SOLVED!! - no results with Vixen->ED->LE

[mmorlan62]

Can anyone comment on the E1.31 packets I've posted to this thread?  If Vixen is outputting E1.31, I'm not sure how I could be failing with my setup.  It's not that complex.

Michael

[caretaker]

Michael, when I get a chance this weekend I will capture and post the data packets of Vixen communicating with my ED controlling a Lynx Express

[mmorlan62]

caretaker,

Excellent.  Then we can compare yours against the ones I've posted here and against the E1.31 spec.

Best,

Michael

[caretaker]

Ok below is a packet capture from Vixen 2.1.10 to the Etherdongle: I was running the attached sequence which is 2048 channels of which I have 16 set up randomly flashing. My Lynx Express picked up the data and flashed it 16 led's in the random pattern. I am running this on my show computer (Windows XP - Athalon XP 1800+ 768GB Ram) to a NetGear FS105 fast switch (which the ED is connected to) which is connected to a Net Gear RT311 router which is multicast capable.  If you PM me I will give you the complete wireshark capture and the vixen file if you want them.
Some notes in setting up Vixen with the ED, make sure the ED is plugged in and connected before opening Vixen and setting up the the output plugin in your profile. It should look like this:



0000  01 00 5e 7f 00 01 00 a0  cc 3b 36 a7 08 00 45 00   ..^..... .;6...E.
0010  02 9a c3 30 00 00 01 11  41 b0 c0 a8 01 ca ef ff   ...0.... A.......
0020  00 01 08 1c 15 c0 02 86  1d 2a 00 10 00 00 41 53   ........ .*....AS
0030  43 2d 45 31 2e 31 37 00  00 00 72 6e 00 00 00 04   C-E1.17. ..rn....
0040  31 20 4f 5c 2b a9 0f 48  9c 02 fe dd f2 dd b1 e7   1 O\+..H ........
0050  72 58 00 00 00 02 50 49  58 45 4c 4e 45 54 00 45   rX....PI XELNET.E
0060  54 48 45 52 44 4f 4e 47  4c 45 00 00 00 00 00 00   THERDONG LE......
0070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0080  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0090  00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00  00 00 00 00 01 72 0b 02   ......d. .....r..
00a0  a1 00 00 00 01 02 01 00  00 a6 00 00 d0 00 d4 00   ........ ........
00b0  67 00 49 c9 00 bf e2 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   g.I..... ........
00c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
00d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
00e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
00f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0100  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0110  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0120  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0130  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0140  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0150  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0160  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0180  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0190  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
01f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0200  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0210  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0220  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0230  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0240  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0250  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0260  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0270  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0280  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0290  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
02a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

[mmorlan62]

Jeff,

I'm not sure what the pixelnet.dll plugin you linked to in a previous post is about.  It was seeking a COM port and was definitely not talking to Ethernet.

Here are the E1.31 headers from your EtherDongle packet and mine.  Why, I wonder, do they bear absolutely no relation to each other?

Jeff's Vixen 2.1.1.0:
0000  01 00 5e 7f 00 01 00 a0  cc 3b 36 a7 08 00 45 00   ..^......;6...E.
0010  02 9a c3 30 00 00 01 11  41 b0 c0 a8 01 ca ef ff   ...0....A.......
0020  00 01 08 1c 15 c0 02 86  1d 2a 00 10 00 00 41 53   .........*....AS
0030  43 2d 45 31 2e 31 37 00  00 00 72 6e 00 00 00 04   C-E1.17...rn....
0040  31 20 4f 5c 2b a9 0f 48  9c 02 fe dd f2 dd b1 e7   1 O\+..H........
0050  72 58 00 00 00 02 50 49  58 45 4c 4e 45 54 00 45   rX....PIXELNET.E
0060  54 48 45 52 44 4f 4e 47  4c 45 00 00 00 00 00 00   THERDONGLE......
0070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................


Michael's Vixen 2.1.4.0 w/Lynx+EtherDongle:
0000  00 10 00 00 41 53 43 2d  45 31 2e 31 37 00 00 00   ....ASC-E1.17...
0010  72 6e 00 00 00 04 31 20  4f 5c 2b a9 0f 48 9c 02   rn....1 O\+..H..
0020  fe dd f2 dd b1 e7 72 58  00 00 00 02 50 49 58 45   ......rX....PIXE
0030  4c 4e 45 54 00 45 54 48  45 52 44 4f 4e 47 4c 45   LNET.ETHERDONGLE
0040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
0050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
0060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 64 00 00 00   ............d...
0070  00 00 01 72 0b 02 a1 00  00 00 01 02 01 00 ff 00   ...r............

Michael's xlights:
0000  00 10 00 00 41 53 43 2d 45 31 2e 31 37 00 00 00   ....ASC-E1.17...
0010  72 6e 00 00 00 04 c0 de 00 80 c6 9b 11 e0 95 72   rn.............r
0020  08 00 20 0c 9a 66 72 58 00 00 00 02 78 4c 69 67   .. ..frX....xLig
0030  68 74 73 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   hts.............
0040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
0050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ................
0060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 64 00 00 90   ............d...
0070  00 00 01 72 0b 00 a1 00 00 00 01 02 01 00 ff ff   ...r............


According to the draft E.131 standard (E1-31r3.pdf) your header isn't formatted correctly.  How is your EtherDongle even working?  (For instance, the ACN Packet Identifier "ASC-E1.17" should run from bytes 4 through 15, and the Source Name should run from byte 44 through 107.

Even weirder:  Why does the About dialogue of my Vixen read as version 2.1.4.0 but the latest version available on the website is 2.1.1.0?

Michael

[bisquit476]

Hi Michael,

Have you tried the old version of the output plugin yet?

[mmorlan62]

I've tried ver 1 and ver 2.

M

[bisquit476]

Even weirder:  Why does the About dialogue of my Vixen read as version 2.1.4.0 but the latest version available on the website is 2.1.1.0?

Michael

You probably updated, that's the latest update, why it isn't shown on the website, I don't know,

Bill

[mmorlan62]

Okay, I've shipped my ETD and LE off to Rick Perry aka. rmp2917, who is being kind enough to scope and probe my boards.

I'll report back his findings (if he doesn't himself.)

Regards,

Michael

[mmorlan62]

SOLVED!!

Rick aka rmp2917 discovered a solder bridge between pins 40 & 41 of the Ethernet chip. A little flux and solder braid and the bridge was removed and the board functional.

Here's Rick's troubleshooting procedure in his own words:

"To start with, I setup my equipment to provide a known working test bed. Since I have 2 ED’s, I have one setup for PixelNet connected to a smart string and one for DMX connected to a Lynx Express. I used xLights to test the units. It was easier to setup and use the test panel instead of using Vixen.

"I connected your LE in place of mine and everything was working fine. Each of the channel LEDs responded according to values I was sending from xLights. I connected a string of lights to all 16 outputs to verify that they actually lit.

"Now that I knew the LE was OK, I moved on to the EtherDongle. I placed your ED in place of mine. Everything appeared to be working. However, there was no response from the LE. At first I thought there may be an issue on the output side, so, I made an adapter that allowed me to connect the LE on universe 4. I got the same result.

"The Ethernet chip seemed to be receiving data from the PC since the LEDs on the jack were responding appropriately. Also, the PIC seemed to be sending data to the LE since the data LED on the LE was lit. Also, after removing my ED, the channels were still on and as soon as I plugged yours in all channels turned off. This led me to believe that there was an issue with communication between the PIC and the Ethernet chip. So, I started checking those connections.

"I found that pins 40 and 41 of the Ethernet chip seemed to be shorted. The resistance on yours was 0.9 Ω while the resistance on both of mine was 6 point something MΩ. I looked for possible shorts on the board, but could not find any. So, I started looking at the chip itself. It looked like there might have been a little solder between the pins, but it was really hard to tell. I used a flux pen to add some flux to the pins. Then, I used solder braid with a fine tip on the soldering iron to remove the solder. The resistance between the two pins was now 6 point something MΩ.

"I reconnected the ED and ran through the test again. Everything was now working and the LE was responding as expected."

So, there ya go.

A big huge shout out to Rick aka rmp2917 for his most excellent service, not only to me, but to the DLA community.  If it would serve the site, I'll write an ETD troubleshooting guide based on the experiences of this thread and Rick's work.

Best to all,

Michael

[urthegman]

Glad to see you got it working! I was following the thread and hoping you would get the problem resolved!

[rm357]

Congratulations! I'm glad you got it fixed.

Was your etherdongle from the first coop (last year) or the recent one?
There was some trouble with the SMDs from the first coop, but I was thinking those problems were eliminated in the second coop.

Also I feel compelled to give the general warning - messing with the surface mount components should be the last resort when all other possibilities have been eliminated. Most of us do not have the proper tools and it is really easy to damage the chip such that it cannot be repaired.

While it seems like the SMD is the major issue, it really is not - It just gets the most discussion. For every SMD related problem, I would be willing to bet that there are 50 other issues that are resolved by the individual without ever posting. Things like solder bridges, chips in backwards, cold solder joints, wrong component, etc.

RM

[mmorlan62]

Thanks RM.

This ETD was from the most recent coop.

That's a good point regarding frequency of SMD soldering issues.  There are so many tests we tried as part of this thread before resorting to suspecting the SMD.  Anyone troubleshooting a board should start with a thorough review of their build, assuring they have everything soldered in the right place and orientation and that all soldering is clean.  (For example, I had soldered sixteen resistors on the LE board before realizing they were in the wrong place.  So, check and check again during your build.  Then check again afterwards.

I think this thread is a great encapsulation of the ETD troubleshooting process and should serve as a fine source for a troubleshooting manual page in the Wiki.  Would it be of value for me to format a troubleshooting doc from this thread?

Michael

[bassmants]

AWESOME! <res.

[pk]

Glad it is working for you