007: hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Diolan Diolan] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 root@flaptop:~# dmesg|tail [ 4338.091712] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 4338.106918] generic-usb 0003:04D8:FD0B.000F: hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Diolan Diolan] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 [ 4338.680113] usb 3-2: USB disconnect, address 37 [ 4340.160076] usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 38 [ 4340.329336] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 4340.343023] generic-usb 0003:04D8:FD0B.0010: hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Diolan Diolan] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 [ 4341.408110] usb 3-2: USB disconnect, address 38 [ 4437.136088] usb 3-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 39 [ 4437.321047] usb 3-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 4437.329585] generic-usb 0003:04D8:FD0B.0011: hidraw0: USB HID v1.01 Device [Diolan Diolan] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 root@flaptop:~#[/font:]
