defective 64x32 LED matrix

EL Wire/Tape/Panels, LEDs, pixels and strips, LCDs and TFTs, etc products from Adafruit

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

Hey all,

Been playing with a matrixportal m4 + 64x32 display with great success until today. After a few iterations on a piece of code, the next time the display powered it showed random lines and stopped updating.

I tried the simpletest uf2 as well as other known good example files, and the display always does the same thing.

I disconnected the matrixportal m4 from the data ports, and just gave it power - the display does exactly the same thing.

So, regardless of what comes into the data port the display shows random lines (see attached) when powered.

The matrixportal itself seems to be functioning normally, although the booting neopixel behavior changed (used to be blue, now its just off). May be totally unrelated.
Attachments
Untitled.jpg
Untitled.jpg (115.73 KiB) Viewed 192 times

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

The simpletest uf2 was the one from here? (green box)
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mat ... /downloads

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

adafruit_support_carter wrote:The simpletest uf2 was the one from here? (green box)
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-mat ... /downloads
Correct: matrixportal_simpletest.UF2, no luck with that either.

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

I disconnected the matrixportal m4 from the data ports, and just gave it power - the display does exactly the same thing.
These won't show anything meaningful with just power.
The matrixportal itself seems to be functioning normally, although the booting neopixel behavior changed (used to be blue, now its just off). May be totally unrelated.
Weird that something did change on the MatrixPortal. But by using the ready to go UF2, should not matter.

Maybe let's verify the MatrixPortal is OK though, at least as a first step. Are you programming in Arduino or CircuitPython?

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

Circuitpython. I validated matrixportal is running code properly, for both the test case I was running with (sprite sheets), as well as others. In the test case, i validated that the code was sending frames the display as before. Its at that time I decided to sanity check the whole thing by loading simpletest u2f.

My observation about the screen showing the blue/green/yellow pixels lit with and without data is what suggests to me the failure is upstream. I would expect it to show nothing with +5v applied and nothing on the data port, rather than show exactly the same random pixel arrangement. The only difference is some slight flickering of a single row when the matrixportal is trying to update the display.

Any other tests you would like me to perform on matrixportal? Let me know, happy to oblige.

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

OK, it's sounds like MatrixPortal itself is OK.

Can you post a photo of the backside of the setup.

Can you correlate the failure to anything? It was working then not working. What was the last thing you did before it started acting up?

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

code.py
(4.57 KiB) Downloaded 2 times
boot.py
(830 Bytes) Downloaded 3 times

Here is a short video of the front/back of the device with the matrixportal plugged in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey6jklx5kPY

The project I was working on was to fetch spritesheets as frames over the network, write them to storage, then display them on the fly.

That means I was adjusting storage behavior via boot.py and frequently hard resetting the device by removing and plugging the USB-C cable. I had code in boot.py that forced read/write of USB storage if the UP button was held during boot time and had been making a few adjustments to the input image as well as the display code.

The last thing I did was hard reset the board in preparation for having it test write another image to disc and display it, and when the device powered back up this is what I saw.

Matrixportal still happily printing "wut" and everything else expected, which is how I know its still sending frames.

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

hey, just wondering what is next for me? I would love to swap this for a working unit if possible.

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Matrixportal still happily printing "wut" and everything else expected, which is how I know its still sending frames.
How are you seeing this? It's odd that in your video the RGB status LED is off. It should be a steady green if your code.py is running:
https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-c ... 2978455-21
even if the LED matrix is not working.
Attachments
rgb_status.jpg
rgb_status.jpg (19.91 KiB) Viewed 157 times

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

I would have to record a second video that is exactly sync'd - what you saw in the LED flashes in the video was the board connecting to wifi successfully, then sending frames in.

I did that recording when the display first failed, and i was just doing "mechanical" troubleshooting by disconnecting the display from the board, and then reconnecting it to show that it did the same thing both ways.

i'll wire it up again tonight and record another video if that helps, but when I made the post about "wut", I was running the code live and watching the serial output print to my console.

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

OK, that explains it. No need for another video.

Can you link to the product page for the specific RGB matrix you're using. Let's double check the basic hardware combo.

User avatar
adfadf
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adfadf »

I originally ordered this kit: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4812

User avatar
adafruit_support_carter
 
Posts: 29056
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:45 pm

Re: defective 64x32 LED matrix

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Thanks. Let's try a replacement matrix and see if that helps.

Send an email to [email protected] with a link to this thread and your order number. They can send you a replacement RGB matrix (PID 2278).

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Glowy things (LCD, LED, TFT, EL) purchased at Adafruit”