Author Topic: Rev 2.4 firmware - display issue (Read 5018 times)

miraculon · « **on:** August 04, 2013, 05:03:42 PM »

Has anyone tried v2.4 yet? I did and got a scrambled display. I reset the board and got a blank display.
I then tried 2.3 and could barely make out the display.
I went back to 2.2, then got a normal display as before. Then I re-flashed to v2.3 and it seems OK again. Strange.
I posted a bug report on the firmware area of the Blitzortung main board.

Greg H.

Cutty Sark Sailor · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2013, 05:14:16 PM »

Glad I haven't Flashed yet, Thanks Greg...
Tobias must be pulling his hair out

dfroula · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2013, 05:28:38 PM »

I flashed to 2.4 without display issues.

Someone on the German board said he had to clear the memory in the ST board before flashing to get around a blank display issue. This does wipe out your non-volatile saved settings, though.

Don

miraculon · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2013, 05:34:54 PM »

Quote from: dfroula on August 04, 2013, 05:28:38 PM

I flashed to 2.4 without display issues.

Someone on the German board said he had to clear the memory in the ST board before flashing to get around a blank display issue. This does wipe out your non-volatile saved settings, though.

Don

I tried that, no joy.

Greg H.

dfroula · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2013, 05:40:19 PM »

I did upgrade the ST board's programmer firmware from the programming utility a few releases ago. Other than that, I can't imagine why it worked for me!?

Don

miraculon · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2013, 05:53:25 PM »

The first time I just flashed v2.4 from 2.2, but I did try 2.3>2.3>2.4 in sequence later.
I am going to have to put a mini-USB cable permanently attached. Since there isn't enough room between the mini-USB connector and a plastic rib inside the Bud case, I have to pull the ST board out each time to reflash it. (power was 100% off before removal)
I'll wait for a while, there didn't look like there was a lot of functionality added in v2.4 anyways.

Greg H.

Weather Spares · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2013, 04:03:02 AM »

Perhaps this would help with your problem of getting access to the mini USB socket of the ST board?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10cm-Mini-USB-Right-Angle-Male-To-USB-2-0-Female-Adapter-Cable-Charge-SYNC-DATA-/180828881840

miraculon · « **Reply #7 on:** August 05, 2013, 06:43:46 AM »

Thanks for the suggestions. I ordered this from Newegg. Nobody seems to provide dimensional info, except for the one that ayde_bury found on eBay. It didn't have a dimension on the molding behind the male plug, which needs to be <10mm. The Moto one looked like it had the minimum width of right-angle adapters that I found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA07R0AF0613

Posts on the Blitzortung site are indicating others have not had the display problem. I went through the re-programming several times and I know that it was happening with my board. I suggested that there is some slight parametric/timing difference between displays (or some other parts on the board that affect timing). The code change may have altered timing.

Greg H.

miraculon · « **Reply #8 on:** August 06, 2013, 11:33:57 AM »

Quote from: Cutty Sark Sailor on August 04, 2013, 05:14:16 PM

Glad I haven't Flashed yet, Thanks Greg...
Tobias must be pulling his hair out

Cutty Sark,

Looks like you went with v2.4: Smooth Sailing on the display?
3 689 Frankfort United States / Kentucky North America 10.3 2.4 Running 2013-08-06 15:30:18 508 | 64.9%

I am going to do as Tobi requested and get the flash image for 2.4 during the funky display mode. (I might also try a hardware trick that i have up my sleeve...)

Greg H.

Cutty Sark Sailor · « **Reply #9 on:** August 06, 2013, 11:45:12 AM »

Quote from: miraculon on August 06, 2013, 11:33:57 AM

Quote from: Cutty Sark Sailor on August 04, 2013, 05:14:16 PM
Glad I haven't Flashed yet, Thanks Greg...
Tobias must be pulling his hair out

Cutty Sark,

Looks like you went with v2.4: Smooth Sailing on the display?
3 689 Frankfort United States / Kentucky North America 10.3 2.4 Running 2013-08-06 15:30:18 508 | 64.9%

I am going to do as Tobi requested and get the flash image for 2.4 during the funky display mode. (I might also try a hardware trick that i have up my sleeve...)

Greg H.

Yeah, no problem at all. I did have a couple of "hard resets(?)" errors on the system within a couple of hours after updating, had also experienced that with 2.3, and have no idea what caused them, other than I was chugging along hitting upward of 20 flashes per second both times. I should have cycled through the menu and pulled em, and sent 'em in, but was busy with other stuff... and too damn lazy. No problems since, other than diddling around with settings etc.
Greg,
I've been wondering a bit about primary power supplies... I can see no reason why a 2 amp USB charger shouldn't work fine, other than regulation. Mine varies from 4.7-4.8. Prior to the 2.3 update it seemed more around 4.9...
How's your 5v line doing during when that issue is happening?

miraculon · « **Reply #10 on:** August 06, 2013, 11:51:13 AM »

Quote from: Cutty Sark Sailor on August 06, 2013, 11:45:12 AM

Quote from: miraculon on August 06, 2013, 11:33:57 AM
Quote from: Cutty Sark Sailor on August 04, 2013, 05:14:16 PM
Glad I haven't Flashed yet, Thanks Greg...
Tobias must be pulling his hair out

Cutty Sark,

Looks like you went with v2.4: Smooth Sailing on the display?
3 689 Frankfort United States / Kentucky North America 10.3 2.4 Running 2013-08-06 15:30:18 508 | 64.9%

I am going to do as Tobi requested and get the flash image for 2.4 during the funky display mode. (I might also try a hardware trick that i have up my sleeve...)

Greg H.
Yeah, no problem at all. I did have a couple of "hard resets(?)" errors on the system within a couple of hours after updating, had also experienced that with 2.3, and have no idea what caused them, other than I was chugging along hitting upward of 20 flashes per second both times. I should have cycled through the menu and pulled em, and sent 'em in, but was busy with other stuff... and too damn lazy. No problems since, other than diddling around with settings etc.
Greg,
I've been wondering a bit about primary power supplies... I can see no reason why a 2 amp USB charger shouldn't work fine, other than regulation. Mine varies from 4.7-4.8. Prior to the 2.3 update it seemed more around 4.9...
How's your 5v line doing during when that issue is happening?

I checked it with 2.3, didn't think to do it during the 2.4 display issue...Ill give it a try.

Quote

HamelGre Online
Participant
Posts: 5
Joined: 2013-04-19
RE: RED: Firmware
The 5V supply is 4.93V so it is not high.

Quote:Controller / CPU

Firmware Rev. 2.3 / Aug 3 2013 12:44:31 (Git: 2.3-0-g6a0587a)
Hardware Rev. 10.3 (PCB-Id 1)
Device-ID 3700-3400-0647-3234-3531-3033
HCLK / SYSCLK 168 / 168 MHz
PCLK 1/2 (APBCLK) 42 / 84 MHz
Max. Memory usage 94kB + 65kB for Signals
Signal Buffers 32
Input Voltage 4.93V
CPU Voltage 2.94V

Even if the display code wasn't changed per se, could some critical timing been affected by other sections of the update? Maybe there is some slight variation between displays that the display initialization was adversely affected? This is perplexing, since I was able to recover it with the older code, then repeat it again.

Greg Hamel
HamelGre

Cutty Sark Sailor · « **Reply #11 on:** August 06, 2013, 12:15:14 PM »

Brainstorming... you had to pull the ckt to access the port... I know you've checked and eyeballed for cold joints, etc,. I know you've reseated the display, I know you've checked jumper 1, and made sure the serial pins aren't messed with, or that T40 hasn't had something screwy mess with it... trying to think of something mechanical that happened...

miraculon · « **Reply #12 on:** August 06, 2013, 12:30:45 PM »

Quote from: Cutty Sark Sailor on August 06, 2013, 12:15:14 PM

Brainstorming... you had to pull the ckt to access the port... I know you've checked and eyeballed for cold joints, etc,. I know you've reseated the display, I know you've checked jumper 1, and made sure the serial pins aren't messed with, or that T40 hasn't had something screwy mess with it... trying to think of something mechanical that happened...

I had these thoughts initially with that "feeling of panic", but once it was all OK again with the prior version(s) of code. It was very repeatable with code version. I triple checked the board seating on both the Discovery board and the display module each time.

I am still thinking it is a slight timing skew in v2.4 and my particular display is susceptible to it.

Greg H.

dfroula · « **Reply #13 on:** August 06, 2013, 05:19:14 PM »

I have exactly this right-angle connector from my old Razr phone. My larger NEMA box arrived today, which is the same as yours without the mounting ears. I attached the right angle adapter and performed a trial fit. Unfortunately, there is insufficient clearance for the adapter if it is centered vertically and horizontally in the box because of the cover screw rib being in the way. The board would need to be shifted upward so the adapter clears that rib.

Don

Quote from: miraculon on August 05, 2013, 06:43:46 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I ordered this from Newegg. Nobody seems to provide dimensional info, except for the one that ayde_bury found on eBay. It didn't have a dimension on the molding behind the male plug, which needs to be <10mm. The Moto one looked like it had the minimum width of right-angle adapters that I found.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA07R0AF0613

Posts on the Blitzortung site are indicating others have not had the display problem. I went through the re-programming several times and I know that it was happening with my board. I suggested that there is some slight parametric/timing difference between displays (or some other parts on the board that affect timing). The code change may have altered timing.

Greg H.

Cutty Sark Sailor · « **Reply #14 on:** August 06, 2013, 05:57:56 PM »

Drill a hole. In the side. 'bout where the female usb thingy is. Get a small cork to plug it when you ain't flashing.

When you is wantin' to flashin', uncorkin, an' stickin the... .

miraculon · « **Reply #15 on:** August 06, 2013, 08:07:02 PM »

Or, out comes the Dremel...

On the v2.4 problem, I dumped out the v2.4 image and uploaded it for Tobi.

I was able to get the display to work after several reset attempts with a pull down resistor on the display reset line (PB7). I also changed the display contrast around, but that didn't fix it. It took four resets with the pull down resistor connected. It could have been coincidence and it was the numerous resets.

Here is what I posted on the Blitzortung forum:

OK. More strangeness. At first I got the same problem of a blank display or garbage characters. I tried a 11K pullup resistor from the display reset line PB7 and VDD. This didn't help after several reset attempts. Then I tried grounding the 11K from PB7 to GND. I tried various contrast settings from 20 to 80%. This didn't work either until I gave it about 4 resets (using my NRST button) and all of a sudden the display started working. Now, after several power down reboots, soft reboot and NRST button reboots the display comes up every time. Greg

Greg H.

miraculon · « **Reply #16 on:** August 07, 2013, 01:02:41 PM »

Houston, we have a problem....

Quote

RE: RED: Firmware

(Today 10:00)Tobi Wrote: LCD: I only discovered scrambled display here when the supply voltage was to high. The display has 5V power supply, but the data lines from the controller use 3V has high level.

This sounds like a problem. If I read the PT6520 datasheet (chip in the driver), this means that the logic high threshold is 4V when the display is running on 5V. Not so good on 3V/3V3 logic.
Either needs level shifters, or reduced voltage to the display to bring the display driver thresholds in line with the ST board output levels.

Greg
HamelGre

That PT6520 has a bizarro datasheet where VDD is held at zero volts and VSS is negative. It took me a while to translate everything back to a positive VDD. If anyone comes to a different value, let me know.

Greg H.

dfroula · « **Reply #17 on:** August 07, 2013, 05:39:53 PM »

Hmm..I come up with a different value for the thresholds.

The PT6520 display controller chip spec states that the minimum logic high input at Vss=-5vdc, Vdd=0vdc is Vss+2.

Putting this in more conventional terms, the conditions are Vss=0vdc and Vdd=+5vdc. High Threshold = Vss+2 = 0+2 = 2vdc.

So the minimum high input threshold with a 5 vdc supply is 2 volts.

Output high voltage is specified at Vss+2.4 at 3 mA. Vss+2.4 = 0+2.4 = 2.4vdc

Best,

Don

miraculon · « **Reply #18 on:** August 07, 2013, 06:05:42 PM »

Quote from: dfroula on August 07, 2013, 05:39:53 PM

Hmm..I come up with a different value for the thresholds.

The PT6520 display controller chip spec states that the minimum logic high input at Vss=-5vdc, Vdd=0vdc is Vss+2.

Putting this in more conventional terms, the conditions are Vss=0vdc and Vdd=+5vdc. High Threshold = Vss+2 = 0+2 = 2vdc.

So the minimum high input threshold with a 5 vdc supply is 2 volts.

Output high voltage is specified at Vss+2.4 at 3 mA. Vss+2.4 = 0+2.4 = 2.4vdc

Best,

Don

But which threshold to use: CMOS or TTL (VIHC or VIHT)?
The display chip lists both and I am not sure which to use. Your numbers are for the VIHT case, correct? For the VIHC case, it is VSS x 0.2 for the threshold. That is 1V less than the "0V", which is 5V in reality. That would be 4V. (that is one crazy datasheet). The part says that it is "CMOS", but why publish TTL unless it is for interfacing to TTL? The STM32 is CMOS.

If this is true, then 4V would be the "worst case" guaranteed number. The switching would occur at lower levels, obviously overlapping into the 3.3V OL level. Otherwise none of them would work.

If the "4V" case is the right one, then variations in the USB wall wart voltages might explain why some units have no problem (lower USB voltages, like 4.8V or something) and others have problems (the higher voltage case). Tobi himself said that he saw corrupted displays at high voltage. This possibly would move the VIH threshold up.

I need to ponder this some more

Greg H.

dfroula · « **Reply #19 on:** August 07, 2013, 06:39:30 PM »

I think VIHT is a variation of the standard VIT nomenclature or "Voltage Input (High) Threshold".

VIHC (and VILC) are the input clamp voltage specs. This refers to an input protection clamping circuit that limits the input voltage to something between the Vdd and Vss power supply rails to avoid reverse biasing internal circuitry.

Don

miraculon · « **Reply #20 on:** August 07, 2013, 07:32:16 PM »

So if the threshold is Vss+2 and is an absolute threshold then it would not be voltage related. The other thresholds are ratio-metric from the supply.
Some generic literature on logic thresholds is where my concern originally came from.

Like this one:

If this were the case, driving the 5V display inputs would be an issue, since the ST micro port is maxed out at 3.3V.

Maybe it is 2V and is OK. Then it could be timing.

Greg H.

dfroula · « **Reply #21 on:** August 07, 2013, 11:36:36 PM »

This article is quite good:

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/logic-levels/33-v-cmos-logic-levels

"In order to ensure general compatibility, you will notice that most of the voltage levels are almost all the same as 5 V devices. A 3.3 V device can interface with a 5V device without any additional components. For example, a logic 1 (HIGH) from a 3.3 V device will be at least 2.4 V. This will still be interpreted as a logic 1 (HIGH) to a 5V system because it is above the VIH of 2 V.

A word of caution, however, is when going the other direction and interfacing from a 5 V to a 3.3 V device to ensure that the 3.3 V device is 5 V tolerant. The specification you are interested in is the maximum input voltage. On certain 3.3 V devices, any voltages above 3.6 V will cause permanent damage to the chip. You can use a simple voltage divider (like a 1KΩ and a 2KΩ) to knock down 5 V signals to 3.3 V levels or use one of our logic level shifters."

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Author Topic: Rev 2.4 firmware - display issue (Read 5018 times)