Asked — Edited
Resolved Resolved by DJ Sures!

No Sound No Connection

Hi there.

Everything was working fine with my EZB. Until yesterday. Unfortunately after a while it disconnected from the ARC . When I tried to reconnect it I could not get any sounds and it will not reconnect. The blue light keeps blinking. I searched for a solution in the tutorials but I could not find anything> sorry Any idea of what can I do to fix it ? Thanks


ARC Pro

Upgrade to ARC Pro

Stay on the cutting edge of robotics with ARC Pro, guaranteeing that your robot is always ahead of the game.

Gibraltar
#1  

try charging the battery https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Lesson/26?courseId=4

#2  

Thank you bborastero but it is not a battery issue. I did charged it and I got the same result. Then I used a power supply, same thing. I measured voltages and it is 7.4V on the digital side and 3.3V on the analog, as is supposed to be. After disabling the antivirus, the laptop connects to the EZB (at least that is what it says the network manager) but then when I try to connect to the ARC I get this result:


EZB 0: EZB 1: EZB 2: EZB 3: EZB 4: Attempting connection on 192.168.1.1:23 Comm Err: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): Se produjo un error durante el intento de conexión ya que la parte conectada no respondió adecuadamente tras un periodo de tiempo, o bien se produjo un error en la conexión establecida ya que el host conectado no ha podido responder en System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Receive(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags) en EZ_B.EZB.vVF0PNgmTy(Int32 , Byte[] cmdData) BbytesToExpect: 1 U Received: 0 Disconnected Connection Failed: System.Exception: Controller Not Responding en EZ_B.EZB.xFJ0X7PTyn() en EZ_B.EZB.Connect(String hostname, Int32 baudRate) Disconnected


Basically, what I understand from this, is that ARC is not receiving the byte of info is supposed to receive to achieve the connection.

I pushed the reset button. Nothing.

What is really strange is that the EZB does not make any kind of sounds. Also, when resetting no red led light. Can this be solved reloading the firmaware of the EZB ? If so, how is done without connection ? Thank you

#4  

The WiFi chip runs independently of the EZ-B processor. It looks like they are not talking to each other.

You can try (carefully) taking the EZ-B out of its case and making sure the two boards are tightly squeezed together, but if that doesn't work, your board is probably bad. Have you had it less than 3 months? If it failed without being abused, you may be entitled to a warranty replacement. Use the Contact Us link and reference this thread.

Alan

#5  

Thanks for the answers.

I opened the case and checked for any loose contacts (springs of speaker, pressure on shield, etc.). All of them are ok and the problem is still there.

Does the Bluetooth depends on the Wifi chip too ? I scanned with an iphone and 2 laptops and they don't see any BT signal from EZB.

Is there something I can do to rule out any software problem before assuming the wifi chip is bad ?

I had the EZB SDK for over a year now but only recently (couple of months) I have been able to experiment with it. If it indeed is a hardware problem that would be a real disappointment :( :(

Thank you

#6  

Quote:

I scanned with an iphone and 2 laptops and they don't see any BT signal from EZB
That's because the ezb4 does not have Bluetooth.... Wifi only

#7  

Thank you richard. Yes I see that now. I was confused by some tutorials that were referring to a previous version of the EZB.

Can I install a BT module in EZb4 in order to connect to ARC via BT instead of WiFi ?

#8  

Quote:

Can I install a BT module in EZb4 in order to connect to ARC via BT instead of WiFi ?

No..... and even if you could BT would be woefully too slow....

PRO
Synthiam
#9  

Sounds like the EZ-B main board (bottom board) has been damaged. If the top board (comm board) was damaged, the speaker would inform of a communication error. Instead, the bottom board is not responding - also, there is no red led which means the bottom board main chip is damaged.

Find out more by clicking here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/FAQ.aspx#10

You can either replace the bottom board, or replace the entire ez-b v4.

The bottom board can be damaged by a few ways.

  1. static charge is an enemy of electronics. The ez-b v4 took over a year of development and has been designed to withstand as much static charge via grounding and isolation resistors on the signal pins. The ez-b v4 has additional hardware that you will not find on any other micro controller which protects against static charge. However, even with all these preventions, there are still incidents where static will damage the controller. Because this occurrence is rare and also incredibly random, it's difficult to diagnose and isolate an incident responsible.

  2. Shorting the pins accidentantly. We all make mistakes, and sometimes the power pin is shorted against a signal pin accidentally. This can happen if connecting a servo or sensor and the pins bend and connect. Or this can happen if a screw driver touches the pins. Or even if any conductive surface touches the ez-b v4 pins briefly. All servos and sensors use the same power pin arrangement of Ground, Voltage, Signal (GVS for short). This arrangement puts the power pin in the center of the two, which means it can short either way. If it shorts to GND, the fuse will blow. If it shorts to Signal, the EZ-B main controller will blow.

#10  

DJ, thank you so much for the explanation. Clearly some incident (my fault mad ) damaged the main board. I will order a new main board and see what happens. Hope it does not take too long to get one because I was really starting to enjoy the product and discovering its great potential. I will surely be extra careful next time ! Thanks again for your help