draziw1 Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Back story: I ordered 2 STM32F407G Boards with V2.0B Shields back in late 2016. Managed to get one of the two up and running and installed eventually after bench testing. Many thanks to Lucky1 for his guidance in getting it up and running. The setup: External pwr to the Shield was taken from the Computer pwr supply(5V line). LED panels got their pwr from a separate PWR Supply, 5V 10A. Everything was working except the panels would have random LED's lit when the PBall was shut down. I would have to kill all the pwr to the PBall via a master switch I had installed. Basically it shut off the PWR bar. So my solution to that problem was to install a relay which was hooked to the 12V line of the Computer PWR. Turn the Computer on, PWR is feed to the 5V PWR Supply. When using the Computer the Demo Screen would be on all the time, and worked when playing some of the tables. Fast forward till a week ago, was playing one of the tables and started to smell electrical burning. I immediately hit the master switch and observed smoke coming from between the Stm32 and the Shield. Some how the SD Card got fried, burned a hole in it. If I hadn't seen where the smoke was coming from, I don't know if I would have found it. Removed the Panels, Stm32 from my Machine and started to test the equipment. Everything is hooked up on my Desktop Computer as it was in the PBall. When I boot up the ST-Link utility and connect to the Stm32, it say's " can't read memory! Disable Read Out Protection and retry". I tried to reset the Level 1 to Level 0, but no matter what it keeps coming up with the previous statement. So I dug out the other Stm32 that I couldn't get going back 2016. I hooked everything up as if it was in the VPBM. Booted up the ST-Link program, still nothing except the random LED's brightly lit. I updated the firmware on the ST-Link to V2J37m26, Programed the Pin2DMD.bin file from Lucky1's GitHub for V3 per the instructions. Still the same, no better. Tried down grading the firmware, tried using an older version of Pin2DMD.bin, again nothing or should say, just the brightly lit random LED's. So here's how I have it hooked up, The 5V PS was feeding the Panels and external pwr on the Shield. Had both USB cables hooked up to the Stm32. In frustration, I said enough of this crap and started to dismantle the setup. First thing was to pull the pwr cord on the 5V PS. What happened next shocked the sh*t out of me, the Demo Screen lit up the Panels and after a few minuets it said it wasn't activated. But what gives, I had removed the pwr from the PS, yet the green pwr LED was still on. Next I removed the Micro USB, it dinged like it does when you remove a USB device. Next, the Mini USB, then everything went black. Plugged it back in and everything booted back up. After doing more research on here, I found other people experienced some what I did, that the LED Panels don't operate on the 5V's that they're rated for, mine with the setup as it is 3.88V Max, anything pass 3.88 and you get smearing of the LEDs, pass 4.12 you get blackness. . And maybe thats what was wrong the first time around. OK comparison time: Unit 1 is the Stm32 that the SD Card got Fried. Unit 2 is the setup that I have up and working on the bench for now Power - 5V 10A DC using this connected to external power on the Shield @ 4.97V. Power - 5V 10A DC using this connected to external power on the Shield @ 4.97V. Green LED on by the Micro USB, 1 small solid Red, 1 blinking Red/Amber at the Mini USB. 2 Small Red LED's and 1 blinking Red by the Crystal near the Mini USB. Plug in the Micro USB, same thing happening as if you plugged in external power, no chime. Plug in the Micro USB, the Green LED lights up steady and the adding device chime sounds. Plug in the Mini USB, the blinking Red has turned to a steady Red, chime sounds. Plug in the Mini USB, the blinking Red has turned to a steady Green, chime sounds. The Panels are getting power from a Power Adapter @ 3.88V. The Panels are getting power from a Power Adapter @ 3.88V. Upon starting the ST-Link FW version V2.J37.M26, Clicking on Target, Clicking on connect, Upon starting the ST-Link FW version V2.J37.M26, Clicking on Target, Clicking on connect gets you an error, Can't read Memory! Disable Read Out Protection and Retry. Closing the box the Panels go black, the LED near the Mini USB starts blinking RED/Green, device memory is displayed. shows Header Device Memory not accessible. Clicking on the Binary Tab takes you to the .Bin file Click on the Binary Tab and it takes you to the .Bin file area, so you can load Pin2DMD.bin to program the STM32. area so you can load Pin2DMD.bin to program the STM32. Tried to program the board but it errors Upon closing the ST-Link Utility the Panels display the Demo Screen. out again citing Can't Read Memory, Unknown Flash size. Click on Connect, big LED flashes Red/Green Clicking on the Windows Explorer (Win7) you see DIS_F407VG as a Drive with 2 files in it. then settles on Green. When trying to program, the big LED blinks what looks like a certain pattern, stops Clicking on the USB icon to detach external devices, I have Eject Pin2DMD, Eject Stm32 ST-Link/ Eject DIS_F407VG. on solid Green then repeats the process. Errors again, Unknown Flash size, cannot calculate full flash memory Unplugging the Mini USB results in DIS_F407VG/Eject Stm32 ST-Link/ Eject DIS_F407VG disappearing from their respected checksum. Exiting the ST-Link program the flashing Green/Red goes solid Red. The small Red LED near the places on the Computer. Unplugging the Micro USB has the effect of Eject Pin2DMD to be gone as well. the Micro USB isn't on. This board gets it PWR from the Micro USB or External PWR, where as the other one Unplugging the External PWR from the Shield has the effect of the Demo Screen disappearing and random brightly lit LED's draws PWR from the Micro USB. With the Micro USB disconnected and you rapidly connect/disconnect the appearing in it's place. External PWR at the Shield you can get the first Panel inline to display a series of LED's until you shut PWR As long as I have PWR to the Panels and I plugged either the Mini USB or External PWR the Demo Screen is Displayed. off, other wise they are Blank. Conclusions: Unit 1 Can't read Memory! Disable Read Out Protection and Retry, when you try to set the protection bit to Lvl0 it won't reset. Tried pressing the Black Reset button on the STM32 but according to someone on the ST site this won't work. Also was mentioned something about a power on reset might be the cure, but not sure how to do. Its the protection bit that is stopping me on fixing this board. Unit 2, although it appears to be working I have some concerns about the PWR being supplied thru the Mini USB which is where the programing of the Board takes place?? Is that because the Bin file I'm using is for V3?? Anyway if anyone has any input as to how I can repair Unit 1, please I'm all ears, for that matter any info will greatly be appreciated!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Content Provider lucky1 Posted April 15, 2021 Content Provider Share Posted April 15, 2021 Memory readout protection which can´t be removed means defective CPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draziw1 Posted April 16, 2021 Author Share Posted April 16, 2021 OK thanks, with the new boards can I use the old shield or do I need to buy new?? I'm not planning on putting any "Toys" in the machine other than replacing the USB Zero Lag board with a KL25Z. I want to replace my analog plunger for a digital one and have the ability to use nudge. Can the Nucleo boards be programed to do all functions of the Pin2DMD as well as input from the buttons, plunger etc?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Content Provider lucky1 Posted April 16, 2021 Content Provider Share Posted April 16, 2021 from https://pin2dmd.com/installation/#3 Quote !! Note: Discovery STM32F407 based hardware design or any custom variant of it is deprecated and we will stop giving out activation keys starting with #, D or C at 31.12.2020. Software support (updates) of course will be continued as long as possible. If you have a defective hardware based on that design, a replacement key can be received for a picture of the old controller hardware physically destroyed (e.g. drill a hole into the CPU). You can buy a new discovery board and get a replacement key Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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