When to use this procedure

Under normal circumstances, firmware updates are done through the controller's own software. Use this recovery procedure only when the controller is truly bricked—no LED blinking at all—typically after a failed update left it unresponsive.

Step 1—erase the microprocessor

Three controller boards photographed from above, each with a yellow circle and arrow marking the pair of pins used for the erase procedure: the Dragonfly relay board at the top, the Platypus with three DB9 ports in the middle, and the Armadillo with two DB9 ports at the bottom.
The pin pair to short, marked on each board—Dragonfly above, then Platypus and Armadillo.

Remove all peripherals and open the controller box (4 screws). Inside, locate the recovery USB plug and a pair of pins provided for this procedure. With the controller powered—either from its power supply or via the recovery USB connection to a computer—short these two pins together. This erases the microprocessor back to its factory state. Once done, unpower the unit—remove the USB cable or the power supply.

The box screws are easy to spot on the Dragonfly and on the aluminium-box Armadillo; on all other models they are hidden behind four caps.

Step 2—install SAM-BA

Download the SAM-BA package, then run the installer. On the final installation screen, leave the USB notice option checked—it walks you through the driver setup covered next.

SAM-BA 2.6 desktop shortcut icon
The SAM-BA 2.6 shortcut created by the installer.

Step 3—fix the USB driver

Connect the erased controller via the recovery USB port. Windows may first recognise it as a "Bossa Program Port"—this is not correct for SAM-BA. Open Device Manager, right-click that port, choose Update Driver Software, and point it to Atmel's official driver folder:

  • 32-bit Windows: c:\Program Files\Atmel\sam-ba_2.16\drv
  • 64-bit Windows: c:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\sam-ba_2.16\drv
Device Manager showing Bossa Program Port before the driver update
Before: Windows lists the port as "Bossa Program Port"—right-click it and update the driver.
Device Manager showing AT91 USB to Serial Converter after the driver update
After: the port now reads "AT91 USB to Serial Converter"—ready for SAM-BA.

Step 4—connect in SAM-BA

Launch SAM-BA and set two fields:

  • Connection: \usb\ARM0 or \USBserial\COMn (the exact ARM/COM entry will vary).
  • Board: at91sam7x256-ek—select this one exclusively; anything else will prevent the recovery from working.
SAM-BA connection dialog with connection and board fields
SAM-BA's connection dialog—select the connection and the AT91SAM7X256-EK board, then click Connect.

Step 5—flash the bootloader

In almost every case you will now reach the SAM-BA main window:

SAM-BA 2.6 main window on the Flash tab, cursor on the open-folder icon beside Send File Name
The SAM-BA main window—click the open-folder icon to the left of Send File, on the Flash tab.

Open the Flash tab, click the folder icon next to Send File Name and select the bootloader file for your controller—download the one matching your model:

Click Send File. On very old controllers you may see a lock-region warning—confirm with Yes to unlock. If SAM-BA then asks whether to re-lock the region, answer No: no memory region should remain locked.

SAM-BA Flash tab with the bootloader file path entered, about to click Send File
Browse to the bootloader .bin file and click Send File.
Lock region warning dialog, answer Yes to unlock
If prompted, unlock the lock region(s)—answer Yes.
Lock region dialog, answer No to leave regions unlocked
If asked to re-lock the region(s) afterward, answer No.

Step 6—boot from flash

Once all sectors show as unlocked, select the script "Boot from Flash (GPNVM2)" from the Scripts dropdown and click Execute. This completes the bootloader installation.

SAM-BA Flash tab with all sectors unlocked, about to click Execute on the Boot from Flash script
All sectors unlocked—select "Boot from Flash (GPNVM2)" and click Execute.

Step 7—reinstall the operative firmware

Power cycle the controller and reconnect it via its normal USB or network connection. Drag and drop the current operative firmware file onto the software:

For network-enabled controllers, the factory default address is 192.168.3.67 if DHCP is not available.

Once your controller is up to date you can safely uninstall Atmel's program and close the controller box.

Why this works: every controller carries two separate firmware layers—a bootloader (only active during a recovery like this one) and the operative firmware (what runs day to day). This two-layer design is what lets the normal firmware update be a simple drag-and-drop, while still leaving a low-level recovery path when something goes wrong.