(SOLVED) 7i73 & matrix_kb - setup help needed

7i73 and BOBs are on the bench now.

Traced the connection from the 7i73 through the IDC cable to the BOBs.

Continuity and pins match (i.e. 7i73 P1 pin 1 is terminal #1 on the BOB).

P1 pin 9 and pin 11 are 5th and 6th outside on the IDC cable, and match the appropriate BOB screw terminals.

Ribbon cables are keyed, so I can't install them backwards and the keying is correct at both ends.


EDIT...
CR1 (red LED) is lit continuously, even after LCNC is started.
CR2 does not light.

Houston, I think we have a cable problem...

EDIT2 - no cable problem.  Tried all permutations of Tx & Rx +/- and the original wiring was correct.  Any change resulted in the 7i73 not being found during LCNC start up.

I wonder if this is a NIC or ethernet issue.  I found that 7i76e.0.packet-error and .packet-error-exceeded were both high immediately after LCNC startup. 

 

Yes, looks like a real time error of some kind,

What GUI are you running? I would expect a bunch of errors...
 

No errors when starting LCNC.

Was running probe basic under Mint 21, but I couldn't get the Realtek 8125 driver to install - hence my suspicion of a NIC issue.

So I wiped the thing (again) and have settled on Bullseye + rt5.10 + lcnc2.9 installed via the github Joco-nz script.

8125 driver is installed and no packet losses when I ping the 7i76e.

Trying to get halcompile working now (need a user comp installed) and then I can see if the 7i73 has started working.  Will report back.

Once I finally got Deb11 + rtl8125 + RT5.10 + LCNC 2.9 + qtpyvcp + probe basic all talking together, the 7i73 started working.  Nice green LED blinking.

All matrix buttons responding appropriately now.

What a nightmare. 4x attempts at loading a fresh OS and everything else...whole day wasted because of this ethernet NIC card issue in later rt kernels.