7i92TM pings but not recognised by mesaflash

I think there's a bug in mesaflash, it really should belly-ache
if you don't supply an IP address with an Ethernet card.

Thanks PCW!!!

I had Same issue with the same 7i92TM Mesa card (Debian 10, linuxcnc-2.8.2-buster).
i tried to go forward but i had the below

SITUATION:

When trying to load the firmware for generical parallel break board cards to the mesa card 7i92 the init red led (CR6) turned on and remained steady 30 minutes after starting the mesaflash --write process.

Furthermore, the mesaflash process seems never ends in the computer screen.

The order i executed was:

mesaflash --device 7i92t --addr 192.168.1.121 --write 7i92_PROB_RFx2D.bit

The CR1, CR2, CR3 and CR4 yellow leds turn on and off since the very begining and never stop doing it.

Find pleaase below a link showing a picture of the 7i92 card having the CR6 init led on

snipboard.io/W7YH4P.jpg
 

QUESTIONS:

1/3 What does the CR6 red INIT led means if it remains steady all the time?
Let me remark the system prompt (root@host:route#) is not shown after 2 hours. So it seems the writing process is still in progress in the computer.
Is that a sofware bug??
Is CRTL+C the best option to stop this process?

2/3: How long should it take to load a .pin file of 337.2KiB to the 7i92 mesa card?

3/3 Where can i get uncorrupted .pin files??

In the 7i92 manual there is a paragraph saying:

FALLBACK INDICATION
Mesa’s supplied fallback configurations blink the red INIT LED on the top right hand side of the card if the primary configuration fails and the fallback configuration loaded successfully. If this happens it means the user configuration is corrupted or not a proper configuration for the 7I92s FPGA. This can be fixed by running the configuration utility and re-writing the user configuration.

But In my case the red CR6 init led remains steady, not blinking.

Does it mean i must repeat the same process executing the same command?

mesaflash --device 7i92t --addr 192.168.1.121 --write 7i92_PROB_RFx2D.pin

In case the file 7i92_PROB_RFx2D.bit i used is corrupted is there any safe place to get this file in good contitions?

I downloaded it from www.mesanet.com/software/parallel/7i92.zip


Find please below another manual paragraf refering to failure situation. But in this case the CR2 red led should be on, not the init CR6 led...so i think it should not be necessary to load the fallback bit file

mesaflash --device 7I92 --fallback --write FALLBACK.BIT

FAILURE TO CONFIGURE
The 7I92 should configure its FPGA within a fraction of a second of powerapplication. If the FPGA card fails to configure, the red /DONE LED CR2 will remain illuminated. If this happens the 7I92s EEPROM must be re-programmed via the JTAG connector or (faster) JTAG FPGA load followed by Ethernet EEPROM update.

Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

It looks like you programmed a 7I92T with 7I92 firmware
(this  is only possible with older versions of mesaflash)

It may be recoverable _if_ you get a blinking init LED  when you move
both IP address select jumpers (W5 and W6)  to the UP,UP positions
and cycle the power.

If this works, you should be able to program the 7I92T with a current
version of mesaflash (3.4.7 or later) _AND_ 7I92T firmware

1/3: Issue partially fixed!!
Thanks a lot for your quick feed back, PCW

I tryed the same procedure with linuxcnc 2.6 and 2.8 with the same bad results: no comunication 

Just made a try with a live 2.9 linuxcnc version and comunication between Linux and the 7i92 card is ok now.

2/3: Wrong bitfile destination device: 6s1x9tqg144, it should be T20F256

Furthermore, i Just keep on trying to write the firmware for generical parallel cards

mesaflash --device 7i92t --verbose --write 7i92_PROB_RF_x2d.BIT

I had an error message saying "wrong bitfile destination device: 6s1x9tqg144, it should be T20F256"

 


i found this threat from PCW saying it is necessary to activate the boot sector to be re-written

forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/3769...w-to-fix-jtag#148992 

But  i think the message might related to the bitfile i am using is for a mesa 7i92 or a 7i92T instead of the one for the actual 7i92TM i have.

The so called T20F256 seems to be the FPGA IC model by Trion used in the 7i92TM mesa card.

 
www.digikey.es/en/products/base-product/.../2134/T20F256/336321

Shall i ask how to enable mesaflash to write the boot sector?
Should i just execute :

mesaflash --device 7i92t --verbose --fallback --write 7i92_PROB_RF_x2d.BIT

If not, in case the error message is related to the wrong FPGA device, where should i find a compatible 7i92_PROB_RF_x2d.BIT for the T20F256 IC installed in the mesa 7i92TM??

 

3/3: How to avoid using Firmware bit files
Alternatively:
- Is there a way to avoid using this firmware?
- Should i just get a new breakboard supported by default in the list of the cards of LinuxCNC?

This is the first time using a mesacard so it all lis quite new to me.

Thanks in advance for all the assistance!

You are right TommyLight.Thanks you!

Disafortunately, the 7i92T has no generical parallel boards firmware file (7i92_PROB_RF_x2d.BIT) and there is no 7i92_PROB_RF_x2d.pin file neither within the software zip file anyone can get from the mesa 7i92TM ecomerce url...

Sorry for my lag of knowledge but is there any way to get the firmware file for generical parallel breakboards?

I wish i could change the breakboard but we are trying to upgrade a 2400x1200mm cnc router currently used for production which uses a mach3 compatible breakboards.



So I wish we could make the least initial modifications to keep on working with the former Linux cnc parallel port based installation while the mesa card is not totally installed and tested

thanks in advance.

7i92t_5abobx2d.bin is made for that generic "Mach 5 axis BOB"

Thanks PCW!! so fast

Just made a
  mesaflash --device 7i92t --write 7i92t_5abobx2d.bin
and
  mesaflash --device 7i92t --verify 7i92t_5abobx2d.bin

and they worked fine!!

2/2: request of a Manual / threat or tutorial to set up the pins not using pncconf wizard;

Shall i request a little bit more and ask if you know any threat/tutorial/manual to set up the pins in the serial port P1 and P1 not using the pncconf wizard ?? (so this firmware is not shown in the so called wizard)

Sorry to ask so much!!!

thanks and best regards

You could run pncconf for a 7I92 and select a g540x2 firmware
and you would be pretty close to a working configuration.
The only difference might be some GPIO assignments.

You could also try mesact, it may have direct support for the
5ABOB configuration.

Great PCW!

I spent some hours trying to adjust the G540x2 firmware parameters with the currently wired parallel breakout board. Just adjusted some parameters in the pncconf, and tested the XYZA axis one by one.

It seems the Engines may be "listening" something. probably the direction signal so the steppers make a little bit of noise periodically. I asume this is just something moving when trying to change the direction (i am testing each axis motor with +/- option active)

But actually the gantry don't really move in any axis direction.

Next steps will be:
1 - double checking the wiring and pin correspondance. (set up everygthing according to mesaflash --readhmid pin table)
2 - Comparing the below signals with an osciloscope:
a) the signal issued by the currently working and in production linuxcnc machine (which is using a parallel connection from the computer to the parallel bob) and
b) the signal issued by the mesa 7i92 card in its parallel DB25 connector

The pulse differences may let me find what is the issue in case the first wiring process is not enough to make the cnc router starts moving.

Shall i ask you if you think this is a good procedure?
would you recomend me any simpler process?
I will double check mesaCT asap

Thanks again from a newcomer !!