No Lights from Ethernet Input

[rdebolt]

I have 2 E dongles built now. The first I could not get the LED on the Board to light no matter what I did. By that I mean  Icheck all resistors, reflash and resolder all connections. The light would come on with the PIC 3 powering the board, but nothing when connected to power. So since I had another dongle to build I decided to very carefully build the second. I was as careful as I could be and when I went to flash it No led and I could not flash it. I carefully inspected everything and found what looked to be bridged solder connections on the PIC 512... so I used my solder wick and carefully removed the bridges. Then I plugged in the Pic 3 and I was pleased to see the green led light while flashing. I plugged into power and LED came on!!! Yahoo!!! So I connected straight Cat 5 from a second network card that I installed on my computer and there are no lights on the input connection on the dongle. I also tried to connect from the motherboard network card and my laptop. Should the connection lights be on right away or do I need to configure Vixen, Xlights or LSP and run a test for the input lights to work? 

Also an update on my first E-dongle. I found a bridged solder connection on it as well and after removing, the board led comes on as well now, but the same no input connection lights.

[sielbear]

With 2 nics, I'm betting your machine is sending multicast traffic out the first NIC.  Your network card also may not do an auto crossover. Try plugging into a switch and see if the green / amber illuminate on the Ethernet jack on the dongle.

If you get illumination there, you may need a crossover cable.  I'm running mine through one NIC as it can be tricky to get multicast traffic to be sent from one NIC and all other traffic to go out the NIC with verified connectivity.  Windows will try to prioritize network bindings to nics with verifiable connectivity.  Going straight into the ether dongle will not provide this verification and all traffic (multicast included) will be routed through the primary NIC.

Additionally, I would disable one NIC until you get things working.  Having 2 nics will complicate your life for now. 

[rdebolt]

Having 2 nics will complicate your life for now.

Tried on laptop too with only 1 nic. No lights

[sielbear]

Have you tried plugging into a switch? Not all nics will auto crossover. We need to determine if you can get connectivity lights on either a pc or switch. If we can't get them to illuminate it may be a build issue. If they do illuminate with a switch, it's likely a physical connectivity issue.

[rdebolt]

Have you tried plugging into a switch? Not all nics will auto crossover. We need to determine if you can get connectivity lights on either a pc or switch. If we can't get them to illuminate it may be a build issue. If they do illuminate with a switch, it's likely a physical connectivity issue.

I don't have a switch. Going to buy one tomorrow.

[rdebolt]

I got the first built e-dongle to work. it had another solder bridge that once removed it came to life and functions. I can even contol lights with it. still nothing on the second one. I have a question about the build though. Since my first is now working I don't think that this is an issue, but on page 5 of the manual it says to install the 470 ohm resistors with a color of yellow-violet-brown. I am color blind so I use a multi meter to check resistance and once again missed that my meter reads .470k ohms not 470 ohms. I had my wife look at the board and she said that the colors did not match. My colors are yellow-violet-black-black-brown. Is this an issue? I will take some pictures and post shorly.

[rdebolt]

Here are the pictures of the one that is not working.

[Night Owl]

but on page 5 of the manual it says to install the 470 ohm resistors with a color of yellow-violet-brown. I am color blind so I use a multi meter to check resistance and once again missed that my meter reads .470k ohms not 470 ohms. I had my wife look at the board and she said that the colors did not match. My colors are yellow-violet-black-black-brown. Is this an issue? I will take some pictures and post shorly.

I just looked at the assembly manual on the Wiki page and it says on step two:

"Install four 470 ohm (yellow-violet-black-black-brown) 1% resistors in a row near the middle. "

Yellow-violet-black-black-brown is 4, 7, 0, x1 multiplier, +/- 1% tolerance.  So that would be a 470 ohm resistor.  0.470k ohm is the same as 470 ohm.  Do you have an autoranging multimeter or do you have it set on x1K?

Those solder bridges are a killer, aren't they?  I had the same problem and the gang here helped me fix it.

[Night Owl]

One of the solder points for the 8.0mHz oscillator looks a bit funny, but that could be just glare.  The one you are having problems with, the green LED goes on, right?

[rdebolt]

I just looked at the assembly manual on the Wiki page and it says on step two:
"Install four 470 ohm (yellow-violet-black-black-brown) 1% resistors in a row near the middle. "

I just Check the wiki and it is diiferent than my printed manual. Must have been updated since I printed.

Those solder bridges are a killer, aren't they?  I had the same problem and the gang here helped me fix it.

Yes they are!!!

[rdebolt]

One of the solder points for the 8.0mHz oscillator looks a bit funny, but that could be just glare.  The one you are having problems with, the green LED goes on, right?

Yes the green led is on. just no connectivity.

Touched up solder joints on both osillators- no change.

[rdebolt]

I just updated my photos. The bottom view at first was the working dongle. Now I have the correct pictures of the none working dongle. The top view has always been correct! 

[Night Owl]

Hm, I don't see anything wrong with the board.  When you plug it in to your computer, does the green LED on the MagJack come on?  When you send data to the dongle, does the amber light flash?

[rdebolt]

Hm, I don't see anything wrong with the board.  When you plug it in to your computer, does the green LED on the MagJack come on?  When you send data to the dongle, does the amber light flash?

No to both.

[rrowan]

Can you join us in TeamSpeak?

Rick R.