jdutcher

yeah, the regulator gets hot even without the lcd connected (at least when i rebuilt it i made sure to use the headers!!!). adjusting the contrast has a very very small effect on the pixels, but even when it's all the way up, the pixels are barely visible. the thing is, there's no sound even when the lcd is connected. also, could it really be a short? i mean, mios is working, obviously, and i'm getting all of the right values from the ic pins that thorsten lists at the end of the core and sid pages. therefore, i really have no idea what the problem could be.

in a recent post ("help needed"), sephult wrote: "How can I test if MIOS is running? After the startup phase, you can send this message "F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F F7" to the core, MIOS should reply with the same message immediately. You could also try to upload an application, after every code block a checksum message will be send which acknowledges that the stream has been received correctly." i've tried this and it works. the mios seems to be loaded just fine. the regulator on the core is getting fairly hot after a while, but not as quickly (or as hot) as it did with the old boards. i'm getting sound out of headphones, but it's just the very faint hum of a SID waiting to play. i haven't heard back from anyone about this for a while. does anyone have any ideas? even just a reply to let me know that people are reading this would be nice. as i said, i'm using new boards and there are absolutely NO bridges or bad connections. please help....anybody... thanks james

ok, thanks smash, that one worked. well, i'm satisfied...good work. i'll see how it goes on my next core board.

doesn't work on my PC (windows xp). i thought i had my codec bases covered, but i'll download the latest and see if that works

ok, so i rebuilt the thing from scratch and i still have the same problem. Â the only difference is that the regulator doesn't get too hot anymore, so i guess any shorts were eliminated in round 2. Â PLEASE help! Â i've been working on this thing for months now! p.s. haven't tried getting any sound out of it yet though. it's getting late and i was discouraged by the blank display. will try some sound tomorrow.

haha, i must say, i'd love to see a video! who would've thought it would come to this, eh? ;D ;D

hey, so i rebuilt my sid synth from scratch and i'm using the original c64 psu (6581 sid). the diagram (http://www.ucapps.de/mbhp/mbhp_sid_c64_psu.pdf) says that pin 1 of AC1 should be 9VAC but i'm getting 12V AC. could this be why it isn't working? also, is there any way to test the voltages coming out of AC2 and pin 2 of AC1? right now they read 7VDC (zero VAC), but i know that's wrong. i am getting 5VDC going to the diode, however, so that's working at least. the 470uf cap i'm using is from the original c64 circuit so it's 25V instead of 50V, but that shouldn't matter, right? thanks james

hey, glad to see this post is generating some interest! smash, just to follow up on the resistor issue: bending the leads on resistors is pretty basic, so my guess is that most people on this board, myself included, know how to do it properly. perhaps you're pinching a bit harder than the rest of us ;)...all i know is that 95% of my CORE resistors are at roughly a 25 degree angle with the board. oh yeah, and one more thing. i misspoke slightly when i discussed the peeling traces. it only happened to me when i was desoldering some of the larger headers to hardwire cables to the board. other than that, no problems. just a note: i'm running a 30W iron...i know it's a bit on the high end temperature-wise, but i'm just too impatient to keep it at cooler ::) james

hello, it's a bit tricky to use, but yes, it does work. however, i use mine more for quick touch-ups. for the midibox projects, i'd suggest using a standard, wall-powered soldering iron...you'll save money on batteries (and on the iron itself, depending on what you get), they're much easier to use, and it's quicker in the long run. the cold heat iron can be frustrating sometimes, especially for smaller connections...i don't think i'd be able to use it exclusively for an extended period of time without throwing it out the window. ;D hope this helps. james

Hi Everyone, Per SmashTV's request, I'm posting a review of his new line of midibox PCBs. Â I'll preface this by saying that, although I was asked by SmashTV to review the boards, he made no demands that it be a positive review or anything like that...he simply wanted to offer people a second opinion on the quality of the new boards. In an effort to heal my broken midibox SID, I rebuilt the guts on the new versions of the CORE, SID, and DIN boards. Â Originally, I had used the older versions of all three boards. Â I've done plenty of soldering before, but it took me a while to finish on the old boards and I still ended up with a few solder bridges and general messiness. Â One of the worst problems was peeling traces. Â Keep in mind that this wasn't SmashTV's fault...the boards weren't defective...but even the slightest amount of over-heating on the tiniest traces was enough to kill them. Â Both of these problems are COMPLETELY ELIMINATED with the new boards thanks to the introduction of a solder mask. Â For those that don't know, a solder mask is a thin solder-resistant surface that covers the traces but leaves the pads exposed. Â This greatly reduces bridging and eliminates trace peeling. Â The new boards sport a very high quality mask. Another handy change in the new boards is the pad plating. Â Bare copper pads tend to get tarnished fairly quickly, especially after being touched by fingers, etc. Â The new plating stays shiny and clean for a much longer period of time, even without the use of steel wool. Â The white silksreening on the component side of the boards is much more legible than the older boards. Â Not only is the print much clearer, it provides much more contrast with the new, green boards than the previous black-on-tan scheme. Another obvious advantage with the new boards is the new component placement which generally cleans up the traces a bit and provides room for a heatsink on the CORE board. Â This didn't affect me too much as I don't use a heatsink anyway, but I can see how it would be a benefit to those who do. The one problem I had was with the resistors. Â The new boards boast that the resistors are supposed to lay flat on the board, but mine didn't unless I bent the leads flush with the edge of the resistor with a pair of pliers and that's never a good idea as it can put a lot of stress on the resistor itself. Â It probably wouldn't be as big a deal with 1/8 watt resistors, but I was using the 1/4 watt resistors that came with the kits. Â Ultimately this really isn't an issue, but it would be nice if the (1/4 watt) resistors actually did lay flat with relative ease. Overall, I really have nothing but good things to say about the new PCBs. Â I didn't actually keep track of how long it took me to build my midibox in each case, but I'd estimate that it took about 1/3 the time with the new boards. Â And the most amazing part: prices have gone down! Â Also, he now offers a complete SID kit (minus the SID, of course!). Â SmashTV has really outdone himself and I can't thank him enough for the quality of the invaluable service he provides. Thanks, James Dutcher

i do have the pinout for the lcd, but i don't think it's a wiring problem. the contrast trimmer has no effect (backlight trimmer works, though). there is no sound from the box when controlled via midi (and no startup sound with bankstick). also, the core's regulator IS too hot to touch.

hi moebius, thanks for the input. the problem is that i don't see anything on the lcd screen when i power up (except backlight). perhaps there is something else i need to do? is there any reason why the sysexbox program would be consistently giving me errors? i'll try to get some sound out of it and hope that maybe it's just an lcd problem. thanks james

hi everybody, so i finally found the courage to approach my the sid project again.  after rebuilding the entire thing from scratch using smash's new boards (which are amazing!), i was working on the power module and then it hit me: i forget to solder one of the power lines going to the core!!  i'm truly ashamed to admit it, but that was what the problem was.  figures, i build the entire thing perfectly and simply forget to solder one of the power wires!  anyway, so i've got it running (sends sysex request, etc.) but it seems to be encountering some errors.  here is the midiox input log from start to finish: 00010B5A  1  --   F0  Buffer:   8 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 01 F7 0001129B  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 0E F7 0001158B  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 34 F7 0001187A  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 3A F7 00011B6A  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 3F F7 00011E59  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 5D F7 00012149  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 20 F7 00012439  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 42 F7 00012728  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 28 F7 00012A18  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 59 F7 00012D0D  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 0C F7 00012FFC  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 7C F7 000132EC  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 10 F7 000135DB  1  --   F0  Buffer:   9 Bytes  System Exclusive SYSX: F0 00 00 7E 40 00 0F 53 F7 sometimes when i do it, though, i get 10 byte strings instead. also, i noticed that the regulator on the core is heating up (not too hot to touch, though).  i think this is fairly normal, but i thought i should mention it. please please please help! thanks! james p.s. when i use the sysexbox program, it give me an 04 error after ever line of code that it sent.

i know i'm not giving people much to go on, but i'm still struggling to get this thing running. i'm not having much luck poking around by myself. all i can really do at this point is make sure that everything is connected properly. does anyone have any suggestions at all as to where to test for voltages, etc? i'm debating whether or not to start over from scratch. while this would be an annoying time/money setback, maybe it makes sense. for one thing, i'll start using female connectors rather than soldering things directly to the board/headers. any help/ideas/suggestions would be extremely helpful. thanks james

no, neither is heating up unless it takes more than a few minutes to tell or if the chips need to be in.

hey so i've just spent a million years soldering the lcd back on there (all those teeny connections are quite a headache) and i tested the core pin voltages (as instructed on the core page) without any chips. now it's reading ~3.5v on all counts!!! sounds like something is wrong with the wiring, i guess. if you remember, the voltages were up at 5 before i added the lcd. any ideas of where to look first? i really really really don't want to remove the lcd anymore. if i have to, i'm gonna have to buy some sort of connector, i guess, so i don't have to do any more soldering. i know i could've done that in the first place, but it's late and i wanted to test it out. thanks james

hi schultz, thanks for the input. yes, those jumpers are in place and fully functional. tomorrow i'll solder the lcd back on and see if i get anything different on the screen since the pic pin28 jumper change. i'm extremely doubtful though... arg....all i wanna do is start making some music with this thing! thanks james

hmmmm, this is embarrassing.... all this talk about the pic pin28 jumper got me thinking....and as soon as i glanced at my board after reading the posts, i realized that i had connected the jumper to pin 29 instead of 28 by accident. Â somehow, the bankstick was connected to pin 28, but not the sc jumper. Â however, when i fixed the problem and rushed back to my computer, the midi input monitor was still spitting out the same garbage and there is no sysex request. Â needless to say, i am quite discouraged. Â anyway, is there any chance that i may have fried my pic? Â i'm thinking that it wouldn't spit out anything if i did, but i don't know. Â if it is dead: smash, expect an email very very soon. :) i'm off to quintuple check my connections.... thanks james p.s. milkmansound: it turns out your "thread pirating" was a bit more pertinent than you thought. ;)

hey, thanks again for your help, goyousalukis. i can't test anything right now because i'm on vacation, but i'll be back in a couple of days and get a response to you then. i realize this post is a bit unnecessary, but i just wanted people to know that these issues are still unresolved and any ideas are welcome. in the meantime, i do have another question: smashtv sent me a core v1 board which is different from the board that is used in the documentation (v2 board, i think). anyway, i made all of the jumper corrections that are listed in the changelog (pic pin change and jumper connection between sid and core), but is there a chance that the older board won't work with the updated jumper configurations? thanks james

grrrr....frustrating. thanks for the input, goyousalukis. here's what i was able to find out: 1. i've checked and checked, but i still can't find any connection problems. of course, there were those times when i would say "aha! there's the problem!" and then i would check 3 times more and realize that my eyes had deceived me. sigh...but that's beside the point. 2. the voltages on the core look good (all 5 volts). i used the pin to pin checks included on the core page. however, the voltages on the sid (when connected to the core), the voltages were 3V instead of 5V in all cases. the chips and lcd were removed for these tests. any thoughts, anybody? 3. trying to send sysex commands to the core with no luck. all i get is a series of random midi events every few seconds. at least it's speaking... however, i get no sysex request(s), etc. keep in mind that the bare sid circuit (no chips) is connected. please don't make me cut anymore wires... the software/connection is set up 100% perfectly and i've tried every bit of help on the midi troubleshooting page, but no luck. (loopback works) here's a little excerpt of the stuff that the input monitor spits out when i turn on my box: TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT 000042F7 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 000042F7 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 000042F8 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004305 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004308 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004308 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004309 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004311 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004314 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004314 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004315 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004316 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004317 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004317 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004319 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004319 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 0000431A 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004323 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004323 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004324 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004325 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004325 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004326 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 00004328 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004328 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004329 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 0000432A 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 0000432F 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004331 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004332 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 00004332 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano and it (the first series) ends like this.......... 0000465B 1 -- E0 00 01 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000465C 1 -- E0 01 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000465D 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000465F 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 0000465F 1 -- E0 01 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004660 1 -- E0 03 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004660 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004662 1 -- FF -- -- -- --- System Reset 0000466B 1 -- E0 2C 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000466D 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000466E 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 0000466E 1 -- E0 01 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000466F 1 -- E0 03 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004670 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000467D 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 0000467D 1 -- E0 00 01 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000467E 1 -- E0 03 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000467F 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004680 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004680 1 -- E0 03 48 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000468E 1 -- E0 03 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000468E 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000468F 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 00004690 1 -- E0 01 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 00004691 1 -- E0 03 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 0000469F 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 0000469E 1 -- C0 01 -- 1 --- PC: Brite Acc. Piano 0000469F 1 -- C0 03 -- 1 --- PC: Honky-Tonk Piano 000046A0 1 -- C0 03 -- 1 --- PC: Honky-Tonk Piano 000046A0 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 000046AF 1 -- E0 1A 03 1 --- Pitch Bend 000046B0 1 -- E0 00 00 1 --- Pitch Bend 000046B1 1 -- FE -- -- -- --- Active Sensing 000046B1 1 -- FF -- -- -- --- System Reset 000046B2 1 -- FF -- -- -- --- System Reset 000046B2 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano 000046C0 1 -- C0 00 -- 1 --- PC: Acc. Grand Piano i randomly tried sending the sysex without the request, so maybe it's just spitting out the garbage that i forcefed it. any help is much appreciated, as i am pulling my hair out over here. thanks! james

hi, i just finished building my first midibox sid (first mbhp experience), but i'm having some trouble getting it to work. Â every time i turn it on, the lcd flashes (lights up and dies within a second). Â i did a pretty thorough check for shorts, etc. but found nothing. Â and this isn't the first thing i've ever built, so i'm pretty sure i did everything right. Â as i was assembling it, i tested the power at various points on the ics (core and sid), as instructed in the documentation. Â everything was normal. Â basically, something must have happened between then and assembling everything. Â if anyone has any ideas of where to start troubleshooting or if you've seen this before, please let me know. Â i'm going to build the proper midi cables to interface with my sound card tomorrow, so i'll be able to see if it's just an lcd issue or if it's more than that. quick notes: 6581 SID, C64 PSU, 2x40 LCD, pic18f burned by SmashTV thanks! james