blink(1) mk3 behaves strange with blink1-tool

[fbenfhzxdt]

Hi,

I have 4 blink(1)s connected to one USB swith.
3 of them are mk2 and one is a new mk3 (bought some days ago).

I use blink1-tool.exe v2.1.0 on Windows 10 Pro (20H2) to control the blink(1)s via a PowerShell script.

Unfortunately, the mk3 shows a strange (erroneous?) behavior.
To reproduce the behavior, it does not matter if I execute the commands via script or directly from command line.
Using cmd or PowerShell makes no difference, too.

Please see the examples below for details about the behavior.

Devices:
blink(1) list:
id:0 - serialnum:2001042E (mk2) fw version:205
id:1 - serialnum:20010466 (mk2) fw version:205
id:2 - serialnum:200110D4 (mk2) fw version:205
id:3 - serialnum:3376bb52 (mk3) fw version:303

Example 1:
Starting condition: all blink(1)s are turned off.
I turn on ID 1 (mk2) with the command:
blink1-tool.exe --id 1 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000
and then I enable ID 3 (mk3) with this command:
blink1-tool.exe --id 3 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=00ff00
afterwards I want to turn off ID 1 with the command:
blink1-tool.exe --id 1 --off
Expected result: only ID 1 turns off
Actual result: both ID1 and ID3 turn off.

Example 2:
Starting condition: all blink(1)s are turned off.
I turn on ID 3 (mk3) with the command:
blink1-tool.exe --id 3 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=00ff00
then I turn on ID 1 (mk2) with the command:
blink1-tool.exe --id 1 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000
Expected result: ID 3 turning on and after the second command, ID1 also turning on, ID 3 still staying turned on.
Actual result: ID 3 (mk3) turns off and ID 1 turns on.

Somehow the mk3 seems to be reacting to commands directed to other IDs and turns off.
If I only use mk2s in the above mentioned examples, everything works as expected. Only the mk3 is behaving so strange.

Help is highly appreciated.

Thank you

[todbot]

I'm looking into this now. Thanks for the detailed description.

[todbot]

Hi,
I've replicated your setup (3 mk2s and 1 mk3) but I cannot replicate your results. I copy-and-pasted the above commands and they behave as expected, acting on only one blink(1) at a time.

Is there anything else about your setup you can describe?

[fbenfhzxdt]

Hi,
Thank you for your real fast investigation and response.

In the meantime, I tried ID1 and ID3 directly on the front-side USB2 ports of my PC case, there the behaviour is the same.
So I assume that it is not related to the USB hub or USB3.

What exactly would be helpful to describe in my setup? Any hint is appreciated.

I hope the following information is somehow helpful.

My system:

• CPU: Core I9-9900K
• Mainboard: ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) Call of Duty - Black Ops 4 Edition (ASUS AI Suite 3 installed)

other USB devices connected to my PC:

• I have a Razor Blackwidow Elite keyboard and Razer Mamba Elite mouse, therefore Razer Synapse 3 is installed on my PC.
• Furthermore, I have Windows Hello enabled with this Kingston fingerprint reader.
• A Trustkey G310 is connected to my PC, too.
• DELL U4919DW connected also via USB3, Dell Display Manager application installed (but I assume that the display manager communicates via DisplayPort as it works without a USB connection, too).
• an additional USB2 sound card (Realtek USB2.0 Audio)

Please let me know if I can do anything else to provide helpful information (e. g. USB tracing or sth. similar).

Thank you very much

[fbenfhzxdt]

Hi,
I tested one of the mk2 and the mk3 on another PC right now.
This PC is also running Windows 10 Pro 20H2.
Unfortunately, same behavior.

blink(1) list:
id:0 - serialnum:2001042E (mk2) fw version:205
id:1 - serialnum:3376bb52 (mk3) fw version:303

Commands submitted:
blink1-tool.exe --id 0 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000 --> mk2 glowing red
blink1-tool.exe --id 1 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=00ff00 --> mk3 glowing green
blink1-tool.exe --id 0 --off --> both blink(1)s turning off

[todbot]

Yes, that is very strange. Are you typing these commands directly into Powershell or running some script? Is there any other program running that controls the blink(1) devices?

I would maybe suspect you're using an older version of blink1-tool.exe that doesn't parse the --id command correctly, but you say you're using 2.1.0.

As another experiment, below is a slightly different build of blink1-tool.exe. Please try it and see if it acts differently.

blink1-tool-wintest-20201120.zip

[fbenfhzxdt]

When testing, I type the commands directly into a PowerShell or CMD window. But it makes no difference when submitting the commands in a PowerShell script that is executed by Task Scheduler.

I downloaded blink1-tool v2.1.0 yesterday especially to be sure that I use the current version.
Blink1Control2 is also installed on my main PC (but not on the second PC where I also tested), but not running when I use blink1-tool.
I ensured this via task manager.

I downloaded the new version of blink1-tool you provided, but unfortunately no difference in behavior.
I encountered another strange thing when testing the new version:
blink1-tool.exe --id 1 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000
--> ID 1 red
blink1-tool.exe --id 3 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=00ff00
--> ID 3 (mk3) green
blink1-tool.exe --list
--> ID3 (mk3) turning off - even when only submitting the --list command...?
Trying this with blink1-tool v2.1.0 shows the same behavior.

Furthermore, I did another test on my main PC with Blink1Control2 (v2.2.4) and blinkt1control-tool.exe (v2.1.0).
blink1control-tool.exe --list
blink(1) list:
curl_fetch:http://127.0.0.1:8934/blink1/id
id:0 - serialnum:3376bb52
id:1 - serialnum:200110D4
id:2 - serialnum:20010466
id:3 - serialnum:2001042E
--> blink(1)s have other IDs than in blink1-tool.exe (mk3 is ID 0 and mk2s are ID1-3)
blink1control-tool.exe --id 1 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=00ff00
deviceId[0]: 1
curl_fetch:http://127.0.0.1:8934/blink1/fadeToRGB?rgb=%2300ff00&time=0.60&ledn=0&id=1,
--> should turn on red for ID 1 (one of the mk2s), but actually turns on only red on the mk3.
blink1control-tool.exe --id 2 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000
deviceId[0]: 2
curl_fetch:http://127.0.0.1:8934/blink1/fadeToRGB?rgb=%23ff0000&time=0.60&ledn=0&id=2,
--> should turn on ID 2 (mk2) to green, but actually only changes the mk3 from red to green.

Thank you very much

[todbot]

It does appear like the mk3 is misbehaving, but I cannot fathom how it could be acting like this.
These kinds of symptoms would be software (blink1-tool) or OS-level issues, not blink(1), as the software is just issuing very simple USB HID commands and the OS and general architecture of USB prevents any multiple devices from responding to the same command.

Do you have any non-standard device drivers that control HID devices? I could be persuaded that something like an errant RGB keyboard driver is intercepting USB HID commands and altering them.

One other thing to try is addressing the blink(1)s by their serial number instead of their list index. That is, try:

blink1-tool.exe --id 2001042E --rgb=ff0000
blink1-tool.exe --id 3376bb52 --rgb=00ff00

If you like, we can send you a replacement blink(1) mk3 (or even a replacement blink(1) mk2, we have a few remainders). Email us at blink1 at thingm.com with your preferred shipping address and we'll get it shipped out next week. If this one mk3 you have is weirdly defective, the replacement should work fine. Otherwise, I'd start suspecting hardware (USB hubs, etc) and OS/drivers.

I really wish I had a good theory as to what's happening. This is a really unique issue!

[fbenfhzxdt]

Thank you very much for your proposal 👍
You have email 😊

I tested with the serial numbers as ID on my main PC, unfortunately no difference.
blink1-tool.exe --id 2001042E --rgb=ff0000
blink1-tool.exe --id 3376bb52 --rgb=00ff00

In the meantime, I tested the mk3 on a HP Elitebook 840 G5 (3rd device now) where nothing special except the required HP drivers is installed.
blink1-tool.exe --id 0 -q -m 600 -t 1500 --rgb=ff0000
-->mk3 red
blink1-tool.exe --list
--> mk3 again turning off
Same strange behavior on the 3rd device I tested so far.
I assume that it is not related to any driver or hardware issue. But I also do not have any idea what could cause this.

Once more, thank you very much for all your help.

[sba923]

I'm experiencing a very similar problem with my mk3 devices.

I have the following 3 devices:

1. serialnum:2000F0A3 (mk2) fw version:204 -- blink1-tool.exe --version outputs blink1-tool version: v2.0.2-windows-x86_64, fw version: 204
2. serialnum:37ff9e03 fw version:303 -- blink1-tool.exe --version outputs blink1-tool version: v2.0.2-windows-x86_64, fw version: 303
3. serialnum:3748e49e fw version:303 -- blink1-tool.exe --version outputs blink1-tool version: v2.0.2-windows-x86_64, fw version: 303

If I issue:

blink1-tool --red

to the mk2 device, it remains red forever.

If I do the same thing with a mk3, the device turns itself off automatically after a few seconds. Both mk3 devices are affected.

The host is a Windows 11 24H2 PC. This occurs with all other similar PCs.

In some cases issuing blink1-tool.exe –list causes the mk3 device to turn off.

I can't repro this with a mk3 connected to a Ubuntu 24 PC (my DIY NAS).

Is that an issue with the mk3 firmware? Hardware?

[sba923]

@todbot how can I help troubleshooting / fixing this?