DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx EtherDongle => Topic started by: kmcallorum on July 22, 2013,
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I have had my etd's working. But now I cannot get it to work in xlights through router or direct connect with straight or crossover.
I verified my express is set to Channel 1-16 using dongle. No problem.
I lug in express to my source green light and activity light go on. I plug the express in and Dmx light in goes on.
I use xlights to turn on lights nothing.
I use lsp to turn on lights nothing,
While the status lights show working, I cannot get either Ted dongle to work.
Reef lashed over and over, tried crossover cable and straight cable, nothing. Plugged into router nothing.
What am I missing
Kevin
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What firmware are you using on the Etherdongle? Did you flash it with DMX or Pixelnet? Do you have your E1.31 universes set up correctly?
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Flashed Dmx. Setup like PDF
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Not sure if its xLights or the Etd.
First is the green light on the Etd? (inside the case the "I am a live led")
Do you have lights on and blinking at the silver rj-45 jack (the input side) - The black jack is the output to the LE, etc
In xLights do you have the output enabled?
Do you have the correct range of channels selected?
Rick R.
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Well green light for power. Green light on magic jack, activity on magicjack and green light on express when plugged in.
Same set of cables for dongle work. When on etd all lights on just will not turn on lights. I see activity burst but nothing power wise.
Xlights works for dongle but when set for multicast with range set now power to express for lights.
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long story short, everthing reflashed.
ETD - Latest from wiki for dmx.
express - latest from wiki.
Xlights latest from website
lsp latest from website
The power light on
majikjack light on
activity light blinks
expressd dmx light on
when running test from xlights dmx light on express flashes. Lights don't turn on.
when running test from lsp ligh on express flashes lights don 't turn on.
switch to dongle.
Both lsp and xlights turn on lights.
So it looks like data is being sent to express, but will not turn on lights from etd. dongle works fine.
i have tried 2 different etd's same thing.
they both worked last year.
Any other ideas???
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do the lights power up when you use debug/test firmware in the SSC?
you can rule out the cable, the connection to the pixels (data/12v+/ground are not swapped) the SSC, and the pixels.
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This is dmx only i am using an express that is set for ch 1-16
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In lsp are your controllers set to "e1.31 DMX over ethernet" and "Light Controller"? And in the configure outputs is it configured for the etherdongle? And the output turned on?
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All answers yes
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So you are connecting in this way right:
Laptop -> Wired ethernet -> Switch (or Access point) ->Etherdongle -> Out of Etherdongle DMX out -> Lynx Express
right?
A few things to check
1. If you are wired to the Switch / Access Point what's your IP Address that's been assigned to the Laptop
It should be 1.192.168.1.XX ( Gateway should be 192.168.1.1)
2. If connecting to a Access Point, have you turned off your wireless and force the Laptop to use the Hardwired Ethernet connection
3. On the Lynx Express, have you got the "Remove for Wireless" jumper set correctly, it should be ON for wired mode?
4. On the Lynx Express have you got the terminate jumper installed?
5. In LSP for the Configure outputs, is it set with the default values, and made active, by setting the check boxes on all the universes
(In LSP if there is a problem with set up after the initial set up and LSP can't "see" the Ether dongle, it will Un-check the Configure outputs by default even though you thought you set them up correctly the first time)
6. In LSP for configure outputs, is it set for the correct LAN connection?
7. For the cable that comes from the Switch / Access Point is it plugged into the Ethernet input jack on the Etherdongle correctly?
(The Laptop connects to the silver MagJack input side of the Etherdongle, then out on the other connector on the Etherdongle to the Input of the Lynx Express into the DMX input)
8. Does the test mode on the Lynx Express work and light up in stand alone mode on all channels?
9. On the Laptop, are any virus checkers running (if so turn them off for now)
10. Does your Router support Multicast (on mine it isn't filtered as default, so it passes the Multicast packets, but some routers filter multicast, or don't support passing multicast packets, so that might be causing your issues as you go through the router)
Below is what the Output configuration should look in LSP (your Lan connection might be different to mine though)
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In Xlights you set up should look like below. Then on the test page make sure you select ALL then hit chase and you should see some activity.
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well latest version looks like.
DMX/Express works with dmx dongle. It works fine.
When I plug majikjack into lan and express into rj45. And run with the attached config nothing.
Both in LSP and Xlights. Nada a light turns on. All lights show activity just nothing turns on.
and yes I am checking all. Channel all work in test and in dongle land. its just etd land is all activity flash but lights themselves do not go on.
It's like etd is not sending dmx or something blocking it. No virus or firewalls on.
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What router are you using?
What's your setting for your router (I'm assuming you are going through a router)
What happens if you connect directly from you computer direct to the Etherdongle? (you may need a swap cable for this)
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tried direct connection. that's where I am at.
reg cat five lights on activity yes. no power to any channels
crossover cable same.
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and I have tried two pc's and two etds. same result on mixture.
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In XP if you connect directly from the computer to the jack with the lights on it, the computer will spend a little time trying to pull an ip address then it will say it is an unknown network. Does something similar happen for you? You should also see action on the network jack on the etherdongle. Especially when you start to play a sequence. Did these etherdongles used to work for you? If so are you using a different computer or any other hardware equipment?
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I have win 7. I program without dhcp. so I already have ip. there is ton of action on the magicjack seeing the activity.
both worked fine last November. they were put in a box, and when I pulled them out there is no response. I tried reflashing them. still no go.
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wireshark shows the packets are being sent.
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Looking at your screenshot it looks like you have an old version of xlights. The latest is here- http://nutcracker123.com/nutcracker/releases/ Is your configuration screenshot of the version that worked for you last year?
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same one.
tried new xlights same thing
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Maybe create all 4 dmx universes for the etherdongle in xlights and do a select all in the test screen of the lastest version of xlights. That way it is sending on all possible channels.
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I have tried all something is blocking dmx just don't know what
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Has anyone else tried running the latest DMX firmware on their EtherDongle with a direct connection to an Express to make sure that this combination is still working?
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Not sure if it will make any difference but the latest version of X-Lights - Nutcracker is here:
http://nutcracker123.com/nutcracker/releases/xLights_Nutcracker_3_0_21.exe
You might want to add all 16 universes in, I know in LSP 2 there was a issue when you only defined 1 universe. In the mean time unless someone beats me to it I will download the latest DMX code for the Etd and check it out with an express this weekend.
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kmcallorum,
Do you have any other kits around (different types are ok) that can be used to verify your setup?
I'd suggest that you deconstruct your setup into smaller pieces that you them verify, piece-by-piece.
If you had a USB dongle, you could test your DMX controller and bypass the rest. The goal would be to very the controller, and some cabling, and your software.
Another idea is to verify you are getting power and signal coming out of various parts of your setup... you can use individual LEDs to create a tester -- like what I posted in this message:
http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=8787.msg123858#msg123858 (http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=8787.msg123858#msg123858)
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I believe he said his usb dongle works correctly with that controller.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.
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Guys it cant be any smaller. 1 express and 1 etd. All activity lights show its working wireshark shows activity. Express show dmx connected. and etd's (plural) don't work. Dongle works just fine.
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OK took my second EtD and flashed with current DMX hex file and then connected to my switch and loaded X-Lights 3.0.21 and selected output to lights and then selected Test page (using the config I posted earlier) and checked off channels 1 to 16 then selected chase and channels 1 through 16 lit on my express.
The loaded and LSP 2.5 and loaded a sequence and selected test hardware and chase and again all 16 channels of the express flashed merrily away.
SO we know the Etd DMX hex works fine, Now we just need to figure out why yours isn't working. BTW when packets were being sent to the Etd the yellow light on the mag jack flashed at a pretty steady clip, when there was no data being sent just a steady pulse of the yellow LED.
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Do you have another express to test with? Jumpers on express all set properly?
Do you have a replacement (std. cat5, not crossover) cable you can try? -- bad cable = nightmares, but common
Can you upload a picture of your ED board so we can inspect for anything unexpected?
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I have tried it all so at this at this point I guess its a wash three etds are done.
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Are you willing to ship so someone else can try them for you or where are you located maybe someone near by.
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Lets look at this from a logic point of view. Does it make sense that three Etds that were know to work all died at the same time with the same issue.
This would lead me to believe either there is something else common to your setup. Or that maybe they all were reflashed with firmware since they worked and something is not getting flashed right or something.
RJ
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I have flashed them with the firmware from the wiki a couple of times. I have pickit 3 latest software and the datafile from the wiki. verifying and writing erasing and blank checks all seems fine with the flash no errors.
the only odd thing is there is a checksum on the board(I have one but wiki shows 0000), and I have since upgraded to windows 8. but between last year and this year that's the only change. I tried a borrowed windows 7 today but same result.
etd when plugged in to express lights up dmx data light, the internet port on etd green light and yellow activity light goes hog wild when I run test. upgraded to lastest xlights still no go.
all lights show its connected and send and receiving data, just nothing turns on channel. swap out etd with dongle and lights come on and go off. so express is programmed correctly. xlights works. used wireshark and see packets being sent to correct addresses for etd just nothing will flash that light power for dmx.
last year before putting them up it worked like a champ. this year just isn't looking like etd year. it's like the dmx data is being sent but the etd isn't interpreting and its flashed etherdongle_dmx.hex.
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In xlights setup you are removing the usb dongle network type setting before adding the e1.31 setting correct?
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yes. same way I started last year. but the answer is yes. all is setup correctly just no dmx signal going through etd to express.
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Something that you might try, instead of using the v3 Beta of the stand alone programming software, try it with the version 1 from the Wiki. I had the exact same issue going on and sent my EtD to another user and they reflashed with v1 (I used the v3 beta) and it started working.
I am the one that created the chip database file for the v3 beta and I'm thinking that it may not be working correctly for the chip on the EtD. If you find out that flashing with the v1 works, please let us know and I'll talk to Rick about removing the database file from the Wiki until we can sort out what went wrong.
When I was flashing the EtD with v3, I received no errors and everything looked like it was working (LEDs on the MagJack doing what they should, etc.). So there may just be something wrong in the database entry.
I hope this gets you going in the right direction!
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Something that you might try, instead of using the v3 Beta of the stand alone programming software, try it with the version 1 from the Wiki. I had the exact same issue going on and sent my EtD to another user and they reflashed with v1 (I used the v3 beta) and it started working.
I am the one that created the chip database file for the v3 beta and I'm thinking that it may not be working correctly for the chip on the EtD. If you find out that flashing with the v1 works, please let us know and I'll talk to Rick about removing the database file from the Wiki until we can sort out what went wrong.
When I was flashing the EtD with v3, I received no errors and everything looked like it was working (LEDs on the MagJack doing what they should, etc.). So there may just be something wrong in the database entry.
I hope this gets you going in the right direction!
That could explain why he was getting a checksum and we don't. I hope thats it.
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That was it. All working now, don't use the newer pickit software.....
Thank you Thank you
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Wow - was following this thread.... great to see it working. I'm just getting used to my pic programmer and having just flashed a DSC i think i have the jist of it, but i installed the entire mplab ice and after some frustration went to the standalone, but was using the beta, i'm going to try to use v1 and see how that works. thanks for everyone's troubleshooting on this along the way. it's proven beneficial to see some different sources of problems.
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Whew glad to see it is working. I wish the pickit 3 software was better and standardized. Right now we have to have warnings of "Don't use MPLAB" and now "Don't use V3 beta". Microchip should develop a software program that works for all chips. Since the pikit 3 comes with MPLAB software you would think it should work. Maybe we should remove links to the problematic programs?
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IIRC, MPLAB does work but you have to understand what you are doing with it. It is way more than just a chip programming utility and has the ability to render the chip useless if the defaults and options are not set correctly. It has a bit of a learning curve to configure it and the configuration for one chip may not work or cause issues with another. Since there are MUCH EASIER utilities such as the stand alone programmer to accomplish what we need to do, it is better to stay away from MPLAB. If you set up MPLAB incorrectly and it locks up the PIC that the ETD is using, you can toss that board in the trash.
You also have to understand that the the newest programming utility is called Beta for a reason. It is not fully proven and in this case, it appears to have issues with the PIC that the ETD is using and that's what BETA is all about. It is fortunate that there are so many people here willing to help and share information and that this issue was discovered way before the crunch time when people are trying to final test and setup their shows.
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IIRC, MPLAB does work but you have to understand what you are doing with it. It is way more than just a chip programming utility and has the ability to render the chip useless if the defaults and options are not set correctly. It has a bit of a learning curve to configure it and the configuration for one chip may not work or cause issues with another. Since there are MUCH EASIER utilities such as the stand alone programmer to accomplish what we need to do, it is better to stay away from MPLAB. If you set up MPLAB incorrectly and it locks up the PIC that the ETD is using, you can toss that board in the trash.
You also have to understand that the the newest programming utility is called Beta for a reason. It is not fully proven and in this case, it appears to have issues with the PIC that the ETD is using and that's what BETA is all about. It is fortunate that there are so many people here willing to help and share information and that this issue was discovered way before the crunch time when people are trying to final test and setup their shows.
I never thought about this as an issue. A while back I used the beta version and had problems, so I went back to the tried-and-true version.
A stronger warning in the Wiki might prevent this from happening to another person.
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I went ahead and added an additional note in the Wiki about the EtherDongle and the v3 Beta software. Hopefully that will help out any others who run into the same issue. Feel free to add/modify if it is not clear. :)
And glad you were able to get it working!
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It needs to have a warning in the hardware section under the etherdongle as well (next to the MPLAB warning). People who have already downloaded the program and are using it wouldn't be going back to the software page and seeing the warning.
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That was it. All working now, don't use the newer pickit software.....
Thank you Thank you
Glad you got it working! I knew it had to be something simple, but frustrating. <md..