Red Init & Done Lights on 7i92M

Hi,

I'm midway through converting a Brother TC215 to LinuxCNC control (I started a thread here: forum.linuxcnc.org/12-milling/57928-conv...er-tc215-to-linuxcnc ), and I've been learning a lot / things have been going well, but I've gotten to the point where I wanted to test the MESA cards in the mill and I've discovered that when I power up the MESA 7I92M board, the Init and Done lights stay red. It won't respond to ping, and doesn't show a link light via ethernet on either side of the cable.  

I saw a post from PCW ( forum.linuxcnc.org/27-driver-boards/4431...-7i96-flashing-error ) that says the Init and Done lights staying illuminated indicate corrupted flash memory. If this is the case, I'm assuming the best option is to get in touch with MESA and see about having them reflash it? Any guidance welcome. 

Also, I've got a 7I76 and a 7I77D in the mill, and now I'm concerned that if there's an issue with the 7I92M that there's a problem with those boards as well. If I power those with 5v via the appropriate terminals / jumper settings, will I be able to verify if they work via looking at the lights on the boards? 

Thanks for any help / guidance, it's really amazing to have this forum as a resource!

You should contact MESA for sure.

They would know, right?

Perhaps you can reflash it yourself?

Unfortunately, I have no experience with MESA cards, I'm a parallel port guy;that's what my machine uses and I have tons of extra serial and parallel port PCIe cards I don't know what to do with.

First, is the a 7I92M or 7I92TM? these need different firmware and recovery is
done differently.

On a 7I92M, what is expected to happen at power up is that both red LEDs will
turn on briefly and then go out. If the /INIT light never goes out (even for a fraction of a second)
at power up, its likely an issue with the 5V power so first check the 5V power.

Also on a 7I92M, if the /INIT light blinks of briefly at power up and then re-illuminates,
this  suggests corrupted firmware or some other card issue which probably requires
returning the card to Mesa for analysis/repair/replacement.

 

PCW wrote:

First, is the a 7I92M or 7I92TM?
 

This is old machine, so it's probably an old board, so it's probably a 7i92M (sans "T").

It is a 7I92M as per the screen printing on the board and the sticker on the back.

I did check the 5v power and it appears to be getting a very solid 5v, but I will power it independently to double check in case there is some form of low voltage immediately at power on.

Appreciate the help, I'll start the RMA process with Mesa.

Edit: Oh, and I'm assuming I should be able to configure the 7I76 / 7I77D appropriately to be powered via direct 5v and look at the lights to confirm those boards function as well? The manual is a little sparse on what the different LED patterns indicate.  

You can steal 5V from your PC either via USB or by tapping into the main power supply wires for HDDs and stuff (shut down your PC before you open it and splice wires).

There is some risk involved in doing so, but you should be fine.

Please note that USB has limited power available, you can also fry your motherboard much more easily through USB ports as they connect to the motherboard as opposed to the PSU directly.

A USB-B charger or a MEAN-WELL power supply is also a good option.

Perhaps some filter caps would help?

Large caps with a low ESR can damage your power supply/PC due to their very high inrush current; probably don't go above 470µF unless you are sure your power supply can handle it or you don't care about your power supply's survival.