Axon II is "dead" - what now?

[teoxan]

I just "burned" my Axon II.

I made a stupid mistake and connected a sensor VCC and Ground to the prog pins. ( don't ask how I did this, I didn't notice it ).

Now the Axon don't power up, plus the fact that my computer went to "blue screen".

Any chance to fix the Axon, or should I buy a new one?

Thanks

Theo

[waltr]

Yep, been there, done that. Hope you just add this to experience.

You could try replacing the processor but it may be tricky to do a large number of pins on a SMD. There are a number of threads here and on the SparkFun forum with techniques on doing this. Or maybe someone else here can do it for you.

[teoxan]

yes, I learned my lesson! 

Lucky for me, I have kept some money from selling my Brainstem microcontrollers, so i think I will go for a new Axon.

[Admin]

I made a stupid mistake and connected a sensor VCC and Ground to the prog pins. ( don't ask how I did this, I didn't notice it ).

What sensor did you plug in, was the sensor powered up, and which specific prog pins did you connect to?

Did you overwrite the bootloader by any chance?

An ATmega640 (without a bootloader preloaded) will cost you ~$10 plus shipping, and probably $10-30 more for proper soldering tools (depends on what you already have). I can guide you through it (full tech support comes with the price of an Axon). You'll need good eyesight and patience, and maybe an extra chip or two in case you fry it during soldering

Otherwise, my next shipping date is tomorrow (I ship every ~7 days).

[teoxan]

Thanks Admin,

I already placed you an order for an Axon II, it's the one going to Greece.

for the history, I had a GPS plugged on the Axon but there was a whole bunch of other stuff on my Axon too, so I didn't quite notice putting the Vcc and the Ground to the
prog pins.

I should mind my cables next time, also!!!

Theo

[Admin]

You're the first person who has reported frying an entire Axon. Most people just fry a few pins or USB

(even admin has fried a few pins and bricked an mcu in his noob days )

[teoxan]

well, good to know i have a record once in my life, although I don't really know what exactly is the damage!

by the way, while I'm waiting for my new Axon I can send (if you want to) the old one just to check and see what exactly was burned.

Theo

[Admin]

well, good to know i have a record once in my life, although I don't really know what exactly is the damage!

by the way, while I'm waiting for my new Axon I can send (if you want to) the old one just to check and see what exactly was burned.

Just keep it around. Maybe in ~6 months you'll understand the Axon deeply enough you can debug and possibly repair it. Or maybe sell it cheap to someone willing to repair it himself.

I'd need to know exactly what pins you wired stuff to to have an idea of the damage. I suspect you possibly damaged the reset pin or a program sector, making it permanently unusable.

[teoxan]

My Axon II came to life!!!!!!!

I made one last effort to power it up and it did!

Next, I loaded a simple program with a Sharp IR in ADC0 and it's working correctly.

What are the next steps to do so I can find out if there's a damage and what kind?

( I remembered that I put the Vcc and Gnd of the GPS to the left and right pin of the first row in the prog area).


Theo

[Admin]

My Axon II came to life!!!!!!!

I made one last effort to power it up and it did!

Next, I loaded a simple program with a Sharp IR in ADC0 and it's working correctly.

What are the next steps to do so I can find out if there's a damage and what kind?

( I remembered that I put the Vcc and Gnd of the GPS to the left and right pin of the first row in the prog area).

I already have your new Axon packed up, labeled, shipping paid for, and ready to ship . . . I got a flat tire this morning or I would have shipped it already, lol . . .

Still want another Axon? I can reimburse you for everything but the shipping . . . your call! I'll delay shipping it until you've decided, no rush.

So how'd you program it? With the bootloader or an ISP programmer? Sounds like maybe it was never fried after all. Try a few other programs and see what happens.

Also, upload the attached .hex to your Axon. This is the default test program. It will spit text out of each UART, and blink each I/O pin. Just use a multimeter to measure it.

[teoxan]

My Axon II came to life!!!!!!!

I made one last effort to power it up and it did!

Next, I loaded a simple program with a Sharp IR in ADC0 and it's working correctly.

What are the next steps to do so I can find out if there's a damage and what kind?

( I remembered that I put the Vcc and Gnd of the GPS to the left and right pin of the first row in the prog area).

I already have your new Axon packed up, labeled, shipping paid for, and ready to ship . . . I got a flat tire this morning or I would have shipped it already, lol . . .

Still want another Axon? I can reimburse you for everything but the shipping . . . your call! I'll delay shipping it until you've decided, no rush.

So how'd you program it? With the bootloader or an ISP programmer? Sounds like maybe it was never fried after all. Try a few other programs and see what happens.

Also, upload the attached .hex to your Axon. This is the default test program. It will spit text out of each UART, and blink each I/O pin. Just use a multimeter to measure it.

I loaded the program using the bootloader, but I need to load some other more to see if everything's ok.
Also I will try the .hex you attached and will let you know about the results .

Of course I still want the new Axon You can send it, I'm waiting for it.

Thank you!

Theo