HI again,
I'm just wondering: isn't it possible to communicate with the board over UART the same way as over the currently not for everybody well functioning RNDIS - Ethernet over USB?
According to a first look into the documentation the UART is only for error logging output. Is that correct?
Best regards
Jan Winter
Update on LightCrafter USB/RNDIS issue.
We promised an update on the progress towards resolving this issue by today (June 15). Here is the current status:
We have been working on identifying the nature and source of the various failure modes which we have seen, or which have been reported by users. We are looking at both software and hardware (signal integrity) areas as possible sources of the problems.
Using a USB analyzer we have been able to verify that some LightCrafter modules do experience difficulty mounting correctly as RNDIS devices because they do not properly enumerate on the bus. We have also observed that some LightCrafters will establish a USB connection and appear to work with the LCr GUI, but on the analyzer show a number of USB packet errors while communicating. We then observed that (at least in our cases) the insertion of a simple, unpowered Belkin USB hub allows the LightCrafter to properly ennumerate and connect via the RNDIS driver, and then communicate with the LCr GUI with no USB errors. Clearly, the USB hub is more tolerant of the LightCrafter USB "quirks" than are many PC USB ports. The hub seems to buffer the LCr enough to essentially eliminate USB errors.
We know from reports that USB hubs do not work for everyone, but do for many. Meanwhile, this behavior is helping us to debug the problem. These observations indicate to us that there may be signal integrity issues with the LCr USB circuit. We are undertaking the task of looking deeper into this possible error source. This will take a few more days. Of course, any resolution will be shared as soon as available with this community.
There is one more issue which some of you may be experiencing. This is exacerbated by the USB connection issue, but is actually separate. This is a TCP/IP socket problem wihch is due to a bug in the QT 4 framework which is used by the LCr GUI. It is not properly releasing a TCP/IP socket when a communication error (perhaps caused by the USB problem) occurs. In our experience, this often requires re-booting Windows before a successful TCP/IP socket to communicate with the LCr can be openend. We will continue to also work on this issue.
Be assured that we at TI are taking these problems and difficulties seriously, and working to provide robust solutions.
Best regards,
Pascal
This is really frustrating.... the USB driver simply put us into a nightmare.
A team of 7 pc+laptop could not wake up this single usb device, all are win7 32 bit devices, no workaround is working so far, basically, when we put the powered lcr into a usb port of pc, laptop, with/without/powed/non-powed usb hub, nothing happen except the usb hub discovery thing, this makes me wonder if the device is malfunction from the start, so pls help me to judge if this device is so.
when trying to use the zip provided above, in win7 when you put to this inf file and click next, it simply cannot recognize any device to move forward... a lot power on off disable net etc bring no luck either. June 15 update give us more insight but no progress sovling this issue.
When we power on the device, if we put the device on top of desk as portrait manner in our camera view, so that the mini usb and power at bottom and lens on top, we can see two flashing green lights close to the "Altera" chip on right side, they flash in turn, one after another. and a red light (static light not flashing) close to "DM365ZCE21" chip (to its low right corner). And the projector is projecting a red image IMMEDIATELY, cannot figure out what is the image, it is bright red with a dark small rectangle in middle left side. There is no feeling of a "start up " several seconds time, as some topic mentioned, is this correct? the green lights flashing at same frequency as the projecting image and we can hear the flashing sound.
use 5.2v voltage, most devices are Asus laptops with intel cpu, at one time someone manage to ping 192.168.1.100 in ubuntu but this is not garanteed, we need one way to command this device...
any tip would be greatly appreciated!
Zhengrong
UPDATE!
Now everything suddenly works.... we just get clue from one of the post and switch the 5v/1200MA power supply to 5v/2000MA... now we also understand why you say... when the vertical bar shows.... since we never manage to see the picture on the wall and the 3 BGR bar at the end! maybe you could add the projected shot in manual and tell people if you have not see those picture on wall after simply power the device, that probably means your power supply is not enough :-) that will save a lot of time
HI
I made that observation:
didn't get the LightCrafter working on 2 winXP pcs with a 5m USB cable. Used a 20cm cable on a MacBook and everything works, can connect with MATLAB. Will have to take another look on the winXP pcs with the shorter cable whether that causes the issue.
The observations about the 5V power supply are very helpful. We should make it very clear that the LightCrafter power supply should be capable of at least 2A.
Also, the observation about the shorter USB cable is helpful. I am looking at that issue (USB signal integrity) closely right now. I hope to have some more update on this soon.
Hi guys,
I made some more observations:
used a 20cm and a 5 m USB cable on a windows xp (service pack 3) pc attached to
a.) a USB hub
b.) the front USB connectors (not the ones on the back which are directly attached to the motherboard)
and a MacBook
on the MacBook no usb hub is required, both cables work just fine, no driver installations required (works as it should out of the box with plug and play - Apple style)
on the windows xp it works via the USB hub with the 20cm cable (not with the 5m cable), but I have to install a rndis driver which I have found somewhere in these forums here (my win xp SP3 doesn't seem to come with that driver, haven't found that driver on the microsoft website anywhere easily)
on the windows xp without USB hub with the 20cm cable it is detected, but after the driver is installed (I have to install the driver every time I use a new USB port -> wow that's great programming of redmond ;), nothing happens if I use the 5m cable.
most probably the wiring in the pc from the motherboard to the front USB connectors is crappy, so that the usb device isn't recognized. However it works fine with other measurement equipment, so maybe there is also an issue with the USB connection on the LightCrafter, which only shows up under bad conditions.
Jan,
Thank you for your further observations. We are looking exactly at the LCr USB connection right now. I will post updates when we know more.
Dear Pascal,
I would like to add one more strange observation.
As you recommended, I used a USB hub, and it works fine with my winXP computer.
(It didn't work without the USB hub.)
But whenever after I power down the LightCrafter, every USB ports does not work anymore (both front & back ports).
The USB ports recovers when my computer is rebooted.
I checked that all of USB ports were active while the LightCrafter was powered up and connected.
Sang
Sang,
That is strange (that it seems to disable all of your USB ports until a reboot). I really have no idea why that would happen - we haven't seen it elsewhere, as far as I am aware.
Please hold on another couple of days. We think that we have discovered the cause for the LightCrafter USB problems, and will be posting an update on Friday.
To all who are experiencing difficulties with the USB connection from PC to DLP LightCrafter module:
I have been giving weekly Friday updates on the progress we have been making towards identifying and solving the problems which some people have been experiencing with connecting the LCr to their PC. I am moving these updates out of this thread.
I am starting a new thread, which will be labeled "DLP LightCrafter USB connectivity solution". Please monitor this new thread for updates.
I will repeat this in the new thread: we believe that we have identified the cause of the difficulties, and that we have a software fix for the problem, which will be made available as soon as we can completely validate it.