I killed it

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simonb
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:13 pm

I killed it

Post by simonb »

I seem to have destroyed the ATMega that came with my Fuzebox kit. I don't know how fragile they are, or if I did something I shouldn't have (quite likely), or if it's down to the static from my Amazing Electric Jumper, but it sure looks dead.

I built my Fuzebox just before Christmas, tested it, got the test screen and jingle, then set it aside.

Yesterday, I came back to it to get the dev software installed and try a bit of programming. I am using an AVRISP II, but have never done any AVR programming before, so it was all new to me. I succesfully programmed it with the sprite demo from the downloads page, and gave that a quick test with my dreadful new SNES controller (not sourced with the fuzebox, I hasten to add - it was about $4 including shipping from Hong Kong on ebay). It seemed to be working, bar the lack of responsiveness from the controller (you get what you pay for).

I decided to try something else, and grabbed Uze's Arkanoid hex from the uzebox forums. But, at that point, everything died. I'm not quite sure what the last thing I did was - maybe connect the ISP. The Fuzebox stopped producing any output and the ISP could no longer connect to it, just a flashing orange light. I noticed the chip itself wasn't seated properly, so I pushed it into the socket more firmly. Still nothing.

An examination of the board revealed a couple of dry joints, but I couldn't see how they would have affected anything. One was related to the SD interface, and the video, audio and ISP connections all use entirely different areas, so nothing should really affect all three unless it was the power, but the flashing orange light on the AVRISP indicated that the power was fine.

Anyway, today, I resoldered the dry joints, and reheated a few more just in case. No joy. Finally, with a bit of brute force, and wondering why I ever fitted the 10-pin and FTDI connectors when I have a 6-pin AVRISPII, I swapped the AVR itself for a fresh one. (I had previously bought a pair intending to build a Uzebox entirely from scratch, before admitting my incompetence and ordering a Fuzebox.) This one was detected fine. I flashed it with Arkanoid, played it for a bit, and it all worked again. Just to be sure I swapped it back for the first one, and still got the mournful orange flashing, so I'm pretty sure it is dead.

Ah well, I'll be more careful in future. Maybe get myself a spare Fuzebox and a couple more ATMegas just in case.

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