LCD problems

[Not Productive]

Perhaps I just didn't build it correctly but I can't get the lcd to show words.

I have turned the black knob on the right hand side which I am assuming is the variable we are supposed to turn from the manual.

I'm daft so I certainly could be doing this wrong. Here are some pictures. It's 2 a.m. where I live right now so I should probably go to bed. . .

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[Not Productive]

more pics

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[Not Productive]

ok I'm an idiot I figured out what to turn, but I only have blocks no letters.

Perhaps I should try updating firmware?

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[Not Productive]

Updated firmware to the current and beta and with both I still have block type, so I am going to assume it just has to do with my build quality. I'll keep cracking at it tomorrow.

[Not Productive]

last thing

I can hear the start up sound when it turns on

[Not Productive]

Ok I actually stayed up all night. I took everything apart and cleaned it with grain alchohol. Put everything back together and it started working! Put it in its case and then when I plugged it in again this is the gibberish it started telling giving me:



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[Xavier]

Hi,

It's better than at the begining ;-)
That really looks like bad connections between the LCD and the maple mini.

Give a look at the PCB schema (the firs in the PCB part, click on it).
http://www.preenfm.net/download/files
And check the connections with a multimeter between the maple mini connections and the top of the LCD on the other side.

Xavier

[Not Productive]

I left my multimeter at a friends house so I still need to go pick it up. I got it woking and then I put it in the enclosure and it  messed up again. I'll keep working on it for sure.

Here is a pic of it working.

The maple seems to be running fine because I can get sound out of it. Here is a short video with some sound and what the screen now looks like when I turn it on.

Seriously though if I screwed this one up I will just have to wait in line for another. I love how it sounds. It's amazing you designed this yourself I will never comprehend how you did this. Fuck I wish I could try the step sequencer.

http://youtu.be/7CRFQmFfyeA

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[Xavier]

Thanks for this full-of-pictures-thread...
I like it a lot.

I cannot wait the post where you'll say : "IT WORKS !" ;-)

Now you really need a multimeter, this is definitevely bad connections between LCD<->PCB<->maple mini.

That won't be difficult to fix... The LCD wiring is simple.
When you get your multimeter back, check also that there is no short cut between two consecutive LCD pins.

Let me know !

Xavier

[Ryan]

ya that sounds like there is a short someplace. The PCBs look really high quality though, so I doubt if it's a fabrication error. Maybe there is a horsey solder bead somewhere?

The maple basically just sends serial data to the driver built into the LCD, so it it gets garbled during transmission due to a short or bad connection, the LCD has no way of realizing it has munged data and displays it anyways. That's why you get odd characters.

Also I noticed that the kit LCD is backlit. Will it work with a non-backlit one as well?

[Xavier]

Ryan, you should be able to use a non-backlit lcd as far as the pins are compatible with the one provided by the kit.
http://www.zyscom.pl/katalog/ym2004a.pdf

Xavier