Cube orange solid orange light

PX4 Autopilot
1

Hi all,

I’m building a VTOL4+1 drone using a cube orange. I have set up all of my parameters, and everything was working fine. I plugged a VN300 into it (powered separately), and when I plugged it back in the solid amber light was there and it wouldn’t connect over Mavlink.

Steps I took to troubleshoot:

  • Power cycle cube multiple times
  • Restart computer multiple times
  • Reinstall drivers
  • Reinstall Mission Planner
  • Change USB
  • Try another Cube orange (Which worked immediately)
  • Tried connecting over UDP with a transmitter that was known working in the past
  • Swap cube into second carrier board
  • Blow out the pins and ensure the Cube is fastened securely to the board.
  • Tried using QGroundControl
  • Upload firmware again (it uploads successfully)
  • Upload beta firmware (it uploads successfully)
  • Tried changing baud rates (even though I’ve always kept it stock)
  • Checked the device COM port driver baud rate

Currently the stable firmware is installed. When I plug it in, the solid amber light turns on, the green light flashes for a millisecond, and the connection times out with the error “No hearbeat packets received” when trying to connect.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help

2

So, if you’re using MissionPlanner, you are likely using ArduPilot, and not PX4, right? If so, you’d want to ask in discuss.ardupilot.org.

1 Like
3

I had the same problem. The COM port was recognized by my PC, and I was able to select it in Mission Planner (normally, I would see two COM ports, but this time there was only one). However, when I clicked “Connect,” the CMD log (running in the background of Mission Planner) showed that there was no response from the Cube Orange.

I entered the log text into ChatGPT to see what it said, and the result confirmed that there was no response from the Cube.

Meanwhile, the Cube’s LED remained permanently orange. I tested a second Cube, where everything worked fine—the LED turned off as soon as the connection was established.

My Solution:

  1. Flash ArduPilot onto the Cube

    • Open Mission Planner.
    • Go to “Setup” → “Install Firmware”.
    • Select the correct COM port in the top-right corner (no connection needed, just the correct selection).
    • Flash the appropriate ArduPilot firmware for the Cube.

  2. Completely power off the Cube

    • Disconnect the Micro-USB cable from the Cube.
    • If a battery is connected, remove it as well.
    • Wait for a few seconds until the Cube is completely powered off.

  3. Restart the Cube

    • Reconnect the Micro-USB cable.
    • The Cube should now boot properly and connect to Mission Planner.
    • It may happen that when you reconnect, only one port is shown. Wait a moment, then collapse and expand the list again.

i hope that helps :slight_smile: