Femto Bolt Issues

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Femto Bolt fails to start streaming in Depthkit →
Femto Bolt reports USB 2.1 connection →
Femto Bolt Doesn't Appear in Depthkit or Orbbec Viewer →
Femto Bolt not registered with Windows →

Femto Bolt fails to start streaming in Depthkit

This is usually caused by the sensors having booted into an unknown state, which sometimes happens when the sensor is connected to the PC before the sensors it self has fully booted up.

• Disconnect all sensors from the computer and their DC power source. This includes physically disconnecting the USB cables, as bus power can persist on those connections even when a data connection is severed, causing the sensor to fail to fully power down.
• Connect all sensors to DC power and allow them to fully boot up without a data connection to a host. My understanding is that once the white LED appears on the front of the sensor, it is fully booted and awaiting a data connection.
• One sensor at a time, connect the data USB cable to the host PC, and wait until the connection is fully initialized (~10-15 seconds) before moving on to the next sensor. Once hosted, each sensor's front LED should turn off, and the RGB and depth cameras should appear in device manager.
• When all sensors are reconnected, refresh the device list in Depthkit, and start streaming. Depthkit should properly detect and start streaming all sensors.

If you shut down the computer and/or sensors, when you next start the system, be sure to power the sensors on first and allow them to boot up before starting the PC.

Femto Bolt reports USB 2.1 connection

In order to capture color and depth data successfully from each sensor, the sensor must be connected via a fast connection like USB 3.1. In some scenarios, the Femto Bolt will establish a slower USB 2.1 connection instead of the correct USB 3.1 connection. Depthkit can detect and alert you if any sensors are connected via a USB 2.1 connection instead of a USB 3.1 connection.

This may be caused when the sensor is connected to the PC via certain 3rd-party USB extension cables or to an unsupported USB port. We are still investigating the causes of this issue - More information can be found in this issue on Orbbec's GitHub.

To troubleshoot, try the following steps:

• Ensure that the USB port that the sensor is connected to is indeed a supported USB 3.0 port or better. For desktop computers, the StarTech PEXUSB3S44V PCIe card has been tested and validated to provide a proper connection.
• Ensure that you're using suitable cables. Try bypassing any USB extenders and use only the factory cable. If a USB 3 connection is made when connecting only via the factory cable, you may need to replace your other cables/extenders.

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Our internal testing mating the factory USB cable provided with the Bolt sensor in-line with a StarTech USB3AAEXT10M has yielded mixed results, sometimes capturing successfully, and sometimes establishing a USB 2.1 connection to some sensors - We are working with Orbbec to further isolate the issue.

• With Depthkit closed, open the Orbbec Viewer utility, open it, select the sensor with the USB 2.1 connection, and click the 'Reboot' button on the 'More' page to restart the sensor. This will reset the USB connection, and may sometimes restore the connection to USB 3.

• If restarting the sensor does not re-establish the USB 3.1 connection, restart the PC.

If just restarting the sensor and computer does not restore the connection to USB 3.1:

• Check all hardware connections between the sensor and the computer, including the USB cable's connection to the sensor and the extender.
• Unplug all sensors from the computer.
• Power off all sensors.
• Wait 10 seconds.
• Power on all sensors.
• Connect one sensor to the computer.
• Wait 10-15 seconds for the sensor to establish the connection.
• Confirm that the sensor is fully connected. One way to do this is to ensure it appears and starts streaming in Depthkit's Core Record tab, and that the USB 2.1 warning pictured above is no longer present.
• Repeat this connection, waiting, and confirmation of connection with each sensor until all sensors are connected. If the sensor reconnects with a USB 2.1 connection, restart the sensor and then the computer.

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Restarting/reconnecting the sensor multiple times may yield different results.

While we are still working to isolate the underlying cause of this issue, we have found that restarting the sensor may sometimes still result in USB 2.1, but that restarting the sensor again or restarting the PC may re-establish the USB 3.1 connection. If a particular sensor still is connected via USB 2.1 after restarting the sensor, be sure to restart the PC, and restart the sensor again if necessary.

Femto Bolt Doesn't Appear in Depthkit or Orbbec Viewer

You may find that even if a sensor is powered up and physically connected to your PC, it does not appear in Depthkit, Orbbec Viewer, or even Windows Device Manager (under Cameras).

This may be caused when multiple sensors attempt to establish a connection to the host PC simultaneously (for example if all sensors are powered on simultaneously), and one or more of the sensors may fail to make that connection.

To resolve:

• Check all hardware connections between the sensor and the computer, including the USB cable's connection to the sensor and the extender.
• Unplug all sensors from the computer.
• Power off all sensors.
• Wait 10 seconds.
• Power on all sensors.
• Connect one sensor to the computer.
• Wait 10-15 seconds for the sensor to establish the connection.
• Confirm that the sensor is fully connected. One way to do this is to ensure it appears and starts streaming in Depthkit's Core Record tab, and that the USB 2.1 warning pictured above is no longer present.
• Repeat this connection, waiting, and confirmation of connection with each sensor until all sensors are connected.

Femto Bolt not registered with Windows

The Femto Bolt must be registered within Windows Registry before it can be used with Depthkit. Depthkit will automatically attempt to register the sensor if it has not yet been registered by launching an instance of Windows PowerShell.

Ensure that you give PowerShell administrative privileges when prompted to ensure that the registration is completed successfully.

If this fails, restart Depthkit with the unregistered sensor connected to retry the registration.