TAS2559: EVM hardware check fails and it is very unstable

Hi Ho Young Sung,

That's really weird.
Could you explain me in detail how you are configuring the Hardware TAS2559EVM?

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi José Luis,

I did it as written in the manual. 

Speakers are already attached to the board (stereo) so I connected USB and power (5V).

It is also connectable to the learning board with ribbon cable but it does not make difference whether it is connected or not. 

Buggy part is software (ppc3). It takes long time to load or communicate with the chip.

Windows sound is set to USB line out and it plays sound well through the board when I play with other applications. Only ppc3 cannot play the sound or it thinks it cannot even if when it actually plays sound.

I got access to all ppc versions and none of them has TAS2559 listed to be compatible so I installed ppc3 because it has TAS2555 that I think the closest one.

Regards,

Ho Young

   

Hi Again,

Verson information is as follows
* PurePath Console v3.1.1
* Platform build 247
* Firmware version:1.1.0.0
* TAS2559: 3.0.5

TAS2559 installation guide has the latest ppc3 version as v3.0.8 so I did not do anything written in the guide.

I uninstalled ppc3 and reinstalled.
My observation is as

1. Hardware check fails from audio play back device A and B. I can hear the tones playing most of times. Occasionally I don't. I don't know when I can hear the tones and when I cannot.

2. If hardware check is successful, I click tuning audio processing panel. I load the given file 'TAS2559_48000_AACv2_stereo_C1.ppc3'. It load multiple files but at the stage of 'updating components' it does not move any more. After a long time of waiting, it gives an error as "Unknow (not mis-spelt. I am copying exactly it's saying) device IO failure. Device may be inconsistent state. Please restart the app" or it just stays there so I have to force to closed the app.

3. If both hardware check and loading the tuning file are successful, audio player does not play sound. I load an audio file (48kHz) and play but it does not sound through the speaker. Windows sound playback indicator shows the sound is playing but I cannot hear from the speakers. Tones at hardware check were played back OK.

Regards,
Ho Young

Hi Jose Luis,

I found a very similar issue in the forum. It's about TAS2555

But I do not have proxy issue and I have all additional software (Matlab runtime 7.16 and TI USB audio driver successfully installed)

When I am lucky to update components successfully without any trouble, speakers do not produce sound when audio player is working and USB sound card indicates signal out.

I also get this message saying 'Failed to update process flow' if I successfully pass components update at 'Audio processing' page.
I am using Windows 10.

Hi Again,

Sorry for adding so much on the thread. Because it takes at least one day to get any answer from TI support, I am trying to post as much information as I can before I get any reply.

Here's another finding. If it is related at all.

Windows sound is set to USB EVM device as Line connection.

But if I click the right bottom of the Windows where all these quick access icons are, there is a TI USB device icon. I click it then it says nothing is connected. Do you think it's abnormal?

Hi Jose Luis,

I tracked down the problem further.

I tried to update audio driver manually and it failed with unknown reasons.

The user guide/manual is based on purepath version 3.0.8 (that I don't have access) and minimum requirement as Windows PC7/8/8.1

Have you got any information about how it works on Windows 10? Does minimum requirement mean higher version would work as well?

I am posting two more screen captures. Both UAC 1.0 and 2.0 failed to install. 

Hi Ho Young Sung,

Sorry for the delay. Do you still have problems with EVM? If so, Could you give me an update?

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi José Luis,

No progress. I've tried three windows laptops (all windows 10) but still very unstable. One does not get audio at all. The other two has audio working but disconnects frequently in the middle of the tests.

It has frequent 'audio recording failure'  or 'learning board 2 failure'. It passes hardware test but the very next moment it fails. If I retry hardware test then it passes again. 

I've asked PPC3 3.08 to see if that's more stable but did not get any answer. 

Ho Young 

Ho Young Sung,

Did you try with a different USB cable?
If you have additional EVM, could you try with another one?

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi José Luis,

I've tried multiple different USB cables. It did not make difference.

We have only one EVM here.

Thanks,

Ho Young 

Hi Ho Young Sung,

Could you provide me the TAS2559EVM hardware configuration that you are using?

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi Jose Luis,

Could you be more specific what 'hardware configuration' means?

There isn't really much to configure the hardware. I am attaching a photo of my board set up (that's done as in the instruction manual)

The PC is connected to the TAS2559EVM board by USB cable. Power supply is connected to the TAS2559EVM. (5V, 1.5A)

Everything else is left untouched since it's delivered. (I think all jumpers are set to stereo) If you need to know a specific switch configurations, let me know which.

PC has Windows10 installed. Do you have recommended Windows version for this?

 As I informed Mitchell, I now have issues only with the learning board 2 on a different laptop.

 

Best Regards,

Ho Young

Ho Young,

Please verify that the computer's volume is set to 100% and also review that TAS2559EVM is using the Default Jumpers setting described in the User's guide of the EVM.
Let me know if something was wrong.

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi Jose Luis,

USB Line sound is set to 100% all the time and all the jumpers are as in the instruction manaul.

And I am pointing out again that the issues are mainly from the learning board. It works well most of the times when only TAS2559EVM is connected.

Can you point out something that is not described in the manual already? There isn't much information about learning board itself.

Best Regards,

Ho Young

Hi Ho Young Sung,

If you have tried with different computers and USB ports, so the EVM could be damaged.
Do you remember if something weird happened when you connected and configured the EVM?

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi José Luis,

Nothing noticeable happened as far as I know.

The very first installation and connection was with Lenovo X1 Yoga ultrabook.  It was not working at all both of TAS2559EVM and Learning board. Windows10 recognised the baord as USB soundcard but Audio player at PPC3 did not play any sound. It played tones at hardware check up sometimes.  

So I tried with Macbook pro using bootcamp. Windows 10 was installed there. It worked with the sound and everything but started to fail when characterising with the learning board. And audio record is on and off even during the test. Windows sound setup has the same status as X1 Yoga. USB sound was set. TI  USB Audio device from the notification still showed 'no device connected' but it played sound from PPC3 audio player. 

The third computer I tried was Lenovo X1 Carbon. It does not fail when I connect just TAS2559 EVM board but it still fails with learning board 2. Especially failure is frequent at thermal test. (It fails for other tests occasionally but it works if I re-run or re-check hardware so I decided to accept it.) Two screenshots are below.

I am not sure if this is relevant but another thing I found out weird is that the audio player has sampling rate fixed to 44.1kHz. Windows sound was all set to 48kHz sampling rate but ppc3 audio player cannot handle 48kHz audio and plays only 44.1kHz audio files correctly.  

Best Regards,

Ho Young

Hi Ho Young,

That's very weird. PPC3 should work fine with 48KHz.
Please, double check that Setting Playback Devices is configured to 48Khz in your computer as it is shown in the User's guide of the TAS2559EVM. Besides, all hardware checks should pass before proceeding to the other tests. I have some questions, the picture shows that the SPL measurement wasn't passed, so what happened? Are you sending the digital audio through the USB line? and Could you describe to me the steps that you are doing?

You can refer to the Smart Amp Quick Start Guide to find the steps required to do the characterization.

Best Regards
José Luis Figueroa
Audio Applications Engineer

Hi José Luis,

Windows sound is properly set to 48kHz sample rate as I mentioned already. 

SPL measurement returns incorrect response all the time. I don't know what is the criteria for pass but it should not matter as long as I don't use equalisers. I assume it has nothing to do with hardware failure.

The smart amp quick start guide linked is looking quite different to what I see from my PPC3 version with TAS2559. And SPL test is incorrect in the guide too. Do  you have an example plot that SLP test correct? Thermal and excursion SOA has extra parameter settings if you click circled i. And how to find those extra parameters are not shown.(ex: device nonlinearity in %. What does it mean and how can I find the right number? Is it a cause of thermal test failure?) . Temperature charaterisation setting parameters are totally different to what I see from PPC3 with TAS2559. I am only asked to enter thermal coefficients. The default value is set to 0.33 but no explanation about it. Training video asks to refer to manufacturer's datasheet but thermal coefficients known commonly is 0.004041 for copper and 0.04308 for aluminium. If this is not the number used then, please explain what it is and how to find the correct number.  I don't have any other parameters shown on my menu as seen in the quick start guide. And what is the purpose of speaker normalisation? I have so many more questions I cannot post all here. I am hoping to have some personal support or more detailed instruction guide explaining things at least appears on PPC3 menu.

Thanks,

Ho Young