That's good news Gary. Hopefully they get the rest of us up and going soon with a process that's less reliant on randomness. Fortunately the Orba is based on hardware that is tolerant of software issues. It's really a relatively solid design. They just need to iron out some software issues (several, it would seem).
Unfortunately I don't have a mac at my disposal here, and both of my Windows PCs, which don't use any antivirus or security software that's not built into Windows, fail in the same way: App fails to download the firmware update, then leaves the hardware in DFU mode.
Hopefully future versions first make sure they actually have the proper software before putting the hardware into programming mode.
I'm out of ideas for my own situation. At this point all I can do is wait for somebody to answer my support request.
FINALLY!!!!!
And on the 3rd day it arose...
Lord have mercy, it has been a stressful 3 days I tell ya.At one point I was even considering an attempt at opening it up but decided I'd let someone else be the first to do that. I have tried reviving it on 2 different Macs and a Win10 machine as well. Nada. It never even showed up on either of my Macs as being connected. The Win10 machine did..., once. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app on both Macs and on the Win10 machine, updated, not updated, and still nothing.
Today (and I have no clue what the difference in today and the past 2 are but...,) it showed up again on the Win10 machine. Oh wow! I downloaded the app and nope. not gonna do it. *sigh* Ok, one last try with my iMac. Turn on my iMac and plug up the Orba. Holy shit, it's now showing up when I look at the USB connections. OMG! I then downloaded the Orba app and installed it. I did not update the app but gave the firmware update a try with Shift+click on "firmware update". To my amazement I didn't get the error I had been getting so I just sat and waited. About 5 minutes late the update successful message popped up. It's now back to life, FINALLY! But geez people, I have been so frustrated with this thing I did think about just tossing it in the trash at one point and just accepting I'd thrown money down the drain again. Dunno, it still may be the result I end up with in the long run but for the moment it does seem to be alive again.
The trick it would appear is to connect the Orba first then download and install the app. I'm still not confident this thing isn't going to lock up like that again though. Unnerving to say the least.
I did not install anti-virus software, Windows Defender SmartScreen, and firewall on Windows 10 with clean installation, but it does not succeed.
Isn't it just an app issue?
I turned off the firewall and virus software and tried it on three windows, but it does not work at all. I'm disappointed. I don't have a Mac.
update: i switch usb ports and it was able to update. now is working.
Received my Orba yesterday (9/5) unboxed it (created a video and all, was so excited) played with it, then connected to my MacBook Pro and downloaded the app which updated as soon as I opened it. Once the app updated I began the firmware update. It went through the process and showed successful. I played around with it, then downloaded the app on my iPad. I FINALLY was able to connect it via bluetooth and then I created a song which wasn't much really but enough to try it out to see how it would perform. It worked just as it was supposed to. I then tried to save the song and the app locked up and finally crashed. Now if I try to open the app on my iPad it locks up immediately and is non-functional. What's worse is after turning my Orba off last night and packing it up in the Travel Case, I grab it this morning, take it out of the case and..., dead. Wha? Ok, so let's try charging it. Two hours later Orba still won't turn on. Try the steps given here and nothing. I now have a black brick that resembles a sliced grapefruit. Wow, talk about the proverbial "flash in the pan," geez. I do realize that essentially we are the beta testers for any product offered through the crowdfunding process, but damn. I don't know what's worse, getting beat by a creator and never receiving the backer reward or receiving a backer reward and it turning into a brick less that 24 hours later. What makes it even worse is having to check back here every few hours to see if someone has found a fix. I think the fix is a new firmware update and free replacement of bricked Orbas. Unless someone can find a way to get them turned on that is. Right now though nothing works, not the app, not the Orba. Both are currently buggy, dead, and useless. I'll just box it up and set it on a shelf for a few months and then try it again. Maybe Artiphon will have it all fixed by Christmas. As it is now though it's more suited for the trash bin than a shelf.
Without going into all the details it appears that Windows wouldn't play nice with the Orba app. Even though I gave it firewall access and turned off virus protection, the Orba app couldn't download the required files into the folders under UpdateUtilities.
Path to folder is C:\Users\YourUserYName\AppData\Roaming\Artiphon\Orba\UpdateUtilities.
Jeremy at Artiphon Support sent me a link to a zip file of the folder, which I unzipped and copied into the Orba folder.
Did a SHIFT-CLICK on the cloud icon and the firmware update worked!
If you have windows and cannot update Orba firmware I think it would be best to open a trouble ticket after checking if the folders under UpdateUtilities are empty. Include the version number of the Orba app and that the folders under UpdateUtilities are empty.
I haved a same problem.When Update firmware on Windows10 pc,
Orba doesn’t work at all.
Orba recognizes as STM Boot Loader in Device manager on Windows10.
( I had change STM32 BOOTLOADER driver to WinUSB driver by Zadig.
But it can not recognise by Orba APP in Windows10.
Possibly a longshot (I think the issue behind this has since been fixed), but in the Orba app, check the firmware version number from the Artiphon logo at top right. If it says 0.13.19, the firmware has actually updated successfully and the error is the report that it hasn't.
P.S. When you plug your Orba into the Windows USB port your should hear the same sound a USB drive makes. If you don't, while still plugged into the USB port press the MINUS & POWER buttons together until you hear the connected USB device sound.
If for some reason you can't update firmware yet, while plugged into the USB port you can press he MINUS & POWER buttons together until you hear the disconnect sound.
Also while connected to USB you can go into Bluetooth & Other Devices to see the Orba without STM32 BOOTLOADER
Another forum member discovered this and it is a good way to see if your Orba is still alive.
and I can see my plugged obra on device manager as "STM32 Bootloader". good to confirm it's not completely bricked, at least.
I was able to un-brick my Orba using the the Mac app. You need to plug it in and wait. There is definitely something wrong with the Windows version of the app. Good luck! Now off to make some noise. :)
Chris Tate
The Orba arrived this morning, I was able to play with it for a bit before downloading the IOS app and being told to update the firmware. I did and after it completed the Orba will no longer turn on.
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