Problem with Midnight Blue assembly

Discontinued products Shruthi
#1

My friend is building me a midnight blue edition - he sent me this mail

"I built this when I was in UK , but could not get it to fire up - it powers up okay but no data is coming up on the screen ,

Spent most of this morning trying to diagnose the problem , looks like everything is perfect , but cannot test any further than the CPU,

I will have another look at it next week , if I cannot find the problem it may be because the software has not been installed on the CPU properly , if that is the case then it will have to go back to the manufacturer so they can check the software , it is really weird because everything tests okay , all components are correct , boards and soldering are all looking good but just no data on the screen when it gets power.

When I know exactly I will send it back soon either working or with a note for the Shruthi people asking them to test the software , they may have sent out a blank CPU by accident with no program loaded , it seems unlikely but it is possible"

Any Ideas ?

#2

Has the LCD contrast been adjusted?

If nothing shows on the screen, there is something wrong with the screen, not with the CPU. Even with a bad CPU, you should see a row of empty squares on the first line of the screen.

#3

How do you adjust the LCD contrast ?

#4

With the LCD contrast trimmer, like described in Step 13 of the Building Instructions

I strongly recommend you read the Manual :wink:

#5

I often dip into the joys of the Shruthi Manual - It’s a shame theres no downloadable version or Index or search function :wink:
Or am I once again missing something ?
Thanks Anyway :wink:

#6

There is no downloadable version, although you could use any of a number of “print to PDF” plugins to make one yourself :slight_smile:

#7

@Ixindamix: Using ctrl+f on Google Chrome brings up page text search. I think this also works with all other web browsers. I use it all the time for searching online manuals. No sense in reinventing the wheel. :slight_smile:

#8

Every single Shruthi I’ve build so far showed a dark screen when powered up, and every single time is was just that !*!X&!% contrast trimmer that needed quite a few turns …

#9

Thanks Guys
Finally the problem was not the LED but a tiny hairline crack in a resistor that was only visible with a magnifying glass , it’s now been replaced and I’m just waiting delivery.