Cobalt 2 has stopped syncing to my computer

[discordare]

I've had the Cobalt 2 for about 9 months, and in that time have logged about 70 dives with it. I use MacDive on my MacBook Pro and have used it successfully until now to upload my dives from the Cobalt. The Cobalt is also on the latest firmware level (2.26). I did two dives each this past Saturday and Sunday; on Saturday I was able to upload my dives as usual; on Sunday, the system refused to see the Cobalt. I have reset it several times by holding down the Back and Select buttons simultaneously, and have even tried putting it into the firmware update mode where it would usually appear to the laptop as a flash drive labeled "Bootloader", but it is as if the Cobalt were not there as far as the computer is concerned.

I have even tried plugging it into a Linux box and running 'lsusb' to see if it is recognized as a USB device, but the system does not report it present.

It does still charge when plugged into USB, so there is connectivity there; it's just the USB software interface component that seems to not be working.

Can anyone suggest anything else to try here before I return this computer to the manufacturer? I've been very happy with this computer up until now, but I need to be able to upload my dives.

 

[JohnnyC]

Try a different USB cable first. Data+/-, power, and ground are on different pins. It's entirely possible to have a cable still provide power to charge and not have connectivity on D+ or D-.

 

[RonR]

Yes, What Johnny C said is correct, charging and data are different pins. The first thing to suspect if the Cobalt is not being recognized is the cable or adapter. We do occasionally see adapters break and lose one or more contact lines. Also take a look at the pins themselves, sometimes they can get dirty or have something on them that interferes with contact. Scrubbing with a brush and soap may clean them up. This is almost certainly a hardware connection problem. The "BOOTLOADER" function is integral to the processor and not part of the Cobalt firmware, if you are not seeing that it's due to a connection failure.

Ron

 

[discordare]

Yes, What Johnny C said is correct, charging and data are different pins. The first thing to suspect if the Cobalt is not being recognized is the cable or adapter. We do occasionally see adapters break and lose one or more contact lines. Also take a look at the pins themselves, sometimes they can get dirty or have something on them that interferes with contact. Scrubbing with a brush and soap may clean them up. This is almost certainly a hardware connection problem. The "BOOTLOADER" function is integral to the processor and not part of the Cobalt firmware, if you are not seeing that it's due to a connection failure.

Ron

D'oh! The one thing I didn't try. Turns out it was indeed the USB cable. I tried a different one (luckily I had an extra one on my trip) and it loaded right up.

Thanks!

 

[RonR]

That helps validate our decision to use a plain generic USB cable- glad that was the issue.

Ron