Still no connection with PC???

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:32 pm

You need a serial extension cable with pin 1 - pin 1, pin 2 - pin 2, pin 3 - pin 3 etc. Female at the PC end, male at the MJLJ end

I would advise the use of Bray's Terminal (from http://bray.velenje.cx/avr/terminal/) to determine basic connectivity...

...in the top section of the screen set COM Port to 1 (or whatever it really is), Baud Rate to 4800, Data bits to 8, Parity to none, Stop bits to 1 and Handshaking to none. Set the HEX radio button in the Receive Box.

Connect the Megajolt to the PC, power it up, enter a capital S in the entry field next to the Send button and press Send - you should get something like 0F 00 00 00 04 1D returned. If you change the capital S to a capital C you should get 128 bytes of (seemingly random!) data returned - see the counters at the bottom of the screen.

Play around with your PC configuration until Bray's Terminal succeeds - then you have basic connectivity and can move on to the "fancy looking softwear" - that's all you need.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:48 am

Hi thanks for that, have been though and tryed that but am getting nothing coming up.
Is there anything else I would need to do before this but after finishing the assembly of the board?
Thanks
Timon

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:23 am

Ok so ive been playing with this for a little while now and still I do not have it conecting to the pc

.

Im using a serial extension cable with pin 1 - pin 1, pin 2 - pin 2, pin 3 - pin 3 etc, Ive personal check this and have check from pc end of serial plug to the board it self and is all good.

Im working with Bray's Terminal, set Baud Rate to 4800, Data bits to 8, Parity to none, Stop bits to 1 and Handshaking to none. Set the HEX radio button in the Receive Box.

When I send a capital S or a capital C all i get is the same letter back.

Ive been Playing around with PC configuration and differant com ports (checked the com port # in divice manager) and differant pc but always the same thing happening in Bray's Terminal.

Ive rechecked the board for 5V and its good in all the right places.
I have noted that with a input of 12.2V I only get 11.46V at ULN2003 in that check so there seems to be a slight voltage drop there but dont think that would be the problem?

Check the ossilator output on pin 10 of the processor IC at 2.55V with sounds right from the serching ive done on the forum.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:25 am

What do i need to do to conect my pc to MJLJ, ive read some stuff saying i need to download some java stuff to in a something about a s19 file, and some thing else about firmwire, but I cant seem to find pages on this site conserniong any of this ?????, All ive done is build and test the volts on the unit which are all good and downloaded the fancy new looking softwear, and this just says "timeout reading run time data." ive tryed the hiperterminal and this says something else is using my com1 port. How do i find out what is using the port and turn it off?
Thanks your help will be much appreaceated.
Timon

Post by **brentp** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:35 am

Timon,

Sorry you're still having problems.

Your notes show that you're not seeing the expected data when pressing 'C' or 'S' key when connected to the MJLJ.

There's a chance that you may have a problem with the MJLJ firmware image on your chip.

Try this:

1. Download the MJLJ V3.0.0 firmware .S19 file from the <a href="http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/523/edit"> downloads area</a>

2. Try to re-install the MJLJ firmware by following <a href="http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/461">these instructions.</a>

3. Then re-test using brays terminal. If the firmware image is operating correctly, you should see a string of data when you send a capital 'C' to the controller.

4. If that works, then re-try the configurator software.

Let us know how it goes.
Brent

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:52 am

Hey Brent thanks for that

I run through the firmwire upgrade process but when I hit enter at the comand prompt after imputing the appropiate comand the program responds with "waiting for HC08 reset ACK..." and it stops there. If I connect the power as I expect this might be the prompt to do so nothing else happens ether.

4600cc · Post by **4600cc** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:43 pm

Follow the steps in this post, report with results:
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/133 ... ode/133</a>

Post by **brentp** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:09 pm

Timon,

So when you start the hc08prg.exe software - it shows that it's waiting for the 'ACK' from the controller, correct?

Then, when you power up the unit you see no response at all, not even an error message?

Do you have EDIS running the engine already? If you do, you can connect the MJLJ and see if it's adjusting the timing as you rev the engine. If you see this happen it means that you have a functioning MJLJ, but some type of communications problem exists.

If this is the case then there might be a problem with the MAX232A circuit and the support components. If you haven't already, double check the solder joints for all of the 0.1uF capacitors around that chip.

Finally, have you tried this on a different computer?

Regards,

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:56 am

Hi Brent,

yes thats right, when I start the hc08prg.exe software - it shows that it's waiting for the 'ACK' from the controller, and when I put the power to the unit there is no response at all, not even an error message, it is still asking for the acknowagement.
The unit is not on the car yet.
I have just been round and checked the capasitors with the DVM and all is good, checked from the leg of the cap to the leg of the ic, so there is definatly a connection in the solder jounts and through the board.
I have tryed to conect on another pc with brays terminal and just got a repeted letter but i have not tryed the firmwire upgrade ill try tomorrow.
It might be a problem with the caps, As I put in something i little differant. At the time I posted a question on the forum and you had repled that they would be fine. I cant seem to find the post at the mo but I sore this post (http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/1001), and wonder if ive got them round the wrong way. I cant remmember exactly what i put in now but I think it may have been the bigger tantalum capacitors?
Lol just found it here(http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/927), so their 1.0UF 50V BLUE CHIP MONOLITHIC CAPACITORS (their actualy little yellow blobs with the legs coming out the bottom and have "105" printed on them), Could it be posable there cousing trouble?

bhwm · Post by **bhwm** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:16 pm

Your capacitors should work ok. If they are polarised it would be worth checking that they are all the correct way round.

You can check if the charge pump circuit is working by measuring the voltage at pins 2 and 6 of the MAX232. You should measure approx +10V on pin 2 and -10V on pin 6.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:54 pm

How can I check to see if C3 - C6 caps are polarised and that they are all the correct way round?

I checked the charge pump circuit the voltage was +9.72V on pin 2 and -9.55V on pin 6, so all looks good. I assume this means that that caps cant be coursing a problam, and the pump circuit is working correctly.

Can i check the output from the MAX232CPE ? Is it possable i have damaged the IC by over heating it when soldering it in?

Thanks so much for your repiles and help people

It will be great to get this car going.

Conrad · Post by **Conrad** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:02 pm

Brent he can do a loop back test on the pins of the max232 and the procesor
not sure what pin # they are but done this when i had dry joint on my oscilator

he can test his com port by shorting Tx,Rx on F09 and unpluging U1 doing same on the Tx,Rx pins on socket this wil give indication if max232 is fried

Note 2 self if no coms but can upgrade firmware check oscilator

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:36 pm

Hi Conrad, sounds good.
So if someone has more detail on which pins and the process i need to go through shorting Tx,Rx on F09 and unpluging U1 doing same on the Tx,Rx pins on socket that would be fantastic, and ill get right on to it.
Conrad no coms, and cant upgrade firmware ether. checked oscilator voltage output to pin ten of the procesor and it was in the right area. Is there anything else i need to check on the oscilator?
thanks
Oh and just on the point of cooking the MAX232, is it very easy to do this ? It is mounted strait onto the board so it certanly would have got some heat while i solded it up. I us a 80 watt iron which is phisicly big and has a larger tip on it. For this small board and the pins to solder I felt it was to big but it alowed me to applie the heat for just a short time. Is it better to use a hot iron for a shorter time (so less time to conduct heat into conponants), or a cooler iron for a longer time?

Tman · Post by **Tman** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:56 am

Brent, i have just tryed to load the firmwire on a differant pc and the outcome is the same as the before. just sits there waiting for the acknowagement once powered up.

Conrad · Post by **Conrad** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:07 am

heres the pins
<a href=http://picasso.org/mjlj/source/release_ ... lj_sch.png> Scematic </a>

look at this site to do test
<a href=http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3450> Loopback test</a>
try it first on your cable pins 2,3
after sucessfull try it on pin 11,12 on u1 (procesor plugged out)
if sucessful your u232 is working
try a diferent com's cable have a cable here it is not working and test out fine if i test between pins

done some of my soldering with a 100 wat iron bit was not confident to use it on highprice components so i asked a friend to do those with his
Goodluck report back

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