Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Dock and device connection

The dock doesn't appear when I press Connect.

• Try another USB cable/port (data-capable, not charge-only).
• Windows: the dock uses the FTDI driver — check Device Manager for an "FT232R USB UART" (or similar) entry; if it shows an error, reinstall the FTDI D2XX driver from ftdichip.com.
• Close other software that might hold the FTDI port open (terminal programs, previous app instances).

The dock connects but my device isn't detected.

• Reseat the device in the dock bay and check the contacts.
• The device may be fully discharged — leave it powered in the dock for a few minutes.
• Disconnect/reconnect the dock in the app to force a re-scan.

My Nanotag isn't detected.

• Nanotags connect directly over USB, not via the dock — plug the tag itself in.

Firmware flashing

Flashing fails with "device did not enter DFU mode".

• Keep the device seated; retry the flash — the boot sequence is timing-sensitive.
• Windows may need a moment on first use to install the ST DFU bootloader driver; retry after the first enumeration.

A flash was interrupted. Is the device bricked?

• No. The DFU bootloader is in ROM and always recoverable — power-cycle in the dock and flash again.

Recordings and decoding

My imported files parse but I get no WAV/CSV.

• Run Decode explicitly on the session folder — Auto Decode may be disabled (Settings).
• Check the job's console/log in the Decoding Progress panel for the failing file.

GNSS decode says the plugin is not installed.

• Install the GNSS decoder plugin from the Plugins tab, then restart the app (Software Updates and Plugins).

Most GNSS snapshots return no fix.

• Snapshots need sky view at record time; indoor/canopy captures legitimately fail. If all fail on a known-good outdoor dataset, check the GNSS job log (logs/gnss/ in the app data folder — see Where to find logs below) and your internet connection (satellite aiding data is fetched online).

Updates

"Check Updates" reports that updates aren't available/configured.

• Development or side-loaded builds have no release feed configured; install from an official release channel.
• Corporate proxies/firewalls must allow HTTPS to the distribution CDN.

Where to find logs

The app data folder is %LOCALAPPDATA%\VesperApp on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/VesperApp on macOS and ~/.local/share/VesperApp on Linux.

What	Where
Application log	logs/VesperApp_<date>.log in the app data folder
Startup crash reports	logs/crash-<timestamp>.log in the app data folder
GNSS decode job logs	logs/gnss/ in the app data folder
App configuration	config.json in the app data folder
Decoded data	Your working directory (default Documents/MyVesperData in your user profile)

The app doesn't start at all.

• Since v1.0.35 a startup failure shows an error dialog and writes a crash-<timestamp>.log (see above) — attach that file when reporting.
• On a brand-new Windows machine, make sure Windows Update has run once; the FTDI dock driver installs through it when the dock is first plugged in (the app itself does not require it to start).

Reporting an issue

Open an issue on the project's GitHub repository and attach the relevant log file, your app version (Software Upgrades tab) and the device type/firmware version involved.