Author Topic: cannot connect to my Conductors *Fixed*  (Read 1884 times)

Offline travailen

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cannot connect to my Conductors *Fixed*
« on: December 04, 2012, »
I have two EthD. both work as EDs and run the lights no problem. I flashed one with the Conductor 14 firmware, installed the Conductor, Programmed the CF card and powered up. The green light on the ED is always on. The red light on the conductor is always on. The green and yellow lights on the Magic Jack blink as would be expected but, it will not connect. I always get not connected when i start up the control panel. So, I built up the second conductor. The second one also comes up not connected. So I removed the CF card on each of them. No message that the CF card is absent. I cannot seem to get by the not connected message. An suggestions would be appreciated. The same cables and hub run the lights, so I do not think they are the problem. I reflashed the firmware, no help.
I guess the minimum I need to get going is a CF card absent message.

Rick S
« Last Edit: December 05, 2012, by travailen »

Offline dcwehw99

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2012, »
Let's start at the beginning since I don't know what's been tried at this point.

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).

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

Offline travailen

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2012, »
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Let's start at the beginning since I don't know what's been tried at this point.

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).

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

I did most of the above. But, I will start fresh and go through each item again. The fact that neither one works makes me think it is something I am doing wrong.

Rick S

Offline travailen

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2012, »
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Let's start at the beginning since I don't know what's been tried at this point.

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

I did everything above several times on both Conductors. Still getting not connected. I read on a thread that if you try to connect to the Conductor and you do not have a CF card installed, you will get a message that there is no CF card, is that correct? Because if it is, I do not get a message when I try that.

Ricks

Offline keitha43

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2012, »
Firewall off? Or maybe antivirus blocking it?

Offline travailen

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2012, »
Progress. I turned off the wireless connection and restared my local area connection and waited until it returned an unidentified network message. Now I can connect to the Conductor but get a card error message on both units, no matter if the CF card is installed or not. Turned the wireless connection back on and I can still get to the Conductor. Any suggestions on the card error message?

Rick S

Offline dcwehw99

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2012, »
What's happening with the green and yellow lights on the RJ45 connector?  Do you have more than one Ethernet connection on your computer?  Wireless and direct connect should work OK together.  How are you connecting the Conductor, direct, router or switch?

I assume you formatted the CF card as FAT32 before creating any files on it correct?  Please post a directory listing of the CF card.

Thanks
Denny

Offline tbone321

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2012, »
You really need to take a close look at the connection of the card socket on the Conductor board and you need to do it under magnification.  What I find that works well for this test is one of the leads from a 1/4 watt resistor or the leads of an LED.  Under a mag lamp, sweep the lead along the socket connections to the board and look for any movement of the pins at all.  If they move even the slightest amount, they are NOT slodered and need to be reflowed. 
If at first you don't succeed,
your not cut out for sky diving

Offline travailen

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Re: cannot connect to my Conductors
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2012, »
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You really need to take a close look at the connection of the card socket on the Conductor board and you need to do it under magnification.  What I find that works well for this test is one of the leads from a 1/4 watt resistor or the leads of an LED.  Under a mag lamp, sweep the lead along the socket connections to the board and look for any movement of the pins at all.  If they move even the slightest amount, they are NOT soldered and need to be reflowed. 

You were right. Went through the Cf connections and found problems on both boards. Now my conductors are operational. thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Rick S