Etherdongle problem - No blinky (SOLVED)

[keitha43]

I agree try the original standalone version 1 in the WIKI. I seem to recall I thought I had a bridge in the lower right corner and sliced through it with a knife. Big mistake. I think it was a trace running under the chip. I now have a helmet with a 10x magnifier as my eyes are too old to see that small stuff clearly.

[diceman3807]

What I've got is a laptop hooked up to the etherdongle, then to an LE. I have on the EtD, Green connectivity and an amber flashing light (changes to rapidly flashing when sending out data through xLights xscheduler). The LE16 has the DMX light come on when I plug in from the EtD, but no activity. I turned on Wireshark for a capture, and it appears that I am putting out the information I would expect based on other email threads (looks like universe 1, so my setting of '1' on the LE should be getting the data). I have included a screenshot of the Wireshark

[tbone321]

Do you have the ETD loaded with DMX firmware.  If you are using PixelNet firmware, then the LE will not respond because it doesn't understand PixelNet.  The fact that the lights on the magjack are responding as they should shows both that the firmware is working and that the bridge that you saw is supposed to be there.

[diceman3807]

I went back and programmed it with the PixelNet (and hooked that up to a SSHub, and then to LE16), and didn't get any traffic then. I tried hooking up a SS controller, and got no traffic to it either. I tried programming a SS and didn't get any activity.

In unplugging the EtD, I noticed that even if I unplug the MagJack, the DMX link light still stays on the LE16 (as long as power is running to the EtD). Should that happen?

[caretaker]

In unplugging the EtD, I noticed that even if I unplug the MagJack, the DMX link light still stays on the LE16 (as long as power is running to the EtD). Should that happen?

yes, that can happen, some of 485 chips can "leave the light on".  I noticed on the wire shark screen your laptop was using the IP of 169.254.164.79  Try setting a manual IP in your laptop of 198.168.0.10 and see if that makes a difference.  Also stick with one output from the EtD (if your going to be using Pixels leave it flashed with the Etherdongle2.hex  so we can narrow down your problem and get you to blinky flashy faster!

[diceman3807]

Thanks for the suggestion. I went back and changed the IP to 192.168.0.10, and got the same reaction. I built a second etherdongle last night, and i'm getting the same action (or lack thereof) from the second controller as well...so either I'm just really consistent on soldering incorrectly or i'm missing something.

[diceman3807]

SOLVED!!!

It did turn out to be a programming issue. Everything appeared to program well with version 3.10 of the software, but that appears to be the issue. When I tried to install version 1 of the Pickit3 software from out website, everytime I tried to 'check communication' it would throw an error. In order to resolve this, I installed MPLAB, and updated the firmware on the Pickit3 from there, then connected back to Pickit3 V1, manually selected the chip, installed the DMX firmware (showing checksum 0000) and we appear to be golden (at least the indicator lights are blinking!!!!)

[tbone321]

Good to hear.  So it appears that Ver3 is still not ready for prime time.

[diceman3807]

Don't know if it's the version 3 thing,  Pickit3 firmware thingie, or a combination of the two...but I've got blinking so i'm ecstatic!!!

[Nashville Roy]

I think I have the same situation but seem to have one more obstacle;  when I try to use the 1.0 version of the Pickit3 standalone, the program won't launch with the Pickit 3 attached to the USB bus.  If I plug it in afterwards, I get a USB timeout error.  The 3.1 version seems to operate correctly on the computer and I can program the board but my Etherdongle has all of the same symptoms described earlier in this thread.  Anyone seen this?  I've tried on three different computers... Windows XP and Windows 7

[tbone321]

The problem is that Ver3 has loaded firmware into the Pickit3 that is incmpatable with the Ver1 programmer software and it appears that the Ver 3 software or the firmware that it loads is still not ready for prime time.  Lad the copy of MPLab that came with it and let it properly update the Pickit3.  After thaT, the Ver 1 programmer software should work just fine.

[Nashville Roy]

Well... I tried that.  (Thanks for the tip!) It did fix the USB hangup but it is not programming the Etherdongle correctly.  I went through the process several times.  the first time I:
1) returned the Pickit3 to MPLAB mode in the standalone 3.1 version
2) launched the standalone 1.0.0.0 version
3) loaded PK3FW_012633.jam as the operating system
4) Program said it had to download new firmware to work with the 32 bit chip and I allowed it to complete that
5) loaded the Etherdongle_DMX.hex file and wrote it to the chip.

The only difference for the next couple of attempts is that I used MPLAB to return the Pickit3 to lab mode the second time.

Just for grins, I have a Mac computer, as well, and I tried loading the file using the IPE.  Ehterdongle is still a boat anchor...for a really little boat, I guess...

When I program using the 3.1 version, I do get a green link light and a flashing yellow light but when I use the 1.0 version, the magjack does not light up at all.  Also, 3.1 successfully verifies after programming where the 1.0 version (and Mac) indicates unsuccessful verification.  Does this indicate something I'm not doing correctly or should I see if someone who has had success just flash it for me?  I'd like to figure it out so that I can change modes between Pixelnet and DMX...

[Nashville Roy]

OK... so I think I figured out how I wasn't holding my mouth right...
When I loaded the operating system for version 1.0.0.0 of the standalone Pickit 3 app, it would say that it needed to download more firmware to communicate with the 32 bit chip.  I would allow that but it would not program the chip correctly.  This time, I:
1) Loaded the Pickit 3 firmware from the MPLAB IDE
2) Closed MPLAB and opened the standalone app
3) loaded PK3FW_012633.jam as the operating system
4) Chose the correct 32 bit chip (last one in the list)
5) Allowed the program to download additional firmware it said it needed to communicate correctly
6) RELOADED PK3FW_012633.jam firmware (THIS IS WHAT I DID DIFFERENTLY)
7) programmed the chip

Everything seems to be working!!!!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!!