TDC1000-C2000EVM: GUI-Board freeze after some time or after some settings changes

Hi,

Could you please provide these debugging details:

- GUI and firmware version

- GUI/EVM parameters changed

- An example sequence of actions that leads to the board disfunction and GUI crash

- Any further error/debug message or relevant information. 

Further, does the crash occur after a certain amount of parameter setup or it happens regardless of how you use the GUI? Has this happened every time since installing the GUI?

Thanks,

Gabriel

Hello Gabriel

- GUI 1.2.0.83 and FW 1.42

- Parameters changed, the one that makes crash the board each time is ECHO_QUAL_THLD. If I go over -410mv the board crashes

- Once the crash happens the GUI is still responsive but nothing happens on the board and it stops triggering.

The crash happens if i touch some settings or after some time.

I will look into it on my setup and get back to you. Meanwhile, if you have not yet, try other values for ECHO_QUAL_THLD, and see if the result is the same using a different PC and cable. 

Regards,

Gabriel

Hello

I am now completely unable to reproduce the issue as the board is not responding at all. I tried another computer and cable with the same results.

Bests

Are the LEDs behaving as expected when the board is plugged in and the GUI is running?

-Gabriel

When I plug the board I get the three LEDs on, I have a the LINK LED blinking when I start a graph and then the LINK LED turns off when I stop the graph witch is odd.

A startup when no specific configuration is loaded, the graph works, I get START signals as well as a TX signal.

If I load the attached configuration file, when I launch the graph I have the good LED behaviour but nothing happens on START and TX.

TDC1000_Config0          30
TDC1000_Config1          44
TDC1000_Config2          01
TDC1000_Config3          03
TDC1000_Config4          03
TDC1000_TOF-1            E3
TDC1000_TOF-0            FF
TDC1000_Error_Flags      00
TDC1000_Timeout          5F
TDC1000_Clock_Rate       00
TDC1000_Conts_Trigger    01
TRIGGER_UPDATE_FREQ      0004
TDC_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS  000A
SAVE_GRAPH_DATA_TO_FILE  00
TDC_Y-SCALE_IN_ns        00
Y-SCALE_CENTER           0032
ZOOM_IN_X-SCALE          0032
MEASURE_RTD1             00
RTD_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS  000A
TEMP_RTD_SELECT          00
TEMP_RTD_MODE            01
TEMP_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS 000A
SAVE_TEMP_DATA           00
SAVE_YMAX_DATA           0000000000000059
SAVE_YMIN_DATA           FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF5
TDC1000-HV_DRV_EN1       00
TDC1000-HV_DRV_EN2       00
HV_DRV_EN1_Period        001E
HV_DRV_EN2_Period        001E
CLK_SOURCE_SELECT        00
CLK_FREQ_(1-16MHz)        8.000000

We are indeed using a two transducers setup for a water flow detection application, so Mode 1 operation is what we want.

Do you have access to an oscilloscope to look at the TX and RX start and stop signals?

Instructions for this are in the TDC100-C2000EVM Users Guide. Section 6.5. 

A blank graph screen may be ultimately caused by an issue with receiving, since it seems both of your transducers are working. Since NUM_RX is set to 4, if fewer than 4 stop pulses are triggered before timeout, then you should see the ERR_SIG_WEAK error flag set in the error flags register and the ERRB pin will be set low. 

With your TDC1000 configuration, you should see something similar to this:

Regards,

Gabriel

Hello Gabriel

I am also looking for the RX and TX signals on a scope, but I believe that the issue is not here, I don't get START signal and no TX signal.

Also If I modify a setting that makes the board stop working, reverting the setting doesn't make it work again. By working I mean getting a start and TX signal.

I've been working on TDC1000-TDC7200-EVM board for 5 years now and never seen such an erratic behaviour.

Hi,

When I load your setup file you provided earlier, I also do not see any TX signal, but when I open the GUI and start with the default values, and change them all manually to your values I am able to consistently see the TX signal on TX1. I saved this configuration, re-loaded it and was still able to see a normal TX signal:

TDC1000_Config0          30
TDC1000_Config1          44
TDC1000_Config2          01
TDC1000_Config3          03
TDC1000_Config4          03
TDC1000_TOF-1            E3
TDC1000_TOF-0            FF
TDC1000_Error_Flags      00
TDC1000_Timeout          5F
TDC1000_Clock_Rate       00
TDC1000_Conts_Trigger    01
TRIGGER_UPDATE_FREQ      0004
TDC_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS  000A
SAVE_GRAPH_DATA_TO_FILE  00
TDC_Y-SCALE_IN_ns        00
Y-SCALE_CENTER           0032
ZOOM_IN_X-SCALE          0032
MEASURE_RTD1             01
RTD_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS  000A
TEMP_RTD_SELECT          00
TEMP_RTD_MODE            01
TEMP_AVG/STDEV_NUM_ELEMS 000A
SAVE_TEMP_DATA           00
SAVE_YMAX_DATA           0000000000000094
SAVE_YMIN_DATA           0000000000000030
TDC1000-HV_DRV_EN1       00
TDC1000-HV_DRV_EN2       00
HV_DRV_EN1_Period        001E
HV_DRV_EN2_Period        001E
CLK_SOURCE_SELECT        00
CLK_FREQ_(1-16MHz)        8.000000

If loading this config file does not change anything, try changing the values one by one and testing the TX signal periodically as you go to see if any setting in particular is causing a problem. If you still see an issue, restart the GUI, re-insert the cable and try again. If you still see random failures after a few tries and methodically going through the settings, let me know. If this is the only board you have seen these issues with, it could be damaged or defective. 

Regards,

Gabriel