My V4 Cortex Stopped Working with the Same Code

VEX V5 Technical Support
#1

So I was testing my robot yesterday, and it was working fine. I tried to test it today, but it wouldn’t work. I tried multiple cortexes, yet it still wouldn’t work. I used the same code and did not change any motors. I also tried the Vex troubleshooting files, but they did not work. What should I do?

#2

Battery or vex net could be an issue.

#3

may we see the code?

#4

recharge the battery or try another battery
if that doesn’t work then power cycle the cortex and controller
if that doesn’t work then try unplugging the motors and plugging them back in

#5

Try smacking it with a hammer. Worked for me.
PLEASE DON’T!
Does the Cortex power on okay? Does it twitch before it stops moving? If so, it could be a loose battery connection. There are a couple of solutions to this.

Is everything charged and plugged in? Seems simple, but I’ve spent nearly 10 minutes on my robot before realizing my battery was probably dead.

Try doing a Firmware Download, re-pairing the cortex and controller, then trying again. Sometimes works for me.

Also, be sure to try to run a simple code to run a single motor to test the Cortex ports. One of the easiest troubleshooting options.

#6

It’s possible that some metal shavings got into the cortex and in doing so shorting out the electronics.

#7

hm…
we had the same issue a while ago…
https://vexforum.com/t/broken-cortex/51108/1

…is vex remotely killing cortex’s so that we’re all forced to switch over to v5?

#8

@Xenon
Here is our code. Please don’t roast as I have programmed this with no prior experience.
while (true)
{
motor[FrontLeft] = vexRT[Ch3]; //drive system
motor[MiddleLeft] = vexRT[Ch3];
motor[BackLeft] = vexRT[Ch3];
motor[FrontRight] = vexRT[Ch2];
motor[MiddleRight] = vexRT[Ch2];
motor[BackRight] = vexRT[Ch2];

if(vexRT[Btn6U] == 1)  //puncher
	{
		motor[Puncher] = 127;
	}
	else
	{
		motor[Puncher] = 0;
	}
	
	if(vexRT[Btn5U] == 1)  //ball intake system
	{
		motor[BallIntake] = 127;
		motor[BallPusher] = 127;
	}
	else if(vexRT[Btn5D] == 1)
	{
		motor[BallIntake] = -127;
		motor[BallPusher] = -127;
	}
	else
	{
		motor[BallIntake] = 0;
		motor[BallPusher] = 0;
	}
	
	if(vexRT[Btn8U] == 1)
	{
		motor[Bar] = 127;
	}
	else if(vexRT[Btn8D] == 1)
	{
		motor[Bar] = -127;
	}
	else
	{
		motor[Bar] = 0;
	}

}

#9

Did you look at these flowcharts? https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2013/06/vex-robot-troubleshooting-flowchart.pdf

Can we get a more detailed description of your problem? What doesn’t work? Does it turn on?

#10

That code looks fine can you link the whole file so we can look at it? Try uploading a simple program that turns on a motor to see if it is the cortex causing the problem or corrupt code.

#11

I fixed the problem. The problem was that around 5 of my motor controllers were broken, so once I replaced them, the robot began to work again. Thanks to all who helped!

#12