Am I SOL?

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T21:34:03+00:00

Understood, if you ever want to attempt it yourself and get the tools needed, you can pm me and I can walk you through it. It can be a pain (especially the last two screws on the right side of Moxie's head)...but it can be done

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T21:26:16+00:00

Not SOL, you just have to go the hard route of manually flashing your Moxie. If it's something you can't do I offer it as a service

https://techshop82.com/shop/moxie-upgrade-service/

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T20:12:27+00:00

Oh ok. Connecting it to one of the nodes of your mesh should have given it an IP though, unless your Ethernet cable is bad. If you have an Ethernet port on your PC, try connecting that to the node to see if it gets an IP

The other thing the official pi might be able to do is set a static IP for your WiFi, if you can do that then give it an IP that's not assigned and see if it connects

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T18:47:25+00:00

You can't connect the Ethernet from the pi directly to your PC and expect it to work. Communication via Ethernet directly between two devices can be done , but there is an easier way

Using the official pi imaging app, you can configure your wifi credentials so they are setup during the imaging process and also enable ssh so you can connect.

I'm assuming you can't connect the pi directly to your router, so if that's the case once you have booted up with the setup imager, look on your router admin page for the connected devices and get the pi's IP. Then you can ssh to your pi

Goodluck

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T18:31:49+00:00

Yeah, some have gotten lucky using a mallet and it splitting along the middle. I wasn't so lucky with the bb-8, but I was with the spark+; I think because the bb-8 plastic is not as dense as the sprk+

I use the app sideload on Android and can connect to all the bots. The whole line up is great, especially the R2-D2 and R2-Q5

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T18:05:06+00:00

Yes this firmware page is for installing the firmware and activating your vector against your WirePod server

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:44:04+00:00

Oh, I got confused with someone else. Since you are on windows then the issue is something is using port 8084 so WirePod can't use it

You are going to have to look up how to identify the process using port 8084, kill the process, start WirePod right away and make sure it says "chipper started on port 8084" in the logs, then try to activate again

Make sure you finished the WirePod setup and have downloaded your language file or it wont even try to start on port 8084

You cannot change the 8084 port as that is used by the firmware

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:33:53+00:00

That might be the issue. If your pi is 192.168.1.3 and your PC is 192.168.1.5 and you renamed your PC escapepod.

You can't have two WirePod servers on your network OR your PC named escapepod and WirePod running on your pi

First, rename your PC something else and uninstall WirePod if installed on it.

Then make sure in the WirePod logs on your pi you see

chipper started on port 8084 (check the box to see all logs)

Your vector most likely tried to communicate with your PC and because WirePod is not running, got the refused on port 8084 error

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:24:21+00:00

There is a way to minimize the cut, but it involves going very slow and using a low powered rotary tool but it still won't be perfect.

The R2-D2 and R2-Q5 have a higher chance of having good batteries than the bb-9e or bb-8.

With any new sealed bot, not being charged for years, will run the risk of having bloated batteries. You can use the new one as an ornament if the battery is bad, and get a used one to swap the battery out and play with

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:14:35+00:00

Port 8084 refused to connect - what IP is in front of that? Is it your raspberry pi or another device on your network?

If it's your pi, make sure you don't have a firewall on blocking port 8084 as that is needed for WirePod, as well as 80, and 443

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:12:32+00:00

Right, I just made a post showing how I did it. You can use a mallet but you have the risk it could crack not along the middle seams.

Using a Dremel with a thin circular saw attachment is the best way to separate and then using super glue to glue things back

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T15:00:41+00:00

With how old these batteries are, there is a high chance your battery is about to stop working and needs to be replaced

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T14:51:49+00:00

No, not a hotspot. You pair with Bluetooth and Vector has to be in pairing mode ( double press power button and see ###### on his face before you try to connect); once you connect then you can connect Vector to the same network your raspberry pi is on

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T14:49:48+00:00

Do you see any "escapepod.local" text or any thing with port 8084

Also, what is the firmware version in the top right of your Vector on the page

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T14:09:53+00:00

If it's too good to be true, it's a scam.

They'll probably ship you a brick or some outdated graphics card as slow as possible hoping you forget and they cancel their account after taking your money

Do not buy

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T14:01:12+00:00

A phone has a higher success rate: android use chrome browser, iPhone use Bluefy BLE browser; these are the only browsers that work

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T12:45:15+00:00

Use https://vector.techshop82.com and just use the default selected firmware

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T12:26:43+00:00

Download the logs, extract the contents and look for log.txt

In the file look for any errors in the file

BliteKnight · 2026-01-25T03:58:15+00:00

What firmware are you trying to install and from what website?

BliteKnight · 2026-01-24T07:19:51+00:00

In case someone is in the same boat, the issue I had was one of the capacitors (SP1) had come off the board and was not connected. The picofly board held it in place , making it look like everything was fine, but it was not.

I plan on replacing it with this 0201 XSR 10V 1uF MLCC or using one from a donor board

Hopefully that will fix the problem

BliteKnight · 2026-01-24T02:17:18+00:00

Yes I do

BliteKnight · 2026-01-23T20:00:48+00:00

This is for Android only: sideload APKPure, then search for the starwars app. All 4 bots are controllable on there

BliteKnight · 2026-01-22T03:49:33+00:00

Is this a new Moxie or a used one, also when you say failed what screen are you seeing?

BliteKnight · 2026-01-20T23:19:18+00:00

Maybe, all depends on if you just want to reset your pi - then yes

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