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ECE-492-SnakesAndAdders / python-interpreter

C3Python is an entirely custom-made Python interpreter designed to run on proprietary hardware.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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C3 is likely fried #6

Closed ijoffe closed 6 months ago

ijoffe commented 7 months ago

I was working in the lab yesterday (Saturday, February 24) when the C3 board became unresponsive.

I was using an ESD wrist strap the whole session. At the start, I reran the programs I had finished yesterday to check they still worked. Then I set the board off to the side and started writing lots of new code for expressions and parsing. During this time, my laptop crashed and had a blue screen while everything was still plugged in, and I didn't think much of this cause it happens often (about once a week). Probably about an hour passed just writing code. After getting a decent architecture set up (>5 classes, lots of functions, etc.) and debugging compile errors, I decided to run and test the setup. I turned back to the board and all the lights were off. I tried various quick fixes (turning off/on board a few times, unplugging/replugging all devices, pressing the various reset buttons on the board, etc.), but none turned the board back on. When trying to run the program, it just wouldn't connect. The XPD Programmer also had no lights on (I believe it usually does). I didn't try any further debugging.

I'm really not sure how this happened since I was strapped in as always and ws not even really touching the board often, if at all. I think the culprit may have been the blue screen -- I know when this happens at home with a speaker plugged in, it makes loud noises likely from bad signals coming from the computer. Maybe something similar happened here, where the blue screen sent an overvoltage into the board and fried it.

We will investigate more in the lab on Monday.

ijoffe commented 7 months ago

Update: we deduced that the issue is a blown fuse on the board. We have ordered replacement fuses and have obtained a backup board.

ijoffe commented 6 months ago

Update: The replacement fuses came in and Devin soldered a new one on the board, so it is working again.