Spiffie MPGuino v2 won't load

[Ecodriver]

Hey,

Just finished assembling my MPGuino bought from spiffie. Plugged the USB from my computer into the MPGuino for power and after adjusting the contrast, all I get is a row of blocks on the top. Any ideas?

[Ecodriver]

After reading a couple other posts i checked the voltage while the usb was plugged in and only got 4.12v ?! what's up?

[Ecodriver]

could the transistor be fried? I ohmed it out with my digital meter, according to Transistors I should never get continuity both ways between any of the leads, however, I am getting continuity through two of them...

[dcb]

I don't know if Kevin watches this forum closely, but buyers of his kit should make sure he is aware of issues. I don't have a kit from him myself, but I've noticed a few posts about regulators getting put in backwards, and perhaps some telephone cables are actually crossover.

[wagonman76]

I had a bad transistor in my first mpguino, and it was leeching voltage. It wasnt the kit, it was the arduino version, but Im sure the kit was designed to be pretty much the same.

[i_am_socket]

So far my kit works as advertised when assembled as the instructions said to. Installing is another story...

[Ecodriver]

Well, I bought two 15 transistor packs from radioshack and ohmed them all out. I got one working transistor out of both packs! I soldered it to the board and I still get the same thing: one line of black blocks at the top and 4.12v while it's plugged in the computer. When I shut the computer off it goes up to 4.24v I'm getting kind of frustrated as I'd like to have it working by the 24th for my roadtrip and I'm clueless as to what to do. Do I need to reload the bootloader (I have NO idea how to do that)? If so, can I do that through the usb and the arduino program? If so, how? If not through the usb then what?

[wagonman76]

Even when mine was crapping out, I had like 4.7-4.8 volts. I needed something like 4.95 or better for it to work right. Something on yours is really not right. My transistors came from Radioshack too.

DCB did a good job helping me through mine. He said first thing to do was try disconnecting external things from the board, and see if any of it makes the problem go away. Things like the buttons, display, transistor, diodes. If that doesnt bring back the voltage, then its something on the board and you can investigate further.

[Ecodriver]

*Sigh* I figured needing to do as much. I'm borderline just ordering a new one although I don't really have the extra $40. By the time I desolder everything, resolder the components, figure out what is wrong, and buy and replace and fried components, I'll have spent way more than $40 worth of my time...

[orange4boy]

Remember, this is an open source diy kit so you have to be prepared for some issues. MPGuino is still tons cheaper and more customizable than scanguage.

To relaod the code you have to download and run the arduino 011 program, cut and paste the code from the google code page into a new sketch, plug in your Guino with a usb and click on upload to I/O board. try that to see if it works. If you get a sketch too big message (i did on a mac) I could post my reduced sketch for you.

Good luck