DLP® LightCrafter™ 9000 Evaluation Module Power Up failure

Andrew Wagner84

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: DLP9500

I have purchased a DLP® LightCrafter™ 9000 Evaluation Module and am following Quick Start 2.1 Power-up the DLP LightCrafter 6500 or 9000.

I apply 12 volt power to the board, and LEDs D5, D11 and D12 light up green to indicate that the power is normal as described in step 2.1.2. However, LEDS D7 and D9 do not light up as described in step 2.1.3, even after waiting the 90 seconds that soem postings say may be required.

over 10 years ago

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago

Prodigy 150 points

When this occurs, the DLP 9000 displays what appears to be a static pattern in the upperleft corner. Here's my artists rendition, where the inner "dash" rectangle is the DMD and the "+" rectangle is the image being displayed.

/---------------------------
/                            |
|         ----------------   |
|       |++++++++++      | |
|       |++++++++++      | |
|       |++++++++++      | |
|       |                | |
|        |                | |
|         ----------------   |
|                            |
|                            |
| ||||||      ||||||        |
----------------------------

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

TI__Expert 6370 points

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the picture, I understand what you mean. As I mentioned in your other post, hang on until the new GUI is available online. Then, use the new (2.0) version of the GUI to upload the new (2.0) version of the firmware. This may solve the issue you are seeing. In the mean time, do not operate the EVM with a version of the GUI or firmware earlier than 2.0.

When operating properly, the EVM should cycle through a "demo" series of image: the LightCrafter 9000 (or 6500) logo, the DLP logo, vertical bars in a binary scan pattern, etc. These patterns appearing at stat-up will indicate that the LightCrafter 9000 (or 6500) is operating normally.

Again, thanks for your patience, it should be online in the coming days. If you continue to have this issue after that point, let me know on this thread.

Best regards,
Trevor

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Trevor Dowd

TI__Expert 6370 points

I will also add that a good way to tell if the bootloader (a part of the firmware) has been compromised is to check with your version of the GUI (which is okay to open and have connected as long as you do not upload any firmware) to see if your connected LightCrafter 9000 lights up with a green "Connected" status.

Do not actually operate your LightCrafter 9000 with your version of the GUI, as it is necessary to use version 2.0 or later.

If you are unable to connect the the LightCrafter 9000, it may indicate that your bootloader has been corrupted. This would mean that you would have to build a JTAG Programming tool and reload the firmware (or bootloader) over JTAG. Again, just to be clear, you should wait for the new 2.0 firmware to become available before loading it on your LightCrafter 9000 if this is the case.

If your GUI does show that your LightCrafter 9000 connects, you should be able to upload the new firmware (when it becomes available) as designed.

Best regards,

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago in reply to Trevor Dowd

Prodigy 150 points

Trevor,
Ok, I'll check back for information about the new software.

Its good to know that I can stop beating my head against the wall.

This has been a good outcome.

Thanks

Andrew

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

TI__Expert 6370 points

Hi Andrew,

I just wanted to make sure that you saw my post on the other thread.

Best regards,

Trevor

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago in reply to Trevor Dowd

Prodigy 150 points

Trevor,
I have installed DLP LightCrafter 6500&9000 Version 2.0... thank you.

But I am not out of the woods yet....

I power up the 9500, see the first three green LEDS and not the DLP LEDs (no reds either). I connect the USB to my laptop but the 9000 is not detected by my computer as a usb device. Help?

Andrew

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

TI__Expert 6370 points

Hi Andrew,

Just to be clear to future readers, we are talking about the LightCrafter 9000 (the DLP9500 is part of another chipset).

You mention three green LEDs coming on, can you identify them for me? It should be D5 (on, not blinking), D7 (blinking), and D9 (blinking), is that correct?

To be sure that the issue is with the LightCrafter 9000, first try using another USB cable, another computer and/or USB port.

Best regards,
Trevor

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago in reply to Trevor Dowd

Prodigy 150 points

Trevor,
Thanks for correcting my DLP9500 mistake.

The three green LEDs come on are as you said: D5 (on, not blinking), D7 (blinking), and D9 (blinking).

D7 and D9 do not light.

On the same HP laptop I tried different USB ports, changed cables and tried again but the board is not recognized as a USB device.
This laptop recognizes my USB mouse on all of these USB ports.

I repeated these steps on a similar laptop, and obtained the same results.

I repeated these steps on an HP Z600 workstation and obtained teh same results.

What's nect?

Andrew

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

TI__Expert 6370 points

Andrew,

Excellent work in investigating the issue. I believe it might be one of the two following scenarios:

1. The bootloader (within your firmware) was corrupted in an unexpected way. One possible fix would be to put a jumper on J12, connect your board to your computer over USB and see if it enumerates. If it connects, you can then upload the new firmware using the new GUI. The other fix would involve building a JTAG programmer and re-flashing the board over JTAG.

2. It is possible that ESD caused an issue on your board. We can step through a way to troubleshoot this if it comes to it.

Best regards,
Trevor

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago in reply to Trevor Dowd

Prodigy 150 points

Trevor,
Problem solved! It was our power supply.

We were using a power supply we had in house. Yesterday I was reading other posts and a TI contributor noted that some LightCrafter (not the 9000), needed at least 2 Amps. I checked the specs on the supply we were using and it was only 500mA.

I over-nighted Digi-Key Part Number 271-2718-ND from digikey (www.digikey.com/.../2533054) (see section 1.2.2 frpm the LightCrafter 6500 and 9000 User's Guide) and the 9000 comes up as expected (all 5 LED's green) and the LightCrafter software detects and controls it.

I need to apologize for the wild goose chase. We should have had the right power supply form the beginning. Lesson Learned though: The power LED's on the board do not tell the whole story!

My next step is getting the 9000 to boot into Video mode using the HDMI input. I think that means loading a boot batch file into the firmware.

Finally, I wantto thank Trevor the the TI team for great customer service.

0 Andrew Wagner84 over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

Prodigy 150 points

Trevor,
With respect to enabling HDMI Video mode at boot time... I've read and understood the Chapter 3 instructions on saving and loading a batch file into the firmware, but when I click the [Update Firmware] button on the Firmware Tab, it asks me to choose a firmware image to be updated. I don't seem to have any .img files in the directory structure of the DLP LightCrafter 6500 and 9000 -2.0.0 installation. Also I have not been able to locate a function to download the firmware from the 9000. Can you explain to me how I get a firmware fiel to update?

Thanks

Andrew

0 Trevor Dowd over 10 years ago in reply to Andrew Wagner84

TI__Expert 6370 points

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the kind words! I will answer your question on your other post here.

Best regards,

Trevor

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DLP® LightCrafter™ 9000 Evaluation Module Power Up failure