DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx EtherDongle => Lynx Conductor => Topic started by: rrowan on November 06, 2012,
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Hi Folks,
Just a quick question. On the mp3 board if the led being on red a good thing or a bad thing?
Rick R.
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Don't know, but mine was red. I assumed (and you know what the means) that it just showed power applied.
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Greetings,,,
Think of it as Rudolph's nose. Red is good...
Yep, it's a power indicator.
Keith
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Thanks
I got a RED Card Error that I assume is NOT good
Rick R.
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Thanks
I got a RED Card Error that I assume is NOT good
Rick R.
Rick,
I assume you meant read card error and if the CF card is in the Conductor then that's not good but if you removed it from the Conductor and put it in your computer reader then that's OK. When you reinsert it back into the Conductor it will re-read the card and the message should go away.
Denny
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Nope in the Control Panel under Status the words are in Red "Card Error"
I have tried local connection and network. Regular cat5 and cross over cable. two different computers (win 7 x64 and xp)
Etherdongle works fine (it ran my show last year). Change the firmware back to etherdongle and it still works.
I have disabled my firewall and turned off the anti-virus program
I have gone over all of the solder joints and check for any problems
Not sure where to go from here.
Rick R.
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Rick,
I posted this in another message (see below). You will get "card error" until all four of these are met.
The control panel will not recognize the Conductor until you have created:
1) at least one *.seq and/or *.mp3 file on the compact flash (CF) card,
2) created a password, which will create a password.dat file on the CF card,
3) create at least one show, which will create a file *.sho on the CF card, and
4) schedule a show to run, which will create a playlist.dat file on the CF card.
All four of these must be met before the control panel will see the Conductor.
Note:
1) All files names must be 8 characters or less.
2) Do not ever delete or rename any files on the compact flash card. If you do you will have to reformat the CF card and copy your files back to the CF card before the Conductor will play your show(s).
Denny
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Yeah I did that also
Rick R.
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Rick,
The next step would be to checkout the pins on the CF card reader. First look where the pins are bent at 90 degree to see if any of them are touching each other. Secondly check for any solder bridges on the pins of the card reader on the PCB pads. Then lastly check to see if any of the pins might not be solder on their pad. The easiest way to do that would be to take something like a toothpick and attempt to move each of the card reader pins at the PCB. If any are loose you'll need to solder them.
Denny
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I guess with Denny's help I found the problem. About 28 pins are not soldered to the pad on the cf socket.
Can I just heat them up and attach?
Thanks
Rick R.
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Well ? progress
I heated up the pins and now the status = "Not Connected"
CF card is in
ideas?
Rick R.
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How is the Conductor connected? Switch, router, direct?
Denny
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normally I have the desktop on my network and on the same switch I have the etherdongle
just a linksys port 5 switch
I have also tried a cat5 cable between then and a cross over cable that I just made
Rick R.
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YEAH!!!
I had a couple more solder problems with the cf socket
ITS WORKING NOW!!!!
I see the Conductor time and a status of Waiting
Guess now I can see if it plays anything LOL with sound
Thanks Denny
Rick R.
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Great to hear!
Just for reference here so others know, you have to get the CF card reader working before it starts the network connection. Problems that look like network/connection problems have typically been issues with the reader or the key files mentioned above not being on the CF card. Generally if you had the ED working prior to adding the Conductor daughter card, you should be good to go on the communications.
If a show does not play or you know you scheduled it to run but it didn't, then you probably deleted a file or renamed a file on the CF card, which is a no no. If you did that then copy the files off the CF to your HD, do a quick format of the CF card and copy the files back to the CF card and you're set.
Denny
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I guess I spoke too soon <fp.
more gremlins, back to not being able to find the conductor
oh well it was cool for a moment
Rick R.
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Make sure that the chip is properly inserted in the socket and then press down on the socket pins where they solder to the board with a plastic credit card edge and see if it wakes back up. From what I read so far, this is the same issue that you see when the card has no data so it looks like it is unable to read the card at all or the card is not being powered.
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Rick,
As Tbone said make sure all the pins are soldered to the PCB and aligned on the pads. I had problems when I moved the Conductor around and before I got it mounted in the case. One of the pins was still loose but sometimes it would work and then it would stop working. I finally found it and soldered it and all has been good since.
Denny
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Thanks guys
I will check that later. Taking a break from the conductor
Rick R.
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Since this is about the MP3 board, I just want to add that the sound quality (judging by a set of studio headphones) is GREAT.
The Bass is clean and strong and I hear no odd noises.
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Rick,
You might want to check out http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=9994.0. Based on your problems I decided to check mine and looks like I will be having problems too.
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Well it seems one of my problems was user error LOL
I didn't have a schedule on the CF.
So now I am back to being able to see and control my conductor
Now the problem comes when I try to run a show. In this case MusicBox Player, vixen sequence converted by xLights to a seq file and the mp3 file. The show is just under 2 mins in length but on the conductor it "plays" for about 5 seconds (guessing I didn't time it) also the audio is only white noise that keeping going even after the conductor reboots itself while it should be playing the show. My guess is I still have a problem with the pins on the CF and I am hoping its Not the MP3 board. I don't know if any of the beta testers had this problem
ideas?
Thanks
Rick R.
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Well it seems one of my problems was user error LOL
I didn't have a schedule on the CF.
So now I am back to being able to see and control my conductor
Now the problem comes when I try to run a show. In this case MusicBox Player, vixen sequence converted by xLights to a seq file and the mp3 file. The show is just under 2 mins in length but on the conductor it "plays" for about 5 seconds (guessing I didn't time it) also the audio is only white noise that keeping going even after the conductor reboots itself while it should be playing the show. My guess is I still have a problem with the pins on the CF and I am hoping its Not the MP3 board. I don't know if any of the beta testers had this problem
ideas?
Thanks
Rick R.
Dumb Question Rick.... All files including audio 8 characters or less? Mine had similar issues yesterday when my audio file name was too long.
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Yeah I renamed both files to.
MusicBox.seq
Musicbox.mp3
and MusicBox.sho
later I created a new sequence for 1 min where every channels was at 128 (50%) and called it half.seq with no audio
that also drops out in a few seconds
Rick R.
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Your did the rename before putting the on the CF card didn't you? If not, then you have to copy off, reformat and reload. Renaming and deleting files on the CF card is a no no.
I never saw any issues with audio problems or experienced any timing issues.
Denny
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I haven't be able to get any hardware yet... But I've been trying to stay up to date on things. Not sure but thought I read you couldn't just rename the files you had to reformat the CF drive and start over. Or the CF socket would not read anything right on the CF drive. Just I thought.
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Renaming shouldn't be an issue. Deleating and adding individule files could be as that can cause fragmentation on the drive and that is an issue with the Conductor.
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yeah, renaming on my computer Before adding them to the CF
reformatted the CF a few times also
Rick R.
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Your issues appears to be in the socket connections.
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Renaming shouldn't be an issue. Deleating and adding individule files could be as that can cause fragmentation on the drive and that is an issue with the Conductor.
I thought renaming shouldn't be a problem either but during testing it did cause problems.
Denny
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Hey Guys,
I have the conductor Totally working now. Music plays, lights flashing (manual play)
Here is what I did. I worked on it until about 1:30am to get it going
1 - Resolder all of the joints on the Conductor and cleaned the CF solder pads.
2 - While desoldering the RTC I created a bridge that I also had to fix <fp.
3 - Reflow the solder on the EtherDongle header pins that the conductor plugs into (which fixed the audio problem)
4 - Tested everything since it was working Celebrate with some cookies and ice tea
5 - Decided to mount the EtherDongle/Conductor into the case
6 - Drilled out the holes and used a blade to clean it up.
7 - Mounted the unit to the case
8 - Cleaned the mess I made
9 - Answered a few posts in the forum
10 - Decided to go to bed since its now 3am
Today
I went to Home Depot and brought more wood, PVC, plastic deer barrier
Finish building the new stable for the Nativity scene (since the old one fell apart last year)
Now I need to rebuild the roof lights display by mounting the lights to the deer barrier (should be "fun")
Hoping by Monday to start putting the lights on the roof while the weather is nice.
Rick R.
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Glad to hear that! Good Effort! ;D
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Great to hear all is working!
Denny
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thanks rdebolt and denny
I forgot to mention that from all of the eye strain (looking for solder bridges, etc)
I been having a hard time seeing all day 8)
at least its done and they are feeling a bit better after the wife put drops in my eyes
Rick R.
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thanks rdebolt and denny
I forgot to mention that from all of the eye strain (looking for solder bridges, etc)
I been having a hard time seeing all day 8)
at least its done and they are feeling a bit better after the wife put drops in my eyes
Rick R.
Sounds like a good nights sleep should priority tonight!
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So just to be clear, I keep getting a not connected issue with my conductor and my etherdongle works fine when flashed with pixelnet - can this be an issue with the cf? I had most pins not soldered and I tried to fix it but I may still have some problems there.
I am going to try cleaning up the connections with some braid and I am going to try it again
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You do have a card in the slot with the needed files on it, right? If not then you get the not connected message.
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I do have a card with the required files in the slot but I still get the not connected error. I am going to rework the pins on the cf slot