[wogfun]

I've read the FAQs what feels like countless times, and I still don't understand something very fundamental about all this because I CANNOT for the life of me even get a BNF kit up in the air.  I'm losing patients.

a FC: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CG6CU9E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
a bnf build: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TDHAZQ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
a few ia6 recievers
a bunch more crap

heres the problem.   whenever i go through the flight setup wizard, SOMETHING always goes wrong.  last night it stopped at the part where it wants to spin up the motors. 

I have a bunch of flight controllers that I can flash firmware, but are no longer recognized when i plug them into usb as coptorcontrol.
I suppose lets start with this question, when you receive a flight controller in the mail from a vendor, and it comes with literally no information, how do you know what to flash on there?  Because flashing ALL the fw's on LPs faq do not work in my FC's, and they are most certainly cc3d.

[jtrout19]

The fc you linked is not a cc3d. The fc that you purchase needs to be compatible with LP firmware....thats my 2 cents. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00T655W5I/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477751597&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=cc3d
That is a cc3d. LP is also compatible with sparky 2 board which i dont see on amazon.

[hwh]

...a FC: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CG6CU9E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ...

As jtrout19 said, it's definately not a cc3d and not compatible with LP.  The Amazon page clearly states it's running Cleanflight.

...a bnf build: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TDHAZQ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ...

That one does appear to have a cc3d and should be able to run LP.

...heres the problem.   whenever i go through the flight setup wizard, SOMETHING always goes wrong.  last night it stopped at the part where it wants to spin up the motors.  ...

That's not really enough of a description of your problem for anyone to help you.  All you're really saying is that it didn't work.   What did you do, what did you expect it to do, and what did it actually do?

... I suppose lets start with this question, when you receive a flight controller in the mail from a vendor, and it comes with literally no information, how do you know what to flash on there?  Because flashing ALL the fw's on LPs faq do not work in my FC's, and they are most certainly cc3d.

If it's a cc3d or revo then GCS will recognize it and tell you what's on it and to upgrade it if it's outdated.  Upgrading is just a matter of going to the firmware tab and clicking a few buttons.  The matching firmware for all supported boards is built into GCS.  If it has a really old bootloader you may have to manually download a replacement. https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LPDOC/Firmware+Tab tells about upgrading bootloaders and firmware.

All of your boards probably aren't cc3ds since one of the ones you linked to isn't one.  You could post pictures and someone could probably tell you what board they are.

Most Chinese cc3ds (and revos) come with outdated firmware on them, most with about a year or so old OpenPilot but I have received them with two or more year outdated firmware on them.  Even the oldest ones are recognized by GCS and can be upgraded.

If you need to learn about LP in general the wiki https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LPDOC/User+Manual has lots of information.

[jtrout19]

If you get the revo from hobbyking they come with 15.09 which is the last release. Very easy to upgrade. Just plug in hit a few buttons and you are ready to go.

[wogfun]

First, I want to thank the community for your quick and helpful replies.  I can feel I am among others that follow the "golden rule", to treat others as you wish to be treated, so thank you.

I understand my original question was vague, so I'll try to take this one step at a time.  I'm just overwhelmed because I'm literally drowning in Amazon boxes at this point and am losing track of whats what.

My first goal is to get this Arris 250 BNF running.  Forget the other FC I listed before, I have a bunch lying around now but I'd really like to just get the hang of this before I try upgrading the FC on this pre-built.

I have this: https://www.amazon.com/FPV250-Racing-Drones-Quadcopter-Assembled/dp/B00TDHAZQ0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

The details claim it has a CCD3 flight controller.  After not getting CF to recognize it, I started up LP and got it to read the real time data (it was showing compass heading, artificial horizon, etc).  I attemped to update the firmware with the CCD3 link on this page: http://opwiki.readthedocs.io/en/latest/appendices/bootloader.html
Since then, windows no longer shows ANYTHING in the device manager when I plug it in, and all I can do is load firmware via LP.  I've tried a few different .opfw files to no avail.  I'm guessing I'm loading the wrong firmware?  And also, CleanFlight does not work at all.  It shows COM1 as the only possible connnection and does not connect.

I hope I've outlined this in a way that is east to understand.  Any input is greatly appreciated.

[f5soh]

If you already flashed the bootloader you need a running firmware that allow connection:

- Disconnect board from USB
- Hit Upgrade&Erase button
- Connect board to USB
- Wait flash process and reboot / erase for at least 30s.

Assuming the board is alone and not powered externally, of course.
You can see there is no .opfw firmwares, all needed is already packed into the GCS.

Full procedure is described here:
https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LPDOC/Firmware+Tab#FirmwareTab-UpdateBootloaderandUpdatefirmware

[wogfun]

Thank you for your help.  I wasn't following the instruction in the pop up that said "some" boards need to be plugged in AFTER pressing "upgrade and erase".