Weird stuff!!

[mkozik1]

Good morning all,

Am finally getting the opportunity to play with my conductor and am seeing some weird stuff that I am hoping you can direct me down the right path.

I have the conductor connected to the ED.  The ED is working fine using the PixelNet firmware and all my lights are working fine.  I have flashed the conductor firmware to the unit and if there is no card in the cage, the control panel connects fine and tells me there is no card there.  If I shut down the control panel, insert a card, then launch the control panel again, it will not connect to the conductor.  While everything is running, if I eject the card, the control panel will see this action, connect and tell me there is a card error!  If I reinsert the card, nothing changes in the control panel.

I have read through the posts and have reformatted my card a couple of times.  I have a simple sequence which does not have music assigned, utilizes a whopping 6 channels that fade from red to green to blue which I have been using on my Panther for test.  I have created all of the files as described with the exception of copying none.mp3 which I cannot find on my machine and have not found anywhere stating it needs to be on the card.  But even that should not keep the control panel from connecting, right?

Sorry for the long post - I look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

Take care,

[rrowan]

Hi Mark,

First make sure all of your filenames follow the old dos format of max 8 characters and 3 character extension. No special symbols or spaces
example bells.seq, bells.mp3. xLights can convert your seq files to conductor format.

You have to have at least one of each. Show file, Schedule, Sequence, MP3 and password files

You create the show and schedule and password files from the Control panel while the CF is in your computers reader/writer

Format the card and then load those files. The NONE files (seq, mp3) are built into the software.

Hope that helps

Rick R.

[mkozik1]

Thanks Rick but I have done all of that.  Again, the only thing I don't have is the none.mp3 on the card.  Is this just an empty file?  Should it not still connect even if the file is missing but just not run - Similar to the way it works when the card is not inserted?

[dcwehw99]

The none.mp3 & none.seq are not "real" files that are created on the CF card.  They are only used to note to the Conductor that you want a sequence only or music only item in the show.

Denny

[dcwehw99]

One thing that might help is if you would post a directory listing of the CF card so we can see the file names.

Denny

[rrowan]

Sorry I was not clear. Like Denny said the None files are not real and only show up when you select them in the Create Show option of the control panel. Example: Click on the Create Shows button and Create a new show, name it and select a seq or none.seq and then audio or None.mp3 (they are only holding spots to fill in blank areas either for a sequence or audio)

Just a silly question you are using the conductor firmware, right?

Is there a red light on the top of the conductor when it powers up along with the normal lights from the etherdongle

Rick R.

[mkozik1]

Files as requested - Snapshot of the lights on the board.

Yes, I have flashed with the conductor firmware twice to include a fresh download to make sure that mine was not corrupt.

[rrowan]

you need a audio file.

Rick R.

[mkozik1]

I have asked that and you guys are telling me that the NONE.MP3 is a ghost file and is not needed on the CF card.  If I am not using audio in the sequence, what do I put here?

[rrowan]

the conductor is looking for the playlist, show, seq, audio files. it won't load without them. While you can use none.mp3 it doesn't count as an audio file. Just add a seq with audio on the cf.

Rick R.

[mkozik1]

OK - I am confused as to what the purpose of the none.mp3's are for then.  Based on the posts, they are there as fillers in the event you do not have a sequence or audio.  You are saying that this is not possible?

[mkozik1]

I went ahead and created a sequence and added audio but I have no change.  When the card is inserted, the conductor will not connect but when it is removed it does connect and shows me "card error".  Below is the file list of the new sequence.

[dcwehw99]

Most of the time the reason for the "not connected" is either the files missing or a problem with the pins on the CF socket on the PCB.  Let's move to looking at the hardware. 

Have you looked for any solder bridges on the CF socket pins?  The other things to check for is if any of the pins are not soldered to the PCB.  With the power removed from the board take a small screw driver and see if any of the 50 pins on the CF socket are loose.  Using the screw driver see if you can move any of the pins from its pad on the PCB.  I would expect that you'll find a loose pin that will need to be soldered.  This condition will also give you the "not connected" error.

Denny

[mkozik1]

Hi Denny,

I have done this as well.  This board WAS one of those where the cage was not soldered all the way.  I returned it to RJ and he corrected it for me.  I checked yet again with a strong magnifying glass and was unable to move any of the pins to the cage. 

I'm sure this is not the case, but it seems as though the card is creating a short somewhere.  When inserted, no connection can be made.  When removed, I can connect to the conductor.

Here is a really dumb question - I have the slave board all put together but it is, of course, missing the MP3 player and the RTC.  If I swap that for the one I am working with, will it still attempt to read the card?

[mkozik1]

It must be the conductor board.  I tried installing the slave board for grins and I was able to connect to it with the card installed.  I got an "RTC Error" but I connected!  Weird!!