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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Micromite+ Explore 100 Problems
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| JP1949 Newbie  Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
I have just completed building a Micromite Plus Explore 100 kit I received from Rictech in NZ that already had the SMD components installed. I have a Dell Laptop running Windows 7 with TeraTerm running and interfaced at 38,400, 8, N, 1 via a CP2102 USB-Serial module. I have a copy of the October 2016 issue of Silicon Chip and have followed the setup procedure closely and it all appears to work apart from a couple of issues that I need some help with. Firstly I have noticed that the firmware version is reported as 5.04.08. Geoff Graham's website says that the latest version is 5.04.09. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the following. I've successfully run the GUI CALIBRATE program and when I tested it with the GUI TEST TOUCH routine I get dots appearing at the far left of the screen and the position will emulate the vertical location but there's no horizontal component if that makes any sense. It doesn't matter where I press on the screen, I don't get a dot in that location as expected. When I type on the terminal I get the corresponding character appearing on the LCD screen but there appears to be an interrupt occurring about once per second that periodically displays a weird graphic character instead of what has been typed. I get the same when using a PS2 keyboard. I have an RTC module installed and removed it to see if that was causing the problem but it's still there. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks. |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Hello and welcome to the forums.  Your unit shipped with firmware 5.04.08 as that was the latest STABLE release. Units never ship with experimental or alpha releases. As 5.04.09 has had some reported issues, I am still using 5.04.08 which seems to be rock-solid. You can update your E100 any time you like with a PicKit-3, or a 1455-based programmer. There are lots of threads on the forums about the 1455 programmer/debugger chip. At the console, type GUI TEST LCDPANEL and press ENTER. Does the graphics demo look OK or is it corrupted? [Quote]When I type on the terminal I get the corresponding character appearing on the LCD screen but there appears to be an interrupt occurring about once per second that periodically displays a weird graphic character instead of what has been typed.[/Quote] So, you have therefore issued the command OPTION LCDPANEL CONSOLE? IMPORTANT! What EXACTLY are you using to power your E100? Cheap 5v USB phone chargers are a major cause of problems, so you need a good quality 5v plug-pack capable of a regulated 1A or so. DO NOT use a USB-to-DC-socket cable. The USB port cannot supply the current to run the E100 and an LCD at the same time. Be aware that SOME PS/2 keyboards can be rather thirsty for current, and so if one does not work, please try another one to be sure it is not just the KB giving you a hard time. I am watching this thread with interest. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
Thank you very much for your prompt reply and thank you for the explanation on the firmware version that's installed. I'm using a USB port on my iMac to power the E100 so as you have suggested, this could be the source of my problems. The GUI TEST LCDPANEL display appears to be working normally. I cannot see any corruption. I have indeed issued the command OPTION LCDPANEL CONSOLE. I'll get a decent regulated 5 volt power supply and will revert in a couple of days. |
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CaptainBoing Guru  Joined: 07/09/2016 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2171 |
+1 |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Hiya. Just one more little follow-up to this, make sure you use a good quality USB cable too - the thicker, the better really. Those really thin cables have really thin wires in them, and they can be a source of voltage-drop when you put an E100 + LCD load on them. If you have a spare old really thin USB cable you are prepared to sacrifice, cut the plug off one end and strip back the sheath. You might be surprised by just how thin the wires are in some of those cheap USB cables..... They simply cannot handle the load and as soon as you load up a thin wire, you get(sometimes serious) voltage-drop, and that is not a good thing. I can recommend the Jaycar cables. I have used these before, and cut the end off them, and they use good thick wires, especially for the 5v and ground, which is what y ou need. There have been many a post by people trying to sort out weird things with their E100's, and it was finally tracked to them using one of those really cheap and very thin USB cables. Replace it with a nice thick or cable of known-quality, and the problems all vanish.  Something to be aware of, and if you are going to buy a good quality 5v plug-pack, I also encourage you to get a good quality USB cable at the same time. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
Hi once again, You must be watching me prepare an old USB cable to do exactly as you have described. The wires are thin which did worry me so you've confirmed my suspicion. Can you tell me what the Jaycar pert number is for the cable you are referring to please? I intend using the 5 volts (actually 5.21 V) on a spare ATX power supply I have. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Howdy. I used this one at the time, as I had about five in stock. I cut the mini-B plug off the end, as in my case, I needed to build a USB cable that had a 4-pin header plug on the end of it. I'd say you'd be fine with any of the Jaycar cables that have that same distinctive moulded plug design that all the Jaycar cables have. Generally speaking, USB cables will have thick red and black wires, and thin green and white ones, as the green and white are the differential data pair, and don't really need to carry any current. But the red and black ones often do, so you might find two different guages of wire in your cable. The cheap thin cables have all the same wire guage, usually very thin indeed. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Careful about that. Not saying it won't work, but it does rather depend on the specific PSU you use at the time. Some ATX PSU's expect a minimum load, and if they don't sense it, they just stay in shutdown. Usually, you can force them to start by grounding the PG(Power Good) wire, but again - if the PSU does not sense some kind of load, it might decide not to fire up. Some PSU's are more of a problem then others there. You can simulate a load on the 5v rail with a 10W(or two 5W) resistors so that the current is 1A or so to trick the PSU to stay on. Your supply may not give those problems at all, but some PSU's do. They are expecting to connect to a PC motherboard and it's components, afterall.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
I have a 5R6 10W resistor across the 5V line and the voltage is now stable at 5.05 volts. I've also grounded the green wire on Pin 14. I'm in the process of wiring up a USB cable that I purchased from Jaycar and will let you know how it pans out. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Cool. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
Well, it's not good news I'm afraid. The display is acting much the same but when I entered: OPTION LCDPANEL SSD1963_5, LANDSCAPE, 48 The response displayed on the terminal and on the E100 is: Error: Pin 18 is reserved on startup. Huh! I don't recall seeing that message previously. I think I must have a faulty 5 inch LCD panel. |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
I wanted to send you a short video so that you could see what's happening. The filesize is too big and this platform doesn't accept MP4's. I took a photo of the screen and saved it as a PDF but once again the filesize (1.7 MB) is too large. The video is 17.9 MB. I could email it to you if you like. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Yes, files and images on the forums have to be kept under control, or the forum server would fill up with huge files. I will PM you an email address. Best not to post that on a public forum, or forum scanning robots might grab it and start sending me spam. Generally speaking, once you have set an option, you CANNOT re-issue the same command again - even with different pin options - as the command has already reserved pins the first time around. Once a pin is reserved, it remains reserved until specifically released. Type OPTION LIST at the command prompt, and see what it gives you back. In there somewhere, should be a pointer for pin-18, which is why the MM won't let you specify it again, and is throwing the error you are seeing about the pin being reserved. If you have re-allocated pins for something, you will first have to disable the thing you have re-assigned the pins on, to free them up for reassignment. For example, to disable the LCD panel, type OPTION LCDPANEL DISABLE. This will 'Uninstall' the LCD panel driver, and release any and all pins that were being used to control it. You can then issue a new command with different pins if you wish. You can also try issuing the command OPTION RESET, which will totally flatten any setup you have previously made, including the LCD and SD card, or anything else that may have reserved pin-18. If you have issued the OPTION LCDPANEL command at any stage before, and then try to issue it again without first disabling the panel as above, this could conceivably result in unpredictable results(like the error you are getting, when you are not referring to pin-18), as you are trying to configure an LCD that has already been configured, as far as MMBASIC is concerned, and it is getting confused. That could also be a bug. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| JP1949 Newbie Joined: 22/10/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 9 |
It all makes sense and I'm happy to report that by reducing the processor speed to 80 MHz has cured most of the problems mentioned above. I have looked at the OPTION LIST result and now understand the error messages. My next move is to transfer the LED_A link to the 1963_PWM on the LCD panel for more control over the back lighting and then to improve the current handling capability of the panel by using some decent size wiring from the output of the 3V3 regulator to the corresponding power pins on the LCD. Once that has been done I will try increasing the processor speed to see if that has helped. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9753 |
Progress.  Please do keep us updated. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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