Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Dive Computer

[z00ropa]

If you can get access to an accurate pressure gauge (as a shop might have in their repair department, one that has a big enough dial to resolve 15-20 psi at least) then I would check against a variety of pressures- full tanks, and nearly empty. If the Cobalt is off at any point it can be calibrated against the gauge. Atomic may prefer to do this if there isn't a dealer who can, for liability reasons- I will have to check with them. It would not take much variation on temperature to change a full tank reading by 200 psi.

Ron

I got access to what I thought was an accurate pressure gauge and checked the pressure of 5 tanks vs the Cobalt and my SPG. What I have discovered is an accurate gauge is a hard thing to come by. When comparing the Cobalt to a few other SPGs on other regs I have determined that the Cobalt is probably correct and my SPG is way off. Thanks for the replies.

 

[DColumbus]

Hi all,

I finally got a Cobalt ! I have been reading this forum for several months, and dreaming of getting one. I have completed the classroom and pool instruction for OW, but don't do my cert. dives until June 2.

I was looking at the Zagg web site for their screen protector for the Cobalt. They list some options on the Cobalt that the manual doesn't mention.

Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Screen Protector

Fits Wi-Fi Only and Wi-Fi + 3G Versions


WOW ! I didn't know it had wireless capabilities. Atomic has been holding back on us. What gives Ron R ??

(Just a little humor for everyone)

 

[Downing]

Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Screen Protector

Fits Wi-Fi Only and Wi-Fi + 3G Versions

Congrats on the new Cobalt. You're going to love it. As I'm sure you've already realized, now that you've had it for a few hours, you're a fully qualified expert on how to use it.

Good luck with your cert dives and welcome to the wonderful world of scuba diving.

 

[jpassov]

I was trying to upgrade from 1.11 to 1.13. I did everything exactly right, but as soon as the update started my Cobalt screen went black, and never came back on.
I don't understand why this should be so difficult. I have Mac OS 10.6.8.
Last year, I had an issue trying to upgrade and ended up having to send it to Ron to help.

I am pretty computer savvy which makes this even more frustrating.

Ron, I sent you an email about this last night. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TerryM]

Ok... I've been using and loving (outside of the software hassles) my Cobalt for almost a year now, but I've finally hit the bioling point and need some assistance...

The way I use my Cobalt to log dives is to use the Atomic software, then import into Diving Log 5.x and fill in the extras; this keeps the driver sets happy and allows me to update firmware as needed...

A few months back I noticed that the Atomic site had the 1.17 firmware available so I went ahead and updated... Since then I had made some dives but hadn't connected up to sync and log, but this weekend I had some time so I went ahead; I noticed that when I connected the Atomic software said that there was a firmware update to switch to 1.13... I ignoted it since I already was on 1.17 and downloaded my dives... When I looked at them in the Atomic software I noticed that they looked odd, but didn't pay much mind and proceded to try and import them into Diving Log which came back with import issues which was a first... As I tried to import the dives in one at a time some would import and some would not; so I went back into the Atomic SW and noticed that many of my dives logged since the 1.17 firmware had odd depth spikes at the end of each dive (ugh)... Ok, so at this point the annoying upgrade prompt was staring me in the face again and I thought "why not" and let it 'update' down to 1.13... The unit is now bricked, and whenI plug it in Win7 gives a generic USB error that it does not recognize the device and the Atomic SW will not see the unit to attempt a reflash...

This is seriously annoying... Is there a way to do a reset on the unit (i.e. like pulling the battery)? Is there a standalone DFU flash mode executable I can use?

I am really saddened, the Cobalt is a great instrument for diving, but it's as if Atomic knows dive equipment well but has no real clue on at all on the tech aspect of the unit... They pulled the software and firmware off of their site for months to basically come back with a barely updated SW package and a downgraded brick-maker firmware?? I've lived with it's small annoyances for months because it was all small items I could live with, especially since the unit itself -is- worth the hassle in other aspects, but now I'm stuck with a broken unit due to their lack of tech design knowledge; and they leave no room for self-support so far as I can tell... If it weren't for warranty voiding I would open it up and attempt a JTAG of the flash chip myself...

Can anyone assist? I live near the Atomic HQ office, should I just go beat down their door?

 

[RonR]

Can anyone assist? I live near the Atomic HQ office, should I just go beat down their door?

Terry,

The 1.17 firmware version had a slight timing change that created problems like you saw with downloading dives on some Windows systems, that's why it was removed. The differences between 1.13 and 1.17 are fairly small and cosmetic.

The problem is not with the firmware, it's that the Windows program didn't complete the task of putting it into the Cobalt. Not sure why the update didn't complete- was this using the software that Atomic just put up? Did you go through the exercise of deleting the old driver, shown here: Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Software ? Win 7 and Vista will not allow automatic removal of the old driver, and if the new program gets the old driver, it could cause problems with updating firmware. So the old driver needs to be manually removed. Atomic's issues have all revolved around getting the Windows drivers to work reliably on all systems. On the plus side, once the old driver is removed and the new driver installed, it should be possible to switch between Diving Log 5 and the Atomic software without switching drivers. So you should be able to download dives directly to Diving Log 5 without problems.

If the update didn't get to the point of erasing the existing firmware then resetting by removing and replacing the battery will restart the Cobalt. The Cobalt is still running- it's just in a boot mode that doesn't use the display, it's looking for a USB connection. If the firmware in the unit was removed (this happens sometimes when the cable or power is interrupted during an update) then the Cobalt may need to be updated with the battery removed- this ensures connection to the processor boot code. Atomic tells me that the new Windows software is working well for this (there are recovery instructions for a filed update on the site Atomic Aquatics Cobalt Software). I haven't tried the new version yet, and we have a limited number of Windows systems to test it on. In our experience, the rock solid reliable method is using an Intel Mac running 10.5-10.6 with the failed update instructions. Macs don't have the driver issues that Windows does.

If you PM me with an email I will send instructions for resetting with the battery. It should be pretty easy to get the Cobalt back up and running.

Ron

 

[TerryM]

Well, I tried a battery reset (thanks for the heads up, I hadn't cracked the case on the thing yet but it was straightforward once I tried). Unfortunately the unit -did- flash this morning and it does seem to be pretty bricked as a battery reset did nothing...

When I did the flash this morning I was on the older 1.5.7 / 1.0 SW, but this evening I did the steps and upgraded to the 1.6.3 / 1.1 SW (BTW - If the unit is bricked you cannot pull up the driver in the Device Manager to remove, but in Win7 you can open a command line window and do a PNPUTIL -F -D OEMxx.INF and remove the driver entry); still the same result... I then tried a flash with the battery out; this did put the unit into a bootstrap mode that allowed me to reflash the unit with the 1.13 firmware again, but after the flash the unit is still bricked... Is there an older firmware or rebuild .hex that I should attempt to flash with?

---------- Post added May 16th, 2012 at 09:31 PM ----------

HA! Ok, I just stood up a VM instance of XP SP3 and installed 1.6.3 / 1.1 and attemped a recovery flash (battery out) and it took without issue... I'll need to investigate a bit to see if it's just some mucky driver entries on my W7 physical box (although I just tried and it's downloading my pre 1.17 dives into the Atomic and Diving Log SW just fine - RAD!), or if it's an OS or .NET related issue (both instances appear to be homogated from a SW version perspective, but anything is possible)...

Bummer that my 1.17 dives appear to be perma-junked... Oh well, I will survive...

Either way I am back up and running (and diving), many thanks Ron for your help and patience! (and letting me know I can crack that case open and not void a warranty).

---------- Post added May 16th, 2012 at 09:48 PM ----------

Ugh... Ok, silly thing... How does one get the battery cover back on? Since it's an air tight seal when I try to put the cover back on I end up with an air pocket in the compartment and I am unable to get it properly cinched down... Is this where a 'factory trained technician' is supposed to pop the little rubber plug and reseal it afterward or is there a small physics trick that I'm missing?

 

[RonR]

...
HA! Ok, I just stood up a VM instance of XP SP3 and installed 1.6.3 / 1.1 and attemped a recovery flash (battery out) and it took without issue... I'll need to investigate a bit to see if it's just some mucky driver entries on my W7 physical box (although I just tried and it's downloading my pre 1.17 dives into the Atomic and Diving Log SW just fine - RAD!), or if it's an OS or .NET related issue (both instances appear to be homogated from a SW version perspective, but anything is possible)...

Bummer that my 1.17 dives appear to be perma-junked... Oh well, I will survive...

Either way I am back up and running (and diving), many thanks Ron for your help and patience! (and letting me know I can crack that case open and not void a warranty).

---------- Post added May 16th, 2012 at 09:48 PM ----------

Ugh... Ok, silly thing... How does one get the battery cover back on? Since it's an air tight seal when I try to put the cover back on I end up with an air pocket in the compartment and I am unable to get it properly cinched down... Is this where a 'factory trained technician' is supposed to pop the little rubber plug and reseal it afterward or is there a small physics trick that I'm missing?

Terry,

I f you PM me I will send the instruction sheet for the battery door- you need to pop out the tiny rubber ball (a big paper clip works), clean the silicone out of the hole, and leave the ball out as a pressure release until the door is secure. This makes it easier, and also keeps the O-ring from being displaced when pushing the door down, potentially causing leaks. The ball needs to be coated with silicone glue or caulk when you secure it. The hex or torx key used on the screws is the perfect size to push it home.

I can also send you a newer version of the firmware that fixes the issue with uploading dives that you experienced in 1.17. If the dives are recorded correctly in the Cobalt (it would be very surprising if they are not- you can check them in the onboard log) then they can be copied over correctly to the desktop software. The correct data is there, the desktop just was not reading it successfully. I'd be interested if this fixes the issue for you.

I'm not clear if you downloaded and installed the new software after removing the old driver- the new one installs as part of the package. I believe that it is the same driver used by Diving Log 5 to connect directly to the Cobalt. Does your Win 7 system recognize the Cobalt now that it is running in normal mode? Connecting directly to the bootstrap mode is not something that works on all systems- it may look like it's flashing the Cobalt, but if it didn't come up afterwards, it wasn't.

We are embedded developers and don't know a a lot about Windows, but I know getting the drivers to work for everyone has been a major issue. Glad you found a way that worked.

Ron

 

[TerryM]

--- PM'ing now.

 

[spiney diver]

I just signed up on this forum because I just had a problem updating for the first time. Another case of computer goes blank and does not come back on. Just loaded the dive log off the Atomic website and this computer has never had another version of it installed. Tried following the instructions on the Atomic website for update failure but on mine I never show a Locate Flash screen like shown in the instructions, it just shows the one where it says to click on the version you want to update to and the green start button. When I highlight the version and hit start it flashes very quickly then says "done" but computer does not come back on. Computer running windows 7. Hope Ron is out there since I need it Sunday, will also send pm to Ron