Solved - LCD not working

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Solved - LCD not working

Post by Suncoaster »

Well I finally got around to installing my 9Xtreme upgrade into a Eurgle branded 9X radio today. I have had it for a few months and decided it was time. The installation was straight forward and when I powered it up none of the magic smoke was released, but it does not appear to work. :( I get a beep when I first power on and the lcd display cycles through the three colours and then nothing, no sound no splash screen nothing. I have checked the installation and everything appears to be connected correctly, what do I need to check/look for. :?:

Dave
Last edited by Suncoaster on Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

When first powered, the 9Xtreme needs to flash the original processor with supporting code to drive the display and buttons.
While doing this, it flashes the LCD backlight with specific colours indicating if this worked, so, exactly what colours do you see?

See here: viewtopic.php?f=126&t=7852#p105253, for the colour sequence.

The obvious thing to check is are the pads to which the the 'pogo pins' connect properly clean.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by s_mack »

When you say "Eurgle branded", my first thought... is it a V1 circuit board? I don't really hear the Eurgle name much anymore since the first years of the 9X's release.

From the FAQ:
Regardless of what the seller of your radio told you, there's no way to know what version your board is until you open it up and check. Our products work with all but the earliest "V1" boards. If you bought your radio since around 2011, you probably don't have to worry about it, but you should confirm your version. Most people refer to there being only 2 versions ("V1" and "V2"), when in fact FlySky is at least up to V15. But for our purposes, there's "V1" and then there's everything else. The "everything else" works. If you do have a V1 board, it can still work but soldering will be required and that sort of defeats the purpose.
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by jhsa »

Could you please also check the numbers written on the 9x main board's processor? Or take a photo of it?

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

s_mack wrote:When you say "Eurgle branded", my first thought... is it a V1 circuit board? I don't really hear the Eurgle name much anymore since the first years of the 9X's release.

From the FAQ:
Regardless of what the seller of your radio told you, there's no way to know what version your board is until you open it up and check. Our products work with all but the earliest "V1" boards. If you bought your radio since around 2011, you probably don't have to worry about it, but you should confirm your version. Most people refer to there being only 2 versions ("V1" and "V2"), when in fact FlySky is at least up to V15. But for our purposes, there's "V1" and then there's everything else. The "everything else" works. If you do have a V1 board, it can still work but soldering will be required and that sort of defeats the purpose.
That was the first thing I checked, the pad is on the 6th pin from the right. I will also ad that it was working prior to adding the 9Xtreme board, it had a very old version of ER9X on it I forgot to check what version though.

Dave

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

OK, a bit more investigating, when you first turn it on there is a extremely quick red flash and then the display changes to white and does not change again. When I hold the trims apart and turn on there is approximately a half second red flash and then the display changes to blue. When I hold the trims in and turn on the display is purple and does not change.

All the pins appear to make connection on the original board. I might add that there had been a previous modification made to this system before I acquired it and all the spots that the pogo pins connect to had wires soldered to them, so I cleaned them up using solder braid so they are now bright and shiny.

I tried connecting to the computer via the USB cable and there was no response from the radio at all, it would not even power on.

Next I will remove the upgrade board and ensure that the radio works in its original state.

Dave
Processor.jpg
Last edited by Suncoaster on Fri Nov 04, 2016 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Kilrah »

Note that it needs to be reflashed for that, the 9XTreme would have wiped the firmware on it (if that worked).
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

Power on holding the the trims inwards, then connect the USB cable (bootloader mode). See if the PC responds.

It seems that the original processor is sending data to the 9Xtreme, or you would see more red flashes. What you are not seeing is data on the display. If the original processor is flashed (which it seems to be) it should put "9Xtreme" on the display, even if it doesn't receive data from the 9Xtreme.
It may just be the contrast setting is wrong. If the bootloader mode is working, then you wil be able to use eepskye to change it.
You could also try powering on, wait 6 seconds (allow the splash screen to complete), then press LEFT LONG, then MENU, then press RIGHT several times to increase the contrast setting.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

Thanks Mike, I will give it a try and report back tomorrow. I have been banned from the shed for the night as we have visitors.

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by ProZak »

Suncoaster wrote: so I cleaned them up using solder braid so they are now bright and shiny.
Did you clean those connections with isopropyl alcohol after doing that? Using (de)solder braid typically still leaves a hard layer of rosin on the surface which must be washed off in this case.
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

ProZak wrote:
Suncoaster wrote: so I cleaned them up using solder braid so they are now bright and shiny.
Did you clean those connections with isopropyl alcohol after doing that? Using (de)solder braid typically still leaves a hard layer of rosin on the surface which must be washed off in this case.
Sure did I used the old standby "metho" to to that.

Mike

The story so far.

After putting it all back together, when I first turned it on I got two red flashes and then the display remained white. After a delay of approximately 10 seconds I tried the long left, menu and then right several times to no effect. I then tried bootloader mode using my virtual XP and the drives are recognised but any attempt to view them and the system indicates that the drives are not formatted. So any attempt to use eepskye fails. I am using a 16Gb card so I don't know if this should cause a problem. I formatted the card using the SD card formatting program that João recommends and established the standard folders, firmware, voice etc, so I know the card is ok.

So have you any more suggestions as I don't know what else to do at this stage.

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

Please try once more just plugging the USB cable in with the power off. This should power the processor, and cause it to start in STM DFU bootloader mode, and the PC should recognise a device has been connected.
This should work even if the 9Xtreme is not installed in the radio, and uses a minimum of hardware on the 9Xtreme to operate.

There are several things that appear odd. It seems the 9Xtreme is receiving serial data from the original board, suggesting the original; board has been flashed correctly, but then the original board should put "9Xtreme" on the display, whether the 9Xtreme is running or not. You could check this but removing the 9Xtreme and powering the original board on.
It is also odd that, in bootloader mode, the drives are recognised, but cannot be accessed, and it doesn't seem to respond to STM DFU mode.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:Please try once more just plugging the USB cable in with the power off. This should power the processor, and cause it to start in STM DFU bootloader mode, and the PC should recognise a device has been connected.
This should work even if the 9Xtreme is not installed in the radio, and uses a minimum of hardware on the 9Xtreme to operate.

OK, that worked Windows recognised that a device had been connected but it couldn't find a driver for the device. I found and installed Zadig and the device now shows as working properly in Device manager. Excuse the dumb question but what if anything can I do with this. :oops:

There are several things that appear odd. It seems the 9Xtreme is receiving serial data from the original board, suggesting the original; board has been flashed correctly, but then the original board should put "9Xtreme" on the display, whether the 9Xtreme is running or not. You could check this but removing the 9Xtreme and powering the original board on.

I think I tried that but I don't remember if anything happened, I will try it again tomorrow.

It is also odd that, in bootloader mode, the drives are recognised, but cannot be accessed, and it doesn't seem to respond to STM DFU mode.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by s_mack »

In my experience, Zadig is a cause of USB problems, not a resolution for them. It should be entirely unnecessary for the 9Xtreme anyway, as the drivers it provides are not related to it. However, it does install some generic base level USB drivers that should be in EVERY modern system, so perhaps you had some general USB problems with your system to begin with. For troubleshooting, I'd strongly recommend trying everything on a "fresh" system if you can (a friend's computer, perhaps?).
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

With the STM DFU (Device Firmware Uploader) bootloader, it is possible to flash new firmware to the 9Xtreme. This would allow, for example, a version with some tests in it to be flashed.

You might try powering up in 'normal' bootloader mode (trims inwards) again, and seeing if the two drives work now.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:With the STM DFU (Device Firmware Uploader) bootloader, it is possible to flash new firmware to the 9Xtreme. This would allow, for example, a version with some tests in it to be flashed.

You might try powering up in 'normal' bootloader mode (trims inwards) again, and seeing if the two drives work now.

Mike.
I tried using my Win10 laptop and after the STM DFU bootloader loaded. I then tried the 'normal' bootloader mode and while the two drives appeared I was unable to access them. Could the size of the SD card cause this problem. :?:

I then tried using eepskye to download the eeprom and got the message tx drive not loaded. I am now going to try removing the 9Xtreme board and will see what happens. Edit: I have just done so and can report that the system does not power on, I noticed a quick flicker on the LED on the FrSky DJT module as I power on and off. :cry:

Thanks for all your help, I am determined to not let this beat me.

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

When the two drives appear on the PC, one is the SD card and the other is a drive that maps the flash and EEPROM to appear as a drive. In windows explorer, this second drive should have a name of "9XTREME", be of size 1Mbyte and have 0 bytes free.

What revision of eepskye are you using? It is worth going here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4676#p65894, downloading "eepskye.zip" from 31-Jul-2016 21:14, unzipping the eepskye.exe and placing this in your eepe directory.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:When the two drives appear on the PC, one is the SD card and the other is a drive that maps the flash and EEPROM to appear as a drive. In windows explorer, this second drive should have a name of "9XTREME", be of size 1Mbyte and have 0 bytes free.

In Windows Explorer on my Win10 machine they just appear as drives E: and F: with no labels and any attempt to access them indicates that they are not formatted.

What revision of eepskye are you using? It is worth going here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4676#p65894, downloading "eepskye.zip" from 31-Jul-2016 21:14, unzipping the eepskye.exe and placing this in your eepe directory.

I was using revision 419, I have downloaded and installed the version from 31-Jul-2016 21:14 and will test that when I put the 9Xtreme board back into the transmitter.

Mike.
I will also use the SD card from my Sky9x and load the latest version of the firmware for the 9Xtreme on to this card. I know this card works as I was flying with it today.

I will report back.

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

Are the USB ports USB3?

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:Are the USB ports USB3?

Mike.
No, just standard USB2.

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

I'm trying to work out what is and isn't working. I certainly don't understand why the drives don't work.
If you have the 9Xtreme in the radio, please try the following.
Power on and wait 10 seconds.
Press EXIT twice, to make sure any warnings are cleared.
Press LEFT LONG to get to the Radio Setup menu.
Press DOWN once to get to the red backlight brightness.
Assuming the backlight is white, press and hold LEFT. This should reduce the red brightness to 0 so the backlight colour changes to cyan.

This is really a test of whether the buttons are responding.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

Nothing changed, so I guess the buttons are not working. :cry: The only indication that anything happens is a beep at power on and the display lights up

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

Oops, I forgot the MENU button press in the sequence, please try this.
Power on and wait 10 seconds.
Press EXIT twice, to make sure any warnings are cleared.
Press LEFT LONG to get to the Radio Setup menu.
Press MENU to enter the display menu.
Press DOWN once to get to the red backlight brightness.
Assuming the backlight is white, press and hold LEFT. This should reduce the red brightness to 0 so the backlight colour changes to cyan.

Please confirm what you see on the backlight at power up.
Do you see the backlight come on RED for about a quarter of a second, go off for a quarter of a second, then on and off again, both for a quarter of a second, then the backlight comes on WHITE?

If this is the case, then no data is getting to the 9Xtreme over the spring pins. Now to allow for this, we have a backup method of sending the button data from the original processor to the 9Xtreme. If the backlight flashes as I describe, then this backup method is working, or you would see some other colours after the two red flashes.

I'm still wondering if there is a poor connection between the spring pins and the pads, worth a triple check that both the pads a clean and the spring pins are clean.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:Oops, I forgot the MENU button press in the sequence, please try this.
Power on and wait 10 seconds.
Press EXIT twice, to make sure any warnings are cleared.
Press LEFT LONG to get to the Radio Setup menu.
Press MENU to enter the display menu.
Press DOWN once to get to the red backlight brightness.
Assuming the backlight is white, press and hold LEFT. This should reduce the red brightness to 0 so the backlight colour changes to cyan.

Yes, that works, I now have a cyan backlight :)

Please confirm what you see on the backlight at power up.
Do you see the backlight come on RED for about a quarter of a second, go off for a quarter of a second, then on and off again, both for a quarter of a second, then the backlight comes on WHITE?

No there are no red flashes, the backlight comes on white and remains that way

If this is the case, then no data is getting to the 9Xtreme over the spring pins. Now to allow for this, we have a backup method of sending the button data from the original processor to the 9Xtreme. If the backlight flashes as I describe, then this backup method is working, or you would see some other colours after the two red flashes.

As I said no flashes at all just a steady white display

I'm still wondering if there is a poor connection between the spring pins and the pads, worth a triple check that both the pads a clean and the spring pins are clean.

I will give them another clean and I will check that the spring pins are clean also.

Mike.
Edit:

I have now checked that the pads and pins are clean and i can reliably change the display colour. I have also noticed that I have a solid red and a flashing green led on the DJT module, so I think something is working, I just don't know what. Also I can now read the SD card on my Win10 machine, and flash the firmware using eepskye I just cannot read the display. So progress has been made. :mrgreen:

Dave
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by MikeB »

Please go back to checking the contrast setting, either by the method used earlier with the buttons, or since eepskye seems to be talking, read the EEPROM and check the contrast value, you want about 30 as a start.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

MikeB wrote:Please go back to checking the contrast setting, either by the method used earlier with the buttons, or since eepskye seems to be talking, read the EEPROM and check the contrast value, you want about 30 as a start.

Mike.
There is no value in the contrast setting that will make the display readable. :o
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by jhsa »

Hmm, see if the LCD Ribbon is not damaged, it is well inserted and locked in place in the connector.

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

jhsa wrote:Hmm, see if the LCD Ribbon is not damaged, it is well inserted and locked in place in the connector.

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Ribbon connector :?:
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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by jhsa »

Yes, it can only go in one connector :)

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Re: 9Xtreme not working

Post by Suncoaster »

Well, all I can say now is that it works, I am using a DJT module and I have bound a D6FR receiver and all works as you would expect except I do not have a working display, so it is not much use. :( Maybe I have a dodgy LCD, is there some way I can test this, I can as we have seen change the display colour but it will not display text no matter what level I set the contrast to.

Dave

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