Is it... ...dead??

Hugh

I now have three [noparse][[/noparse]heavily used] protoboards that give "No Propeller chip found on any com port" if I try to connect to them. The 3.3V and 5V power is OK. Have I killed them, or is there something else I could be missing? I have a few other protoboards that do work!

- Hugh

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Hugh - the thinking woman's Geoffrey Pyke.

Mike Green

It's impossible to tell from your description whether the problem is with the Propeller or something else. Neither the crystal nor the PLL has to work for the Propeller to be recognized by the Propeller Tool. You don't need an EEPROM, just 3.3V power and a working serial interface. The Propeller is pretty robust and doesn't fail easily. The most common damage to the Propeller is the blowing of the PLL multiplexor which disables the use of the PLL. Essentially the Propeller identifies and downloads programs properly, but the only clocks that work are RCFAST and RCSLOW. This failure commonly occurs with large voltage spikes on the power or ground supplies or problems with ground loops on the board.

Mike Huselton

Maybe the EXTERNAL oscillator still works. Then you can use a CMOS or TTL chip using logic gates and a crystal to make an oscillator.

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JMH

Hugh

I'll investigate the serial connections next then - the 3.3V is OK.

Anything that works for more than 24 hours in my hands counts as 'indestructable'!

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Hugh - the thinking woman's Geoffrey Pyke.

ElectricAye

Okay, maybe this seems like a stupid question but.... Did all 3 of them stop working at once? Or have they been crapping out one at a time over some number of days/weeks/months/visits from your Uncle Sparky?

BradC

James Michael Huselton said...
Maybe the EXTERNAL oscillator still works. Then you can use a CMOS or TTL chip using logic gates and a crystal to make an oscillator.

If the chip is not recognised by the Propeller Tool, then it's never even getting to the bootloader. If it never gets to the bootloader there is no way for it to switch oscillator modes.

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If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.

Mike Huselton

Bradc,

That's what I was thinking, but given the lack of precise info on the setup, I thought that I may as well mention it as a possibility.

I never have fried a PLL, but I always take proper anti-static and soldering precautions.
But all of this is voodoo anyway, and bad luck will catch up with me eventually.

I guess I really don't have the patience anymore in my old age for remote troubleshooting .

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JMH