SparkFun Forums

[ghazan.haider]

I just received my CS-E9302 board and powered it up. The pre-installed Linux runs great.

However the Ethernet port does not work. No lights on the connector and does not light up the switch port's light. I tested various cables including the one I'm using on my own computer now. Tried hooking it to the switch or directly to my own machine too. I do not get 'line up' on either end.

I checked the schematics and there are no jumpers involved with the ethernet pins. I stopped in redboot, changed the ip and tried to ping, but the line still cannot be brought up, so I do not think this is a Linux issue.

The chip is micrel ksz8721bl. Is there anything to check, test or do to make ethernet work?

[OLIMEX]

The Ethernet works for sure, as we upload the Linux image in the flash via Ethernet with Redboot
Something should be worng with your cables
Best regards
Tsvetan

[ghazan.haider]

Hi OLIMEX,

I spent lots of time trying to find the source of the problem and discovered this:

If I short C84 for a very short moment, the Ethernet starts working right away (lights, ping, httpd etc) and continues to work for as long as the board is powered up, despite the button resets.

Ethernet stops working if I remove the power and start it back up. There's absolutely no other way to start the board other than shorting C84 (which results in a small spark and I'm afraid of doing this anymore.

Another thing about this board is that on powerup both red and green LEDs light up and the board must be reset to make it work.

[rstickley]

I'm also seeing this same issue with our ethernet port. Applying power to the CS-E9302 and stopping at RedBoot and the RJ-45 LEDs do not turn on (yes, it is a valid network drop, just like ghazan's).

Is there some command that will enable this device?
Do we have to setup a MAC address ?
If not, why is it not on?

============

According to the Micrel KS8721BL/SL datasheet - Feb. 2005, the:
"MDIO Pull-up resistor value changed to 4.7kΩ."

Should R102 pullup on pin 1 MDIO be 4.7K not 10K ? Maybe this wrong pullup value is why ghazan's trick to short C84 got it working (something I haven't tried yet, but will soon)...

Any help on this would be appreciated. SO far, the only thing working on this board is the serial port.....

Thanks!

[rstickley]

Yes, briefly shorting C84 will start the Ethernet controller on our board too.

This seems to work everytime:

0. Connect Ethernet cable to RJ-45
1. power up the board
2. Ethernet connector LEDs never light - network doesn't work
3. short C84 - the board reboots
4. Ethernet Connector LEDs always lit - network works

So, there you have it. Using exactly the same cable (This is NOT a cable problem) the shorting of C84 makes this work.

Is there any response on this from Olimex?

Thanks

[OLIMEX]

Hi,

what power supply are you using?
if your cable is OK then next thing to check is the power supply.
your adapter should provide 5V 1A power supply.

All boards we ship are subjet to multiply tests, if your cable and power is OK it will work out of the box!

Best regards
Tsvetan

[ghazan.haider]

I am using a 5V power supply, secifically 5.02V as measured. The outputs give me values very close to 3.3V. I also tried a 6.5V wallwart for a short while, the issue did not disappear. The power supplies are all smooth DC and the temperature in my room was about 18C.


I must warn others the shorting gave me a small spark and I wouldn't short it for more than a fraction of a second. I've been trying various resistors and capacitors to maybe delay the ethernet chip's startup or something to make it work... hopefully a patch of some sort.


If someone can post a way to fix it up to come up properly, please post it to this thread.

[rstickley]

Likewise, we are using a 5V 2Amp wall-wart supply - 5.17V output under load, 2 amps should meet the minimum requirements.

We did find that if you connect the output of the supply to the board, THEN plug the wall-wart into the wall socket, the Ethernet would startup.

Notice also, that the design of the board takes the +5V input directly to the USB port - If you supply 6 volts to the board, you are supplying 6 volts to the USB port.

Obviously, this is a flakey board and flakey support from Olimex. They claim to be developing other boards, but yet, can't seem to take a few hours and track down this little hardware problem.

I guess if this is just to be used for a hobby project, this is Ok....

[OLIMEX]

We did find that if you connect the output of the supply to the board, THEN plug the wall-wart into the wall socket, the Ethernet would startup.

then something is wrong with your adapter, as if you use proper adapter Ethernet will work every time no matter what and where is connected first

Notice also, that the design of the board takes the +5V input directly to the USB port - If you supply 6 volts to the board, you are supplying 6 volts to the USB port.

if the power supply input is market +5V you should not apply 6V, there is PTC fuses on the USB host port for overcurrent protection but none for overvoltage protection, if you do not follow what is written on the board you can't expect proper operation

Obviously, this is a flakey board and flakey support from Olimex. They claim to be developing other boards, but yet, can't seem to take a few hours and track down this little hardware problem.

welcome to the embedded world, how many ARM9 boards you have been used so far and from what vendors?
Cirrus is one of the companies who do free Linux kernel support for their ARMs, (it's another subject how good or bad is this) but if you have look at TexasInstruments model for instance for their OMAPS and ARM9 they do not bother to deal with the smalish customers at all and send them to Monta Vista who ask them to sign $100K yearly support contract, otherwise do not answer any simple question related to run linux on the TI boards, how this sounds to you?
indeed with this board we did mostly hardware job and we are not Linux experts, our main purpose was to offer low cost hardware platform with open source linux binaries available for peoples who can't afford to pay $1000 for ARM9 development board (see Cirrus or Atmel development boards pricing), nothing more. if you expected Parallax model Basic stamp guides and users manual then this board was wrong choice.
I don't know what are your support expectations but if you have questions regarding the linux on this board Cirrus have support forum which is monitored by their engineers who made the linux port and this is the best place to address linux related questions for Cirrus based boards.

Regarding your "hardware" issue, let me know how to track problem which doesn't exist when we test the boards at our place?
peoples may use many different power supplies how could we guess what they do wrong? if you have good power supply with 5V 1A you will never have problems

Best regards
Tsvetan

[rstickley]

Thank you for your response. I'll try to address the issues you bring up here.
About the 6 Volt issue - I was replying to Ghazans message - if you follow the conversation:

• Ghazan Wrote:
  ...I also tried a 6.5V wallwart for a short while, the issue did not disappear.

• rstickley wrote:
  ...If you supply 6 volts to the board, you are supplying 6 volts to the USB port.

• Olimex wrote:
  ...you should not apply 6V, there is PTC fuses on the USB host port for overcurrent protection but none for overvoltage protection

Notice that this little tidbit of information is not noted anywhere in any Olimex documentation. In fact, this is overlooked by the distributor
as Sparkfun sells this board with a "related" item:

$3.00 Wall Adapter Power Supply - 6VDC 300mA

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc ... ts_id=8208

For future reference, you should note this in your documentation (and maybe let your distributors know also) but thanks for the confirmation.

• Olimex wrote:
  welcome to the embedded world

Thank you - after 23 years of embedded development I now feel welcomed!:)

But, lets remember, this started as an ethernet issue (see topic title)

• Olimex wrote:
  ....Something should be worng with your cables

• Olimex wrote:
  ...should provide 5V 1A power supply.

What you left off is the exact part number of the supply that works with this board. I have 5 wall warts from 5 different manufactures which output 5V or more at 1 Amp or more. All 5 exhibit exactly the same response on the Ethernet port.

OK, maybe these are not "top quality" wall warts, but they are probably typical of the output you can expect from wall warts in general.

Notice, what was not said:

• Nobody wrote:
  ...we will try several different supplies and see what happens.

Also, we got no response to the "short C84" work around - maybe you should explain why this works (if you understood that, then you would understand why our supplies do not work either).

• rstickley wrote:
  According to the Micrel KS8721BL/SL datasheet - Feb. 2005, the:
  "MDIO Pull-up resistor value changed to 4.7k?."

Is this a problem ? Is there any reason you are not following the datasheet ? Does your board stop being "flakey" if you fix this error on your board?

Why is there no response to either of these issues?

• Olimex wrote:
  "how many ARM9 boards you have been used so far"

Three different arm boards - two with Cirrus ARM processors and an Atmel ARM eval board.

I'm just getting started but these all seem to work.

• Olimex wrote:
  "I don't know what are your support expectations"

Maybe respond to our questions.
Maybe provide more than one sheet of documentation?
Maybe explain why we are having these problems ?

• Olimex wrote:
  All boards we ship are subjet to multiply tests

Sounds great - do you test the USB port? and the SD Card Port ?
please post your test so we can see how to setup and test these ports on our boards...

• Olimex wrote:
  Regarding your "hardware" issue, let me know how to track problem which doesn't exist when we test the boards at our place?

Listen and learn. Listen to the posts on this forum. Duplicate the problem at your factory, analyze the hardware and learn why this problem exists in the first place.

• Olimex wrote:
  "if you have good power supply with 5V 1A you will never have problems"

Please define a "good power supply" - manufacturer and part number.

Thanks for your help,
Ralph

[andreascarlato]

i have test 2 power supply, 5V 1A and 5V 1,2A....but the ethernet not work....please help me...

[andy4us]

Just as an aside, I have a couple of boards that I need a 5V regulated PS for, and other boards that need a 6V unregulated PS. I received one of the Olimex LPC2378 boards a couple of weeks back, and it won't work on the 5V regulated PS, but it works fine on the 6V unregulated PS, which is probably 15V open circuit, and down to 6V with a load on it. Check the input to the board, if you have a 5V regulator right after the power connector, you will probably need something greater than 5V.

Andy

[andreascarlato]

When the power supply is connected to the board there are 5V on the connector..........but if short the condensor C84 the ethernet working well....This is a solution??!!.....I hope there are other solutions!....

[Cannibal]

When the power supply is connected to the board there are 5V on the connector..........but if short the condensor C84 the ethernet working well....This is a solution??!!.....I hope there are other solutions!....

rstickley wrote:
According to the Micrel KS8721BL/SL datasheet - Feb. 2005, the:
"MDIO Pull-up resistor value changed to 4.7k?."


Is this a problem ? Is there any reason you are not following the datasheet ? Does your board stop being "flakey" if you fix this error on your board?

Has anyone tried modifying the board with this alteration to see if it resolves the behavior? If it does, I'd say a recall should be looked into.

[troy]

Whatever fix you find, please share!