I killed my xoxbox

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naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

Hi,

Im around here for a while and recently I got a xoxbox, unfortunately it was out of tune, fortunately I found out how to tune it but the seller already sent me a replacement...

Now I have 2 xoxes! The first one (now in tune) works fine, I flashed it with c0ntr0l to sokkos´ great 1.9.1 firmware.

I tried to do that with the second one too, I wanted to check if it had even better tuning..

Unfortunately I dont know what I messed up, but now all I can do it to upload any firmware (also older ones) which succeeds, but after that if I wait and repower the unit on any other mode than bootloader mode, the unit remains black, or random lights.

Looks like I killed my box, and I tried pretty much everything to get any firmware up again. Succeeds as it seems but after that it really wont load that firmware of which I know it was uploaded cause control tells me so...

Did I manage to destroy the bootloader? I reckon I played around with JavrProg, pushing random buttons to see what it does ^^

hm

well this is not funny. maybe I dont even have to give the unit back, the seller sounded like he wanted to give it to me because for the inconvenience the long delivery time the first one took (it took two months to arrive here)

but then, I also wanted to find out why the second xox had a such low cutoff range, I did not find out about that, maybe you guys know, I would look for the parts list at adafruit - is there something like a potentiometer to set the range of the vcf? but thats secondary now, cause I really want this to at least load the firmware again

greets and happy knobbing, I hope someone can help!

nature

Luap
 
Posts: 363
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:10 pm

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by Luap »

Sounds to me like both were not very well built. Especially if one broke from doing nothing more than uploading firmware. Where did they come from? (Im guessing TT/MM)

guest
 
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Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

try swapping out micrcocontrollers
just to make sure that its the problem

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

Hi! Thanks for the replies! - The first one came in a touched by sound wrapping, the second one in mode machines wrapping, they look exactly the same except that the second one has a mode machines logo above the xoxbox logo.

yes I guess they are not very well built...I got them from china as I did not know this could be such a risk. Well I guess this is my chance to finally get into electronics and soldering a bit more than my usual cable soldering tasks in the studio, I wanted to know how to mod my gear anyways sometime, this could be the chance...lets see.

@guest, how do I swap the microcontrollers? Are they plugged or soldered in place? So you mean I should put the working microcontroller in the nonworking box to make sure its a software issue?

Luap
 
Posts: 363
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 7:10 pm

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by Luap »

The IC should be socketed. That being the case it will be a 5 minute job to swap out. You can't miss the IC. It's the biggest one on the board.
That said, if it were me, i'd return them for a refund and buy from one of the more reputable suppliers. Thats up to you though.
Good luck!

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

Luap wrote:The IC should be socketed. That being the case it will be a 5 minute job to swap out. You can't miss the IC. It's the biggest one on the board.
That said, if it were me, i'd return them for a refund and buy from one of the more reputable suppliers. Thats up to you though.
Good luck!
Well the forst xox sounds ok except that lowest C note is 10 cents off of the rest of the C notes in the scale, so while c1,2,3,4 (figurative) are all +-2cent in tune, c0 would be -10, dont know if that could have been prevented if I had gone for better reputation xoxbuilders - afer all its analog, or how exact if your tuning?

Meanwhile Im have changed the microcontroller, and it was the microcontroller - the oddbox now works with the microcontroller of the first working xox.

I think about exchanging/selling the 2 boxes for 1 really good build one with 303 parts so I dont have to do anything anymore except cherish the closest to 303 sound as it gets...

edit: btw, the second xoxes´ cutoff knob almost has no effect, the range and change of it is minimal, very much weaker than the first xox

guest
 
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Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

it probably had a bad bootloader installed
you can buy a replacement microcontroller to fix it

the tuning issue is probably a bad resistor in the d to a converter

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

guest wrote:it probably had a bad bootloader installed
you can buy a replacement microcontroller to fix it

the tuning issue is probably a bad resistor in the d to a converter
hm I will probably do that then, can you reccomend on where to buy? and any ideas on the filter range issue? the cutoff knob of the second unit makes very little change = small range, full turn of the knob is as if i turned it 20° on the other xox

guest
 
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Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

you can check the x0xsh0p for reputable suppliers

as far as filter cutoff range
check that the cutoff pot is the correct value
then check r47 for the correct value
then tweak tm3 and see if it fixes things

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

hmm, guest, can you tell me what equipment I will need to do the checkings and the soldering? I guess I will need a multimeter - or even an oscilloscope?

guest
 
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Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

you can first visually inspect
the pot and the resistors
just to make sure they are the right parts

but a multimeter is all you should need

you can also tweak the trim pot
without any gear
and see what it sounds like

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

finally got my multimeter, now going to check visually, had no time before :)

edit: d'oh i need so long just to find the parts of the filter section, now i am 15 minutes looking out for R47, where does it hide...

edit 2: found it...it is strange how the multimeter behaves when I try to measure the resistors, the values jump around, I use a hama em393

guest
 
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Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

make sure the power is off
when youre measuring resistance

naturecollision
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 5:23 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by naturecollision »

guest wrote:make sure the power is off
when youre measuring resistance
hm i will give it another try in the next days, until now I only found that cutoff pot 1 was around 7 and the other around 4, that seemed strange, but I am not sure that I did all measurements right, when measuring the cutoff pot for voltages it needs of course to be on, right? but why did it only change from about 7,05v to 7,4 volt, thats a very small voltage change...I thought I would find something like 0-5V, well..

guest
 
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Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:35 am

Re: I killed my xoxbox

Post by guest »

yes
when measuring voltages it needs to be on

if you put your probe on the center pin
of the cutoff pot
it should vary from 12v to 4.5v

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