Help With Solex App

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I have been running Solex on my Android devices (Samsung Tab S3 and Note 9).
I like using my Note as the S3 is a 10-inch tablet and takes an aftermarket holder to mount to my controller.
I am using Solex App rev 1.9.0 on my devices and Open Solo 3.0 on my Solo and controller.
Solex worked great on both Android devices for months.
I recently updated to Solex 1.9.0.

I went fly my Solo last night and had some issues with the FPV video stream from my GoPro showing up inside the Solex app.
I get good FPV video on the S3.

I switched to my Note 9 Phone and I get a "video not supported" error on my Note 9 phone.
I tried the following troubleshooting steps:

1.Factory reset Solo
2. Factory reset Controller
3. Repaired Solo & Controller

Same issue.
Here is where I noted a difference between the two devices.
On my Note 9 when I open Solex the Note 9 shows the following:
1. "Unknown SSID" when the Phone Wifi is actually connected to the Solo WiFi broadcast
2. With Solex set to Solo as default it changes from Type Solo to Copter after reading the Solo parameters
3. When I push the fly button I get the "video not supported" when changes to the Fly screen

On my Note 9 did the following multiple times:
1. Removed Solex app
2. Deleted Solex folders
3. Reinstalled Solex
4. Told Note 9 to forget the Solo WiFi connection and went through the process of reconnecting and reentering the password.

Same problem. "video not supported" error.

It appears to me the Solex logic for parsing the telemetry stream on my Note 9 is not correctly identifying my bird as a Solo and resulting in the "video not supported" error.
Could be because the Solex app is not correctly identify the WiFI SSID correctly?
Is there another folder or file somewhere on my Note 9 I need to delete to complete remove Solex then reinstall it?

I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on this.

- Mike
 
Just curious, but did the phone get put in airplane mode? Is the tablet a cellular device or just WiFi? I am only asking because my shield is getting up there in age and I may need to look for something soon and have been thinking about jumping from Apple to Android.
 
I had a similar issue a while back on my S7, got a few "Video not supported" messages and then I'd get all sorts of screwy things happening with my video feed. I'd either get a blank (black) feed, or I'd get a feed, but the camera controls would be grayed out (so I couldn't start, stop recording or change modes). I found out that this was related to the resolution on my phone. If I was using WQHD (2560 x 1440) I would have these issues. However when I dropped the resolution to HD (1280 x 720) I had my feed back and camera controls were working again. This happened with two different solo's using 2 different GoPro's. Like I said, once I dropped the resolution on the phone, they both worked fine.
 
IrishmanPDX...those all good suggestions. However, I have never had issues before. I did try all of the resolutions available and no changes.
I really think it has to do with the Solex algorithm that parse the Solo's parameters. I have Solex set to a default platform of Solo. At the main Solex screen it says Solo. Additionally when I connect to the Solo WiFi the Solex app reports WiFi:<"unknown ssid>. When I press connect Solex reads all 512 parameters from the Solo. As soon as the last parameter is read Solex then states "connected to copter". The shows "copter" on the screen. When I press fly and go to the fly screen the app reports Video not compatible. I think When this happens I think Solex believes the FPV video stream is not coming from a Solo quad copter and is looking for other non-Solo video streams. When it cant decode it, it generates the video not compatible" error.

Both of my android devices are running Android 9.0.
I don't have this problem with my Samsung tablet. It reads the parameters and states connected to Solo. Then when I push the fly button it shows the live FPV video from my GoPro just fine.

- Mike
 
All I am happy to report the problem is resolved. I can definitely tell you IF the Solex app says WiFi:<"unknown ssid> Solex will not believe it is connected to a Solo quad copter platform and will not know how to decode the video stream correctly and this will generate the "video not compatible" error.

Here is the steps I took correct the problem.
1. Removed the Solex app and deleted all of the Solex folders on my Note 9 phone.
2. Removed Solex Target app
3. Removed the com.fgnl.solex folder in the internal storage/android/data/folder
4. Reinstalled the Solex app

Starting from scratch I connected to my Solo's WiFi broadcast
Launched Solex.
At this point Solex still reported WiFi:<"unknown ssid> on the main screen.
I pressed the WiFi Settings button. ( I did this before but I am not sure I actually pressed the Solo's WiFi broadcast name because my phone showed it was connected already). So I then clicked again on the name of my Solo's WiFi broadcast.
When I went back to the Solex main screen WiFi showed <"unknown ssid> then changed to <SoloXXXXXX>
I pressed connect. Once the Solo's parameters downloaded Solex stated "connected to Solo".
Then when I pressed the fly button finally the Solex app displayed the live FPV stream from the GoPro.

I cannot say which of these steps actually fixed the problem (maybe I just needed to press on the Solo's broadcast name again????), but, I am happy to report that Solex is finally working again on my Samsung Note 9. Yeah. :)

- Mike
 
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Glad to hear you got it working.

The "<unknown ssid>" issue is apparently from some devices trying to "help out" with your lack of an internet connection by using 4G or similar to provide internet access while you're on Solo's WiFi. On the device I typically use for flying (Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, no 4G), I occasionally get "<unknown ssid>" when I'm in an area with no WiFi at all.

The "Video Not Supported" issue happens when for whatever reason, Solex isn't able to determine that the vehicle it's connected to is a Solo. It (actually DroneKit) determines this by establishing a TCP connection to the Solo on its IP (10.1.1.10) and port 5507. This results in the vehicle connection having a "SoloState" that Solex looks for to know that it's a Solo. If that connection is not active, Solex has no idea what it's connected to other than the main flight controller. Since there is no video it can use at that point, it assumes the connected vehicle doesn't support video streaming.

I recently upgraded a Solo to Copter 3.6.3 and the process went completely wrong, resulting in a Solo that I could connect to, but which was not listening for connections on 5507. I would get the normal vehicle connection, but no SoloState, and was reliably getting the "Video not supported" warning. A subsequent factory reset attempt yielded a Solo that would not boot. Super convenient when you're, say, the guy who maintains a popular app for the 3DR Solo.

Anyway, the root problem for "Video not supported" on a Solo is a failure to see the required connections on a Solo, generally a network problem.
 
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Starting from scratch I connected to my Solo's WiFi broadcast
Launched Solex.
At this point Solex still reported WiFi:<"unknown ssid> on the main screen.
I pressed the WiFi Settings button. ( I did this before but I am not sure I actually pressed the Solo's WiFi broadcast name because my phone showed it was connected already). So I then clicked again on the name of my Solo's WiFi broadcast.
When I went back to the Solex main screen WiFi showed <"unknown ssid> then changed to <SoloXXXXXX>
I pressed connect. Once the Solo's parameters downloaded Solex stated "connected to Solo".
Then when I pressed the fly button finally the Solex app displayed the live FPV stream from the GoPro.

- Mike
Well to help narrow this down. I just tried these steps. No luck. Same problem "Wifi: <unknown ssid>" . So now I will try again after uninstalling the Solex app I guess. I don't have a tablet so this is on a Galaxy S8.

As another poster said it seems the Video not Supported is all linked back to this network issue.
 
Still having issues. Deleted and reinstalled app. Still <unknown ssid> . It does connect and download all 512 parameters. Then it says Connected to <unknown ssid> Type: Copter.

I have even tried switching the wifi from DHCP to a static IP for this connections no help.

Separate issue, I have noticed the menu is too short. I had issues installing Open Solo because the menu stops at Vehicles. There is no update firmware or any other options at what should be the bottom of the menu. This is even with Advanced Mode checked.
 
Success! I uninstalled and reinstalled as MRhoades suggested with no luck. Tried again this morning. Nothing. Then I turned on location for my phone and it immediately brought up the SoloLink_XXXXXX. I connected and it downloaded all the parameters again. Working well.
 
All I am happy to report the problem is resolved. I can definitely tell you IF the Solex app says WiFi:<"unknown ssid> Solex will not believe it is connected to a Solo quad copter platform and will not know how to decode the video stream correctly and this will generate the "video not compatible" error.

Here is the steps I took correct the problem.
1. Removed the Solex app and deleted all of the Solex folders on my Note 9 phone.
2. Removed Solex Target app
3. Removed the com.fgnl.solex folder in the internal storage/android/data/folder
4. Reinstalled the Solex app

Starting from scratch I connected to my Solo's WiFi broadcast
Launched Solex.
At this point Solex still reported WiFi:<"unknown ssid> on the main screen.
I pressed the WiFi Settings button. ( I did this before but I am not sure I actually pressed the Solo's WiFi broadcast name because my phone showed it was connected already). So I then clicked again on the name of my Solo's WiFi broadcast.
When I went back to the Solex main screen WiFi showed <"unknown ssid> then changed to <SoloXXXXXX>
I pressed connect. Once the Solo's parameters downloaded Solex stated "connected to Solo".
Then when I pressed the fly button finally the Solex app displayed the live FPV stream from the GoPro.

I cannot say which of these steps actually fixed the problem (maybe I just needed to press on the Solo's broadcast name again????), but, I am happy to report that Solex is finally working again on my Samsung Note 9. Yeah. :)

- Mike
Hi!!
I am experiencing the same problem. I have been trying to debug the problem for over a week without any luck.
I am connected to solo WiFi but Solex constantly is "Looking for vehicle..."
I did follow your procedure, Nothing...
Ahh I am so sad.
PS. What is weird is that the Stock 3dr Solo app works flawlessly. And just to double check that I have completed everything correctly, I re-flashed OpenSolo 3.0 into my copter using the SSH method.
 
Hi!!
I am experiencing the same problem. I have been trying to debug the problem for over a week without any luck.
I am connected to solo WiFi but Solex constantly is "Looking for vehicle..."
I did follow your procedure, Nothing...
Ahh I am so sad.
PS. What is weird is that the Stock 3dr Solo app works flawlessly. And just to double check that I have completed everything correctly, I re-flashed OpenSolo 3.0 into my copter using the SSH method.

Hard to say for certain, but this might be fixed in the next update. I have a tablet here that wouldn't connect to the vehicle, and changed a few things in the connection logic to make it work. I assume you're already on the appropriate WiFi for your Solo.... What device are you seeing the "Looking for Vehicle" problem on?
 
I just bought a new wifi android tablet and was having the same issue. I figured out that location services has to be active. As soon as I turned it on in security and privacy, unknown said went away. I connected to the solo wifi and boom....recognized it as a solo and got video. Hope that helps someone out there.
 
For what it's worth, the "Video Not Supported" error on a Solo happens when Solex is unable to identify the vehicle as a Solo, and falls back to treating it as a generic Copter. There is a service on the Solo that listens on TCP port 5507, and a connection to that provides access to the Solo-specific services on the copter. If that service isn't listening on the expected port, then Solex can't identify the vehicle as a Solo. It doesn't relate to Wifi passwords, airplane mode, etc. It's basically just that. I had seen reports of people seeing this error and wasn't able to reproduce it, so I didn't know what was going on. Then I upgraded one of my own Solos and after the upgrade, I was getting the same error. I checked to see if the Solo had a service listening on TCP 5507, and sure enough, it no longer was. So if you upgrade your Solo and you suddenly start getting that error, it's safe to assume your firmware upgrade didn't to as expected.
 
I can confirm that the issue (at least on a Moto Z2 Force running Android 9) is location setting. I had to turn on location in the phone settings before it would detect the Solo (running Open Solo 4) correctly and give me video.

EDIT: Interestingly enough, it doesn't matter on a chromebook. I have the Solex app installed on a decently high end HP Chromebook that I did all the installs from, and never had the error. Only on the phone.
 
I can confirm that the issue (at least on a Moto Z2 Force running Android 9) is location setting. I had to turn on location in the phone settings before it would detect the Solo (running Open Solo 4) correctly and give me video.

EDIT: Interestingly enough, it doesn't matter on a chromebook. I have the Solex app installed on a decently high end HP Chromebook that I did all the installs from, and never had the error. Only on the phone.

That is correct. Newer Android versions require you to have the Location Permissions setting turned on before some WiFi functions will work properly, because it's possible to determine someone's general location based on the WiFi access points they're connected to. Without Location permissions, Android refuses to retrieve SSID information from the WiFi service, which interferes with the way DroneKit (and Solex by extension) uses the WiFi connection to connect to your vehicle.
 
Today, I also had Solex display <unknown ssid>, but the SSID can be seen in the phone's settings. Finally, I found out that it was because my phone's location was not turned on.
Thanks for having this forum where I can find the cause and fix it.
 

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