It's Alive! (was Still Dead)

[caretaker]

I built my EtherDongle and so far had had no success in getting it to work.  You can see from my post here what I have tried so far:
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To Recap: I have been able to program the PIC, I am getting the correct voltage out of the 3.3 and 5 volt regulators I am not getting the green or MAG jack LED's to light when connected to my ethernet router (or directly to my computer). I have retouched all solder points on the board and there does not appear to be any bridges on my SMD devices. I am beggining to think the ethernet SMD chip is bad.  Is there any way I can check for sure whether that is the problem?

[rogerwh]

A topic titled "Still Dead" by user "Caretaker".   

Couldn't help but notice the irony.

[Unibits]

I had pretty much the same issue here too.  I spent hours checking everything I could think of.  I too could program and and proper voltages.  Jus no connectivity.

I spend some time with a good light and a magnifying glass and a big cup of calm down.   I found a few gobs of solder in the wierdest of places.   I would recommend that you find a good mag glass and a real good white light.  I used a 100 watt equivalent high efficiency fluoresent. 

Take special care of how the solder joints are as well as the upright portion of the pins.  I found that what appeared to  be solder "spatter" caused bridges between the pins.   

I used an x acto knife to remove them.  Have a look.  I would bet that you will probably find something close to what I had.  It took me a few hours and attempts to remove them all.

[rdebolt]

Really look close around the chips for bridges. I had trouble with mine and they both ended up being bridged pins.

[angus40]

Also make sure the pic is fully and cleanly seated  - no bent legs !

my .02      õ ¿ õ

[chrisatpsu]

the pic on the etherdongle is surface mount

[caretaker]

Well after reading through others posts about similar problems with there ether dongles (no green light, no mag jack lights, no connectivity) I decided to be brave and try "touching up" the connections on the ethernet chip on the dongle. That didn't fix the problem I still have the same issues as above.  I ordered a second ether dongle in the latest coop but I still have this dead one and to be honest I am ready to throw in the towel and count it as a lost cause. At this point I think it will require someone with more tools (IE: scope and such) and more diagnostic ability to fix it. sigh- 

[rrowan]

Try replacing the clocks - one each

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Rick R.

[RJ]

Instead pm me and setup a time to check the clocks with a digital meter and make sure they are running, if not then i would recommend they be changed.

RJ

[jess_her]

hello Caretaker
If your totally  burned out on this  Ill buy it from you.
Need to get my feet wet, this would be a good place to start.
Jess

[pokey]

I've had similar issues...I'm going to take one more stab at solving and then engage the Uber DIY'ers.  Lots of time till Christmas, and hopefully another CoOp....

[caretaker]

UPDATE:

Thanks to RJ I did some testing and my 50MHZ xtal is bad so I ordered one 3 today along with some other stuff and will see what happens when it comes in.

I have noticed in the WIKI a few more "Trouble Shooting" sections for the different projects here, the more of those we can put up the less time we will have to bother RJ with tech questions. I really appreciate the members of this board who to help out when you have a problem. Myself I know how to use a voltmeter and do troubleshooting IF I know what values I am supposed to be seeing. Rather than waste RJ's time with a teamspeak chat he instead gave the voltages I should have on the clock and I found out the 50mhz was bad.

[pokey]

Would you be kind enough to detail what (exactly) you did to test.  I can muddle through, but I'm only vaguely familiar with how to use my voltmeter.  I suspect it may be the same issue I am having...

[caretaker]

For Pokey and others the Xtal should read 3.3 volts between pins 4 and 8 and 1.6 volts (approx) between pins 4 and 5
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Update on my Ether Dongle:  Soldered in a new 50MHZ xtal and now the green led comes on and the yellow LED on the MAG jack comes on dimly with no ethernet connection. When I plug in the an ethernet cable so far there is no connection. I will be working on that later today when I get some time.

[caretaker]

Ok another update:

I looked over the entire board and noticed what looked like a bridge on the SMD ethernet chip with a slight movement of an exacto knife the bridge disappeared.  I then tried plugging in the ether dongle and connecting it up. When I first plug in the ether dongle the green LED comes on and the yellow LED on the MAG jack lights up dimly but after a few seconds the the green LED goes out along with the dim yellow LED on the MAG jack. When I plug in  an ethernet cable I get no connectivity.