New set of Pin2dmd Manufacturing issues

[Terranigma]

4 New hardware issues that affect the Pin2dmd EVO hardware that I have come across. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

 

First up is no data being displayed on the Pin2dmd once connected to a real pinball machine. Cable has been checked, orientation correct. Other units work on this pinball machine.

No blue activity LED, input tests shows pins 1,3,5,7,11,13 closed when tested individually. This is an x32 unit.

 

The second board with issues, also an x32 will only boot up sometimes. This was sent away to PCBway to see if we could determine if the BAT60J and/or the TS 2940 were the issue. They replaced those 2 components and the issue remained. I removed the BAT60J and bridged the points. This did not fix the issue. While checking voltages it seems that the crystal and a few components (resistors etc) around it read about half the voltage that they should compared to a working board. I have reflowed these components but no difference. Some components reading about half the correct voltage were C5, C6, both ends of the crystal, R4 and possibly others. When the board does work these voltages are correct and match other working boards.

 

Next is another x32 unit which has had the BAT60J removed and contact points bridged as it would not 100% boot. It will boot up sometimes but when it doesn't the red led flashes rapidly. I have updated the firmware to 4.10 (as this was an old pcb with older fw) and it seems to have solved the issue so far. More testing is needed but if I can get confirmation of the meaning of the red flashing led this would help.

 

Finally there is the x16 board. It will boot and display the boot version of the game and then flicker the boot version. The blue LED does flash during this time. For the input pins test I am not sure what the steps are for this one but pin 11 is closed when you enter the test and I can also get pin 7 to display as closed when using a jumper.

 

@dzorbas has also got some issues which were not solved with the removal and bridging of the BAT60J points. Feel free to add to this with your issues.

 

Thanks

[lucky1]

First of all the problems you describe are not PIN2DMD issues , but PCBway manufacturing issues, which makes a huge difference for me. Maybe change the topic of this thread.

 

57 minutes ago, Terranigma said:

input tests shows pins 1,3,5,7,11,13 closed when tested individually.

 

 

Then only Pin 9 is left to check. Pin 9 goes to the LS123 and from that to the STM32 . Check these chonnections and the component soldering around that area.

 

58 minutes ago, Terranigma said:

The second board with issues,

 

Did you also check sldering of L1 ?

 

57 minutes ago, Terranigma said:

but when it doesn't the red led flashes rapidly.

This means it is stuck in the bootloader. Check the buttons 1 and 2 for functionality. Holding both of them during startup initiates a firmware update. If no valid update is found the red led flashes rapidly. A corrupt firmware load could also cause this.

 

 

57 minutes ago, Terranigma said:

Finally there is the x16 board. It will boot and display the boot version of the game and then flicker the boot version. The blue LED does flash during this time. For the input pins test I am not sure what the steps are for this one but pin 11 is closed when you enter the test and I can also get pin 7 to display as closed when using a jumper.

 

 

It seems that the problem is not on the PIN2DMD side but on the DataEast controller side which is on the right side of the PCB.

There is no possibility to check anything of that using pin2dmd testing routines since it is a independend circuit. 

Check if you have any visible issue there.

 

[Terranigma]

30 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

First of all the problems you describe are not PIN2DMD issues , but PCBway manufacturing issues, which makes a huge difference for me. Maybe change the topic of this thread.

 

Apologies, yes you are right. These are manufacturing issues, I have updated the title.

 

31 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

Then only Pin 9 is left to check. Pin 9 goes to the LS123 and from that to the STM32 . Check these chonnections and the component soldering around that area.

 

Will do, I will check these. I have 3 boards with this same issue.

 

32 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

Did you also check sldering of L1 ?

 

Yes L1 was reflowed also. 

 

32 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

This means it is stuck in the bootloader. Check the buttons 1 and 2 for functionality. Holding both of them during startup initiates a firmware update. If no valid update is found the red led flashes rapidly. A corrupt firmware load could also cause this.

That makes sense then that the firmware update seems to have solved this issue for me. Thanks.

 

33 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

It seems that the problem is not on the PIN2DMD side but on the DataEast controller side which is on the right side of the PCB.

There is no possibility to check anything of that using pin2dmd testing routines since it is a independend circuit. 

Check if you have any visible issue there.

This was one of the pcbs sent back to PCBway and I specified the right side of the PCB components for them to check specifically for any bad connections etc and they said it was fine. I've had a look myself and nothing is obvious. I may have to check the components one by one compared to a working pcb.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Terranigma]

Ok so the issue with the one with no real pinball input, I have checked some components around the LS123 and a few are showing low or no voltage values. C17 looks to have no voltage which is the same as pin 11 on the LS123. On a working board both C17 and pin 11 of the LS123 show 3.2v. r9 is also showing nothing on the bad board. Further up the c35 is showing .700v when a working board shows 3.2v.

Also the 2 contact points which have SJ1 under then show 2v for the pad under the S and 4.3v for the pad under the 1 pad. The pad under 1 on a working board shows 125mv.

I have reflowed the components showing issues (besides the whole LS123) and there is no difference.

 

For the flashing LED edit: Not working again.

 

 

[lucky1]

I would replace the LS123

[Terranigma]

31 minutes ago, lucky1 said:

I would replace the LS123

 

Will order one and replace, thanks.