detecting uSD

[chrisacorbett]

I’m still having trouble completing my v2.1u dyi build. Everything seemed working. And then I put it in the inclosure and the unit now won’t get past the detecting usd message. By this I mean that anytime I turn the unit on, it stays on this message. I can reset and it will go into the test mode if I push the right buttons on startup. I took the unit out of the enclosure, did a better job trimming all of the leads and making sure that all of the solder connection are correct. But I can’t get unit to get past the usd message.

Any ideas?

regards,
Chris Cobett

[Ray]

Note that the current firmware does not require a microSD card — if you happen to put in one, take it out and try again. The microSD card feature is useful if you want all Javascript files to be served locally on the controller. It is also useful, for the future, to store more programs and logging data. When using it, the card has to be 2GB or less, and you need to format it to FAT16. If not, the controller will get stuck at the ‘Detecting uSD card’ message. For now you probably don’t need it, so just take it out and try again.

[chrisacorbett]

Thanks for the reply Ray. I received the error before I purchased the card. And I’m still having the error with the card removed. What is the next thing to look at?

FYI – One mistake I made when putting it together in the first place was leaving off the smallest of the 3 crystals. Once I put that crystal in, it worked as it was supposed to work. And then it was when I put the card in the enclosure when I started having the same issue. I’ve used a multi-meter to look for any solder bridges and I looked with a magnifying glass and a bright light for any bad solder joints. Do you think uploading a couple photographs might help?

thanks!
Chris

[chrisacorbett]

Ray, I have another clue to this issue. If you open up the attached photo, you will see an arrow pointing to one of the pins on the 40-pin IC socket. I don’t see anything wrong with the solder joint. But if I touch this joint with a pick, it starts connecting. I’m not applying any noticeable pressure. I’m just using the pick since my fingers are to large to touch 1 joint at a time. I can try removing and reapplying the solder here. But I’m wondering if it is a bad IC. What do you think?

thanks,
Chris

[Ray]

The chance of the microcontroller being defective is pretty small, especially since it displays messages on the LCD correctly. The pin you pointed to is the MISO pin, which is part of the SPI bus. The microcontroller communicates with the Ethernet controller and SD card through the SPI bus. So if that pin is unreliable, it can definitely cause problems. I can only think of two reasons where the controller gets stuck at the ‘Detecting uSD card’ message: either an incompatible SD card has been inserted, or the microcontroller is having difficulty communicating with the Ethernet controller. In either case, it seems crucial to figure out why the MISO pin is unreliable.

One thing I suggest you do is to use soldering iron to heat up that solder joint and let it reflow. Sometimes if the solder joint spreads too much onto its nearby traces it can cause shorting to those traces. Make sure the solder joint is not touching any nearby trace. Use a magnifying glass will definitely help.

[chrisacorbett]

Ray, I don’t think the solder was/is touching anything else. I validated this by doing continuity tests with a meter. I let the solder reflow with no effect. I also removed the solder and resoldered it from scratch. After all this, there is no change to the functionality. So I think it is something else. Any other ideas?

regards,
Chris Corbett

[Ray]

OK, thanks for the update. You said ‘if I touch this joint with a pick, it starts connecting.’ That’s a strong indication of some soldering related issue, or perhaps the chips are not inserted in properly.

One thing I suggest you do is to turn the unit on and measure the voltage from each pin of ENC28J60 to ground. I know this is a tedious test, but it’s the only thing I can think of that would provide more information about what’s going on. There are 28 pins on the chip, start from the top-left pin, goes down, then move to the lower right pin and goes up. That way you get 28 voltage readings. If you can post these readings here, I can compare it with reference and see if there is anything obvious I can tell.

[biaggi]

I have the OS 2.1u just delivered this wk and I am having this same problem. I got to pass from detecting uSD to network connections by inserting a uSD. I know in previous post of this forum it says it should not be required, so not sure if this is a result of a new firmware update. After it connects to the network, I took the SD out, but on power loss, it will look for the uSD again, so ended leaving it in there.

[Ray]

You are right that uSD card is optional and not required. Without the uSD card, the LCD should still go past the ‘Detecting uSD card’ screen in less than 10 seconds. I am wondering if the uSD card slot has an issue or perhaps has a reflow problem. If you can, could you use a magnifying glass and check the solder joints on the uSD card slot, and see if there is any potential solder bridge or unsolder pin?

[biaggi]

Ray, sorry for the delayed response…Took unit out today and here are the picture of the contacts, they look good. Took card out, put it together and turned it on, now it works w/o the SD card… Wondering if this is an intermittent problem, contacts on the inside of the slot itself? If you have any continuity or voltage checks you can share if the problem re-appears, I will appreciate it (I am an electronics eng). For now I go back to my eng and tech basis: “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” 🙂

[Ray]

OK, may be a contact problem inside the SD card slot. Thanks for the update.

[Alan Tschirner]

Good morning Ray,

I just completed my DIY kit purchased at Microcenter and it also started with the detecting uSD message. There was no microSD card installed. After installing a 2GB card my controller was able to complete the bootup and operate correctly. I plan on leaving the SD card in but I wanted to let you know of another instance of this issue.

Thanks, Alan

 

[Ray]

@Alan: thanks for reporting it. At the moment we don’t test the uSD card slot on DIY kit, which means an issue like this can slip out of our testing. Sorry about that. We will improve the testing procedure to include uSD card test. Thanks.

[Author]

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