Stuck midibox (Din problem)

[mb944]

Hello!

My Din recently packed up, It was really hard and random to get working in the first place, but eventually it all worked fine, untill the next morning  :'(

symptoms: only the first pin works, and performs all the system buttons at once (left right snap exec).

Another weird thing is that when I switch it on, it allways displays the same stuff, even with both AIN and DIN module removed (ain pins grounded)

Maybe someone could tell me whats going on by looking at the display:

Does this look familiar to anyone??

I'm afraid I can't say more because I haven't a midi interface at the moment to monitor the core's output  :P

ps:

I've made a brand new Din,

no differance

I've checked, checked, and checked the solderings,

no differance

Thanks for any words of advice

regards,

-Alex

[monokinetic]

Hi there,

It sounds like you have the same problem as me which I have described in a post here:

http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=troubleshooting;action=display;num=1101405166

Im afraid I cannot offer a solution as I have had this problem for over 1 week now! So if anyone is reading this and can explain how to use a logic probe to try and trace this problem I guess we would both be grateful :)

Have a look at my post to see what I did to try and solve this problem...

By the way which piece of software do you have loaded onto the box (and how did you upload it if you have no midi interface!)??

Lets hope someone can help us ;)

regards

Dave mK

[mb944]

hello, fellow din wrestler!

i uploaded the latest midibox64_v2_3 firware using the excelent sysexbox utility through my pci terratec dmx6 fire souncard. I sold it yesterday on ebay because I have purchased a laptop and will be getting an external soundcard to plug into both laptop and pc. Therefore i'm in a sort of "soundless" transition point between two interfaces. By the way, I'm not sure what is best for low latency on a laptop, but i'm looking at m-audio's firewire audiophile.

Anyway, back to the box!

what where we saying? oh yes: HHEEELLLPP !   :P

[mb944]

reading the threads you posted (thanks by the way) Its seems to me that my problem could be Clock channels too close to each other, because i'm quite a messy solderer (laugh at photo)

some channels or lanes have solder running down them, thus making things a bit nosy maybe.

I'll try cleaning this disaster up a bit to reduce the interference.. we'll see  ;)

ps: hope Thorsten and Mike don't see the photo!!

Thorsten will bann me from making midiboxes and mike won't sell me any pcbs again  :P

[moebius]

I hope Smash doesn't see this :D

I'm about 100% sure - that what we see here is the works of a ~40W soldering iron (non temperature controlled).

SO first off - Run to the local electronics shop or whatever and get yourself a proper soldering iron!! This is a MUST!! (even cheapish 25w one does)

Second - That brown stuff you see - Flux residue, is conductive by itself - so stray currents here and there.. I'm not sure what PROs say about this, but I've learned that asetone works very nice on cleaning flux off (and gives you a terrible headache if you don't ventilate properly, bye bye, braincells) Or you can simply WASH (and afterwards rinse and dry completely) your boards with dishwashing fluid.. That CAN'T make things WORSE.

If this was an analogue circuit (or HF dig. stuff), I'd wonder if it worked AT ALL!! (OR it could be the most bad ass'd guitar distortion ever made ;D)

I'll get back to this, Moebius

[mb944]

thanx for the advice,

Maybe I'll order some more pcb and start over with a smaller iron and thinner solder, I promise it worked once though! hihi

[monokinetic]

Wow I'm really amazed it worked ;)

If you really want to be sure that its worth ordering another board (and lets face it the photo suggests smashTV should expect the order!) then if you try removing the chips from the DIN board and use a multimeter set to the settings you would use to check resistor values (ie ohmeter) and then measure between the 1st and 2nd pins on each IC socket. (check the DINX schematic to identify the pins).

AFAIK if you get any reading other than 1 it suggests you have a bridge between these tracks and therefore the core cannot shift the stae of the pins...

However let me reiterate just incase noone saw my post of Friday:

I do not measure any resistance between the tracks on my DIN board and yet still it only picks up the D7 pin/IC pin 6. Im going to build a logic probe to try and detect if there is any output from the core along the tracks of the DINX4. Am I heading in the correct direction???

Anyone?

Good luck mb944 with the new soldering iron :)

regards

Dave

[smashtv]

I hope Smash doesn't see this :D

Hehe..... :D  

I felt the shift in the force as I watched the lights dim......Someone, somewhere has deployed a "cosmic blaster" class soldering tool......:o

Solder mask is a wonderful thing..... ;D

</teasing>

Best!

Smash

[mb944]

I promise I'll get a new iron! maybe I'll do the soldering with the windows open too. I start off very precise but It all becomes wobbly as I start to get dizzy  :o

Well, as I said, the problem must actually be with the core, because I get that reading with and without the other modules, so I'll make a nice vectorboard core this evening with my new "cosmic blaster" and see what happens!

Regards to all!

-Alex

[mb944]

yes, it's a fake (not much bigger than original though...) :P

[smashtv]

hahahaha that's great!   ;D

The cosmic blaster reference is from my tech days, where when we found bad soldering it was either done with a cosmic blaster 4000w space iron or by a group of poorly trained former circus monkeys in a factory in China.  Apparently some of the monkeys escaped and made it to the US, because I have repaired pinball machines where people attempted to solder with a cig lighter! Not even the crackpipe/jet lighter kind!  I can't imagine trying to explain "while I was trying to repair it, I decided it would be a good idea to get my lighter out and hold a flame up to it" to someone else after something else gets charred also.

A side note on the weller gun type irons, the big ones throw enough magnetism to correct the purity of a picture tube or erase magnetic recording tape.  I used to carry one in the route truck just for last minute monitor purity/color correction, instead of my expensive pro degaus coil.   ;D

Best!

Smash

[Huw]

it always makes me a grin when you see people doing electronics & other techie things with crockery in the background ;D

glad its not just me! - my kitchen is my workshop in the cold months ;)