DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx EtherDongle => Topic started by: caretaker on January 19, 2012,
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I built my EtherDongle and so far had had no success in getting it to work. You can see from my post here what I have tried so far:
http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=7371.15 (about halfway down the page)
To Recap: I have been able to program the PIC, I am getting the correct voltage out of the 3.3 and 5 volt regulators I am not getting the green or MAG jack LED's to light when connected to my ethernet router (or directly to my computer). I have retouched all solder points on the board and there does not appear to be any bridges on my SMD devices. I am beggining to think the ethernet SMD chip is bad. Is there any way I can check for sure whether that is the problem?
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A topic titled "Still Dead" by user "Caretaker". <la..
Couldn't help but notice the irony.
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I had pretty much the same issue here too. I spent hours checking everything I could think of. I too could program and and proper voltages. Jus no connectivity.
I spend some time with a good light and a magnifying glass and a big cup of calm down. I found a few gobs of solder in the wierdest of places. I would recommend that you find a good mag glass and a real good white light. I used a 100 watt equivalent high efficiency fluoresent.
Take special care of how the solder joints are as well as the upright portion of the pins. I found that what appeared to be solder "spatter" caused bridges between the pins.
I used an x acto knife to remove them. Have a look. I would bet that you will probably find something close to what I had. It took me a few hours and attempts to remove them all.
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Really look close around the chips for bridges. I had trouble with mine and they both ended up being bridged pins.
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Also make sure the pic is fully and cleanly seated - no bent legs !
my .02 õ ¿ õ
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the pic on the etherdongle is surface mount
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Well after reading through others posts about similar problems with there ether dongles (no green light, no mag jack lights, no connectivity) I decided to be brave and try "touching up" the connections on the ethernet chip on the dongle. That didn't fix the problem I still have the same issues as above. I ordered a second ether dongle in the latest coop but I still have this dead one and to be honest I am ready to throw in the towel and count it as a lost cause. At this point I think it will require someone with more tools (IE: scope and such) and more diagnostic ability to fix it. sigh- <fp.
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Try replacing the clocks - one each
https://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=ACHL-8.000MHZ-EKvirtualkey52750000virtualkey815-ACHL-8-EK
https://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=ACHL-50.000MHZ-EKvirtualkey52750000virtualkey815-ACHL-50-EK
Rick R.
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Instead pm me and setup a time to check the clocks with a digital meter and make sure they are running, if not then i would recommend they be changed.
RJ
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hello Caretaker
If your totally burned out on this Ill buy it from you.
Need to get my feet wet, this would be a good place to start.
Jess
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I've had similar issues...I'm going to take one more stab at solving and then engage the Uber DIY'ers. Lots of time till Christmas, and hopefully another CoOp....
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UPDATE:
Thanks to RJ I did some testing and my 50MHZ xtal is bad so I ordered one 3 today along with some other stuff and will see what happens when it comes in.
I have noticed in the WIKI a few more "Trouble Shooting" sections for the different projects here, the more of those we can put up the less time we will have to bother RJ with tech questions. I really appreciate the members of this board who to help out when you have a problem. Myself I know how to use a voltmeter and do troubleshooting IF I know what values I am supposed to be seeing. Rather than waste RJ's time with a teamspeak chat he instead gave the voltages I should have on the clock and I found out the 50mhz was bad.
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Would you be kind enough to detail what (exactly) you did to test. I can muddle through, but I'm only vaguely familiar with how to use my voltmeter. I suspect it may be the same issue I am having...
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For Pokey and others the Xtal should read 3.3 volts between pins 4 and 8 and 1.6 volts (approx) between pins 4 and 5
http://www.abracon.com/Oscillators/ACHL.pdf
Update on my Ether Dongle: Soldered in a new 50MHZ xtal and now the green led comes on and the yellow LED on the MAG jack comes on dimly with no ethernet connection. When I plug in the an ethernet cable so far there is no connection. I will be working on that later today when I get some time.
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Ok another update:
I looked over the entire board and noticed what looked like a bridge on the SMD ethernet chip with a slight movement of an exacto knife the bridge disappeared. I then tried plugging in the ether dongle and connecting it up. When I first plug in the ether dongle the green LED comes on and the yellow LED on the MAG jack lights up dimly but after a few seconds the the green LED goes out along with the dim yellow LED on the MAG jack. When I plug in an ethernet cable I get no connectivity.
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I have read that you need a crossover cable (Type A - Type B wiring configuration) for the Ether Dongle in some aspects. Would this be one of those instances? Can someone please chime in on this assumption as I am not 100% sure on it?
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i'd first plug it into an ethernet port on a router or switch. you should get the green light on the mag jack to come on and stay lit. make sure the hardware works, before trying to troubleshoot whether a cable might work.
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I have read that you need a crossover cable (Type A - Type B wiring configuration) for the Ether Dongle in some aspects. Would this be one of those instances? Can someone please chime in on this assumption as I am not 100% sure on it?
You only need a crossover cable if you are connecting the EherDongle directly to a NIC on the computer an even then, many of the newer NIC's can autoconfigue its connections which would eliminate the need for a crossover cable. If you are directly connecting the EtherDongle to a PC or notebook then I would do it using a known working crossover cable otherwise I would use a known working straight thru cable. Once you elininate the cable as a possible failure point then the real debugging can begin.
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Should have provided more info on this, my bad. Currently using a Net Gear RT311 Router with a Net Gear FS105 fast ethernet switch both which are multicast capable (My newer Net Gear WNDR3770v2 is not :( ) Connecting my EtherDongle to the FS105 (or even directly to the router) shows no connectivity, neither MAG jack LED lights and the Green LED on the ED stays dark. I am going to check the Xtals again and make sure they are still working but my fear is that my effort to retouch the ethernet SMD chip may have caused more problems than it helped even though I was very careful and used a lower temp. I will send RJ another PM for some more diagnostic work I can do on my ED instead of guessing what might be wrong. The good news is I am getting another ED when the current coop ships so I will have experience putting one together.
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Have you cleaned your PCB? It might be possible that you have some solder splash causing a short if you have not.
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It' Alive! I ordered a flux pen and a couple of types of desolder braid and with a clean chisel tip on my soldering station I coated one one side of the ethernet SMD chip with rosin flux from the pen and laid the braid across all the pins and ran the chisel tip across the braid then moved to the next side. After doing all four sides I plugged the board in and the green LED came on. Checked the voltage on the 50MHZ xtal and it was correct and then the big test plugged it into my switch and the green light came on on the MAG jack and the the green light came on at the switch so I now have connectivity. I still have to test to make sure it's will control smart strings but so far so good.
I want to thank everyone who offered to help me either offering to take a look at it for me or just words of encouragement. I especially want to thank RJ for not only designing the EtherDongle but taking the time out to help people like me when there is problems. I'll keep anyone that is interested updated when I testing my ED with my smart string hub.
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Glad to hear you have it working. I have been following this thread and it sounds like it should work fine for you now. Be sure to let us know how testing goes.
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Glad you got it going.
This is the reason I was looking to be able to do the chips ourselfs so I would have control over the soldering job. I feel like if I am going to speed days fixing stuff others did then I might as well spend days doing it right to start with. Sorry you had the issue and to the few others that have had simular. I had one user send me a picture of his pcb and it was terrible. I am not sure how I missed it.
I have found a awesome way to inspect SMD pcbs in the process and will be teaching it in the advanced soldering technics at the Academy this year.
RJ
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I feel like if I am going to speed days fixing stuff others did then I might as well spend days doing it right to start with.
As TV's Mike Holmes says, "Do it right -- the first time."
Thank you, RJ.
\dmc
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Glad you got it going.
This is the reason I was looking to be able to do the chips ourselfs so I would have control over the soldering job. I feel like if I am going to speed days fixing stuff others did then I might as well spend days doing it right to start with. Sorry you had the issue and to the few others that have had simular. I had one user send me a picture of his pcb and it was terrible. I am not sure how I missed it.
I have found a awesome way to inspect SMD pcbs in the process and will be teaching it in the advanced soldering technics at the Academy this year.
RJ
Trust me I know where your coming from on this as an electrician I spend a lot of my days fixing mistakes others have made and know the frustration level involved with having others do work for you. RJ thanks for your patience when creating these kits as I can only imagine how quickly your box fills up with PM's wanting help. Hopefully post like this will help others freeing up so more time for you.
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i'd first plug it into an ethernet port on a router or switch. you should get the green light on the mag jack to come on and stay lit. make sure the hardware works, before trying to troubleshoot whether a cable might work.
Thanks Chris. Great suggestion - worked great after trying to direct connect with no luck...
...continuing on.
-Paul
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OK I am having similar problems with my ED. I know it is late in the game, but I am trying to get everything at least up and running for a test this year.
Originally I could not get the PIC to program at all - I touched up all the solder joints, but noticed one of the pins on the SMD chip seems to be loose coming out of the chip itself not broke off though but I did fix the solder joint.
After touching up the solder joints I was able to program the PIC using the DMX firmware.
I inspected the traces closer under 30x power scope and noticed one trace appears to be broken, I believe is it is the 4th pin counter clockwise from pin 1. the trace goes under the chip so I do not know where to check for continuity of the trace too, which is the reason I started this thread http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=10774.0
I checked the voltages per the post earlier -
3.3V regulator is producing 1.76V - my guess is this is bad but why would I get 3.3v on the Xtal assuming they get voltage from this regulator?
5V regulator is producing 5V
Both of the Xtal have 3.3V from pin 4 to pin 8 and 1.6v from pin 4 to pin 5 - so I think they are good.
When apply power to the ED the LED on the ED board itself turns on and stays lit
When I hook up a cat5 cable (straight and cross over) the green LED on the magic jack lights and stays lit and the yellow light on the magic jack will also flash. - both are bright.
If I make sequence in vixen the yellow light will occasionally flash but not enough to indicate real communication. When I hook up the ether port to my standard network switch the green light on the network switch and the ED are lit and the yellow light flashes like crazy with the network traffic, so I think this means it is able to communicate?
Do I have to do anything special on the PC?? I assigned a static IP address to the Ether connection and I pasted the Ether DMX plug in into Vixen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I just about ready to give up on this ED...........
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Make sure you set your channel count in the plug in set up to 1024 channels (even if your using less)
The EtD is multicast so it sounds like you are plugging your EtD into your switch or hub so there shouldn't need to be any setting of IP addresses.
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Thanks Caretaker - I will give that a try.
I can plug my ED into my switch but I would prefer to plug it directly into my NIC on my PC. If I go direct, do I need to do anything special?? I set the static IP address to 168.100.100.101 already.
Thanks for the the input.
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1.76v sounds suspiciously like 5V-3.3V so you might not be using the correct pinout. 3-terminal regulators don't all have the same pin ordering.
/mike
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If you do plug it directly into the NIC in your computer you might want to set the address to 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.x as they are for private networks
RFC1918 name IP address range number of addresses classful description largest CIDR block (subnet mask) host id size mask bits
24-bit block 10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 16,777,216 single class A network 10.0.0.0/8 (255.0.0.0) 24 bits 8 bits
20-bit block 172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 1,048,576 16 contiguous class B network 172.16.0.0/12 (255.240.0.0) 20 bits 12 bits
16-bit block 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 65,536 256 contiguous class C network 192.168.0.0/16 (255.255.0.0) 16 bits 16 bits
Thanks Caretaker - I will give that a try.
I can plug my ED into my switch but I would prefer to plug it directly into my NIC on my PC. If I go direct, do I need to do anything special?? I set the static IP address to 168.100.100.101 already.
Thanks for the the input.