DiyLightAnimation

Hardware => Lynx EtherDongle => Topic started by: mkozik1 on November 04, 2012,

Title: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 04, 2012,
Got my ETD from this last COOP and built it this evening/morning.  Have flashed the unit twice now both times it appeared to be successful.  When I plug in the transformer, no lights.  In reading the threads, the green LED on the board is supposed to show that the PIC is working properly.  When I plug into my switch, I get nothing on the MagicJack.  In further readings, I understand that this may be normal until data is being sent to the unit.  I started up xLights, created the E1.31 network 1/512 Multicast and tried sending some data but to no avail.

I have checked all of my solder joints, made sure no bridges and tested voltages where I have been told during other builds and seem to have all that I am supposed to but nothing is happening.

I also tried creating a sequence in Vixen 2.5.0.8 but apparently the plugin that is available in the Wiki does not work with 2.5 as it does not show up in the drop down?  Is there one on the way if this is the case, by chance?

Thanks in advance for any and all help with this.

Title: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rm357 on November 04, 2012,
Please post high resolution pics of the board. If you have a tripod and use the timer on your camera, it will give you better results (most motion blur for stationary pictures is caused by the motion of pushing the shutter button...)
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: tbone321 on November 04, 2012,
Perhaps I didn't understand what you posted but did you say that the green light on the board did not light.  If not, perhaps it may be in backwards.  As for the magjack, at least the green light should have lit, data or not.  How are you connecting to the PC.  If it is a direct connection then you may need a crossover cable.  Many modern PC's can autoconfigure their Ethernet port for the send and receive pairs but there are still some cards that don't.  If you have a network switch, try plugging the Etherdongle into it.  It doesn't matter if data is there or not, we are just looking for the green light to light on the magjack.  If it lights up, that gives an indication that the Etherdongle is alive.  If not, then there is an issue and as requested by rm375, post some CLEAR closeup pictures of both sides of the board in good light.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 04, 2012,
Thanks all - Yes you are correct tbone, no lights at all.  I am connecting to a switch not the PC directly.  I initially plugged into a POE switch then moved to a non-POE switch and no change.  Attached are the photos as best I can get them.  I know that there is a track that might look burned at the MagicJack, but I metered that and the track is fine.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: caretaker on November 04, 2012,
A list of items to check:
1. Test the cable you are using and make sure it is good (this is the simplest thing that other users have overlooked and found they had bad patch cables)
2. Does your router support Multicast? (presuming here that the switch you plugged the EtD into is connected to a router)
3. try plugging your EtD directly into your computer (if your using a older computer you may need a crossover cable) You will most likely have to assign a IP address to your computers NIC.
4. If none of the above have changed anything time to check voltages - Check voltages off the regulators, check the voltages at the Xtals (there are posts with the correct voltages and pins to check them at. See this post http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=7735.msg115157#msg115157
That should be a good start and hopefully get you going
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 04, 2012,
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A list of items to check:
1. Test the cable you are using and make sure it is good (this is the simplest thing that other users have overlooked and found they had bad patch cables)
2. Does your router support Multicast? (presuming here that the switch you plugged the EtD into is connected to a router)
3. try plugging your EtD directly into your computer (if your using a older computer you may need a crossover cable) You will most likely have to assign a IP address to your computers NIC.
4. If none of the above have changed anything time to check voltages - Check voltages off the regulators, check the voltages at the Xtals (there are posts with the correct voltages and pins to check them at. See this post http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=7735.msg115157#msg115157
That should be a good start and hopefully get you going

It appears that I am not getting the voltages you mentioned.  Between 4 & 8 on the 5Mhz is 1.4 volts and between 4 & 5 is 0 volts.  On the 8Mhz clock, I am getting the same 1.4 volts between pins 4 & 8 and 4 & 5.  The 1117v33 is putting out 5 volts and 3.3 volts.  Where else do I check from here?
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 05, 2012,
Sorry to be a pest, but have not seen any replies.  Kind of in a bad spot here - EtD not working and Conductor on it's way!!

I thank you in advance for your help.

Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rrowan on November 05, 2012,
I don't know if RJ is available but that would be your next best step

Send him a pm and ask if he can set time aside for a teamspeak session.

Rick R.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 05, 2012,
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I don't know if RJ is available but that would be your next best step

Send him a pm and ask if he can set time aside for a teamspeak session.

Rick R.

Thanks Rick
Title: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rm357 on November 06, 2012,
Just to make sure....

Did you program the pic with the EtD firmware?

There was no easy way for the coop manager to program these. You have to use a pickit 3 for this particular pic.
No lights at all sounds like the pic is not running.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 06, 2012,
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Just to make sure....

Did you program the pic with the EtD firmware?

There was no easy way for the coop manager to program these. You have to use a pickit 3 for this particular pic.
No lights at all sounds like the pic is not running.

Yes Sir, twice.  Each time it completed successfully.  I am using the DMX firmware.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rmp2917 on November 06, 2012,
If the green LED is not lit and you do not have 3.3v at the oscillators, it sounds like you have an issue with the 3.3v line. It just doesn't make sense why you would have 3.3v at the regulator but not anywhere else unless you have a bad trace or bad solder joint.

One potential place for a bridge between 3.3v and ground is circled in the attached picture. Make sure that the pin is not bridged to the via next to it. It doesn't look like you have a bridge there but it is hard to tell in the picture.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 06, 2012,
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If the green LED is not lit and you do not have 3.3v at the oscillators, it sounds like you have an issue with the 3.3v line. It just doesn't make sense why you would have 3.3v at the regulator but not anywhere else unless you have a bad trace or bad solder joint.

One potential place for a bridge between 3.3v and ground is circled in the attached picture. Make sure that the pin is not bridged to the via next to it. It doesn't look like you have a bridge there but it is hard to tell in the picture.

I checked for the bridge and made sure there was no connection there and tried again only to find the same result - Nada !!
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: caretaker on November 06, 2012,
You may have a bad 50MHZ xtal,  you should be getting 3.3 volts between pins 4 & 8, BUT before you pull the Xtal get in touch with RJ also Hold your board up to the lights and look at the legs on the Ethernet smd chip (the smaller one) and make sure the pins look squarely on the pads and there is no connections between pins EXCEPT for the pins 35 and 36 which has a trace connecting them. I wish I could give you a better diagnosis but RJ is the one that can give you a more information more likely pinpoint the problem without replacing a lot of parts.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 06, 2012,
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You may have a bad 50MHZ xtal,  you should be getting 3.3 volts between pins 4 & 8, BUT before you pull the Xtal get in touch with RJ also Hold your board up to the lights and look at the legs on the Ethernet smd chip (the smaller one) and make sure the pins look squarely on the pads and there is no connections between pins EXCEPT for the pins 35 and 36 which has a trace connecting them. I wish I could give you a better diagnosis but RJ is the one that can give you a more information more likely pinpoint the problem without replacing a lot of parts.

I appreciate your efforts Jeff, I sent him a PM last night just waiting for those 2 seconds of spare time in his day  ;D
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: caretaker on November 06, 2012,
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You may have a bad 50MHZ xtal,  you should be getting 3.3 volts between pins 4 & 8, BUT before you pull the Xtal get in touch with RJ also Hold your board up to the lights and look at the legs on the Ethernet smd chip (the smaller one) and make sure the pins look squarely on the pads and there is no connections between pins EXCEPT for the pins 35 and 36 which has a trace connecting them. I wish I could give you a better diagnosis but RJ is the one that can give you a more information more likely pinpoint the problem without replacing a lot of parts.

I appreciate your efforts Jeff, I sent him a PM last night just waiting for those 2 seconds of spare time in his day  ;D

That what I like most about this board is the amount of people willing to help!  Hope you able to get your sick EtD working soon.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: mkozik1 on November 10, 2012,
Rick and all,

I really need someone's help with my ED.  I know RJ is busy, I have not received a reply since I sent my PM Monday.  Will any of you propeller heads (just kidding) be able to walk through some test points?  I have finished my Conductor and Slave and have nothing to test them with.  I have programmed the ED with both DMX as well as PixelNet firmware but no change.  I have measured voltage at several points and know that I am getting 3.3 volts but LED nor lights at the MagicJack.  I have been through my solder points 50 ways to Sunday and cannot find any bridges nor cold joints.  I am at a complete loss.

Thanks in advance, again, for your help!!
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rrowan on November 10, 2012,
My only suggestion would be to replace the two crystals. Its rare but a couple of them have come damaged or were damaged during soldering.

Rick R.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: Dennis Cherry on November 11, 2012,
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Rick and all,

I really need someone's help with my ED.  I know RJ is busy, I have not received a reply since I sent my PM Monday.  Will any of you propeller heads (just kidding) be able to walk through some test points?  I have finished my Conductor and Slave and have nothing to test them with.  I have programmed the ED with both DMX as well as PixelNet firmware but no change.  I have measured voltage at several points and know that I am getting 3.3 volts but LED nor lights at the MagicJack.  I have been through my solder points 50 ways to Sunday and cannot find any bridges nor cold joints.  I am at a complete loss.

Thanks in advance, again, for your help!!

There is a person in Kennesaw, GA on this forum that might be able to help you, name is Jim Nealand, but has not been on this forum recently, I am in Cleveland TN if you are in the area and can help you also.

PM me if you want.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: jnealand on November 11, 2012,
Mark and I have corresponded before, but I am not qualified to debug an ETD.  I do have two that are working, but no spares.
Title: Re: EtD Built but nothing is happening
Post by: rmp2917 on November 11, 2012,
I can try to help you. I will send you a PM.