MPGuino problem

[Coyote X]

Ordered a kit version MPGuino a month ago, it came in Thursday and put it together last night. Today I tried installing it. I wired it up to the wiring off the ecm and plugged it in and it came right up working. I started the car and it was showing the injector signal was working fine. As soon as I started to move the car it reset. So I turned it off and rechecked my wires and everything is properly wired up. I took the easy way out and jacked a wheel up so I could spin the tire in the garage. Any time I spin the tire and it gets a vss tick it resets or locks up. I messed with it for a few minutes before it corrupted the avr chip. So I gave up since it was getting cold out.

I had to reload the avr completely, it scrambled the bootloader even. Not a big deal I have everything I could need to work with Atmel chips. I am getting ready to figure this thing out. Other than checking the vss signal path is there any other ideas anyone has for stuff to check on?

[Coyote X]

Wasn't that hard to fix. The zener was no good. It was letting through about 8 volts. Swapped it for an extra I had laying around and it works now. I guess I am lucky the avr chip didn't let out it's magic smoke

Now the fun part of trying to find a 4 conductor phone wire and I am done. I had to borrow one from a neighbors phone to test it out with today. Tomorrow I will find a good wire somewhere and hopefully mount it in a box and be ready to use it.

I'll post pics after it is installed.

[dcb]

Not sure, but you might want to note the current brownout setting and try a different value.
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...html#post66234

But I would try a new bootloader and reflash the latest mpguino code (arduino 0011 pls) for starters.

[orange4boy]

Having this recurring problem of freezing. The screen freezes and no buttons work. the only way to reset is to unplug and replug. Problem is today I unplugged and it wouldnt restart. dead screen. Even on the USB at home. Is this possibly the brownout thing being discussed here?

If so do I need to bootload it? I'm reading voltage on the board so it does not seem to be a power issue.

I'm running without alternator so perhaps I need a separate battery for it so this does not happen.

Thanks.

P.S. I know there is a lot to do here but perhaps we could set up a known issues page on the wiki to keep this all in one place. I'm willing to do some work on that if I knew where to start.

[dcb]

re: known issues page, please do.

re: dead, check all your connections, remelt all the solder joints, and note that you have to be real deliberate when hooking up the power (can corrupt the flash if power is flaky). Do you know how to reflash it? You might need to get Kevin engaged.

[orange4boy]

I'll check all my solders then try the bootload if that fails.

I did unplug and replug without waiting before I knew how important that was so perhaps I corrupted the chip that way.

Never done the chip programming before but I can handle it. Already have aurduino11. I need a parallel programmer though. Can this be done from a powerbook with no serial port? USB? I will pick up either parts or a new programmer tomorrow. If I need a serial port I guess I will have to use the old G3.

I'm not clear where to hook up the programmer though. do I need to solder some jumpers? Are there instructions somewhere. I will compile all of this for the Wiki If you (or kevin? who dat?) can point me in the right direction with the programmer to guino. It's one of the spiffie kits BTW.

Thanks a bunch.

[dcb]

kevin=spiffie=fundamentallogic.com

If it doesn't take a program from arduino then it might need a new bootloader.

[orange4boy]

Thread hijack complete sir!

When I try to upload the code I get a sketch size too big error. It's only 10 bytes too big.

Binary sketch size: 14346 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)

As always I'll see what I can do on my own.

If I had to cut something then the custom page would be it. What parts could be cut and where?

Would these kit boards fit a bigger chip without modification? I'd be happy to upgrade so more goodies could fit. And would the existing program run?


ADDED: I did it! MPGuino is alive! I found the cpu % display and cut it out. Had to chop out a little more further down. Hope it runs now.

[dcb]

huh? You are using arduino 0011? On which platform? It is supposed to fit without touching the code...

[orange4boy]

Yeah, I'm using 0011, on a G4 powerbook 10.5.5 and the Spiffie kit.

I managed to cut out something to do with the CPU% display and It seems to run fine. Arduino found an error related to the cut and I chopped that out too which seemed to work. Sorry, It sounds so brutal somehow to be chopping at your programming

It did freeze again today though. Could touching the board cause that? It's either that or deceleration. I better remove one of those variables eh?

I am loving all this though. It's a steep learning curve which I like. Thanks for all your advice and programming.