My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Please tell us which board you are using.
For CircuitPython issues, ask in the Adafruit CircuitPython forum.

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

Hello everyone, I have a problem with the following components:
Feather RP2040
RGB Matrix Featherwing
64x32 RGB LED Matrix display
Featherwing doubler

I want to create a 64x32 RGB LED Matrix display with these components, however I have some problems I can't get around.
When I soldered everything, I went right to my PC and wanted to test some stuff with it. It went great at the beginning, but after around 4-5 minutes, the RP2040 disconnected from my PC. I was confused, because it happened all of the sudden. I unplugged the RP2040, waited a bit, then plugged it back in, but nothing happened. After I unplugged the RGB Matrix Featherwing from my doubler, my RP2040 was able to connect to my PC again.
I thought, that I messed something up in the code, so I nuked the RP2040, reinstalled Circuitpython, copied the example files and plugged everything back together. Didn't work. I went to sleep.
On the next day I tried it again and just plugged the whole thing into my PC and it worked for some reason. However, after a few minutes, the same things as the day before happened. I could only connect my RP2040 if my RGB Matrix Featherwing isn't connected. I also unplugged my LED screen from the RGB Matrix Featherwing to see if maybe the LED screen is causing these problems, but that is also not the case.
At the moment, my RP2040 only connects if my RGB Matrix Featherwing isn't connected. If the Featherwing is connected, the RP2040 doesn't react to any input, like clicking the "Reset"-button and it won't connect to my PC, unless I unplug the Featherwing. And that's my problem.
I'm not sure if it's a soldering mistake, but I can't imagine that, because if it is a soldering mistake, it wouldn't have worked in the beginning.
Does someone know what I'm doing wrong, or is my RGB Matrix Featherwing just broken?
Thanks in advance!

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

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

It sounds like maybe something is shorting. And soldering could be a reason.

Let's check things one at a time, starting with the Wing. Please post photos of the front and back of the RGB Matrix Featherwing and we'll take a look for anything obvious.

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

Here you go, I hope it's ok, if I send you every component already. Let me know if I should give further information.
Attachments
Doubler3.jpg
Doubler3.jpg (312.06 KiB) Viewed 169 times
Doubler2.jpg
Doubler2.jpg (193.11 KiB) Viewed 169 times
Doubler1.jpg
Doubler1.jpg (230.77 KiB) Viewed 169 times

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

(more attachments)
Attachments
Featherwing3.jpg
Featherwing3.jpg (82.57 KiB) Viewed 169 times
Featherwing2.jpg
Featherwing2.jpg (113.64 KiB) Viewed 169 times
Featherwing1.jpg
Featherwing1.jpg (142.59 KiB) Viewed 169 times

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

(MORE!!!)
Attachments
RP2040.jpg
RP2040.jpg (117.24 KiB) Viewed 169 times
Featherwing4.jpg
Featherwing4.jpg (164.51 KiB) Viewed 169 times

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

Also, I'm sorry for the poor quality, I hope that this isn't too impacting or unrecognizable. Please let me know if it does turn out to be a problem.

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

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Thanks for all the photos. They help. It could definitely be a soldering issue. It's at least worth cleaning things up a bit to see if that helps. There are several places that appear to have some residual solder debris between pins. Looks for anything that might be shorting.

Some of the pins are also cold soldered and not well wetted out on the pads. See here for some general info:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... n-problems

To test things, use a basic Blink example sketch that doesn't try to use the RGB Matrix FeatherWing. At this point, just concerned about the locking up behavior. Can use this sketch:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-fea ... co/blink-2

Try that with the Feather on the double and with / without the FeatherWing attached.

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

Hi there, first of all, thanks for the amazing suggestions, however, I'm currently back at the point where I started...
I fixed the problematic solder points and cleaned everything. After that, I connected everything with my PC and it worked, but only for around 11 Minutes. I cleaned a bit more, and again, it only worked for a few minutes...
I reinstalled the UF2 file, but still, nothing has changed, even when I try it without anything installed...
When I unplug everything, unplug my Featherwing and then plug in my RP2040, it works completely fine, no random disconnections, but the locking up behavior remains, if I plug it in with my Featherwing attached.
Trying everything again shortens the working time for some reason, until it doesn't work at all...
Also, something I probably shouldn't do- but I did it anyways for scientific reasons of course, I tried to plug in the RP2040 first, and then attach the Featherwing to the doubler, which works for a few seconds, sometimes some minutes, but then it randomly disconnects...
Trying the blink test also didn't work.
I'm incredibly confused now, did I not clean it enough?
Thanks in advance.

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

Something I should add:
I kept everything connected while it wasn't working, and after some amount of time it reconnected to my PC, however, it disconnected again after a few seconds.
I'm not sure if this is important.

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

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Just to be sure - you are seeing this behavior running the Blink example? It blinks fine and then randomly freezes at some later time?

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:44 pm Just to be sure - you are seeing this behavior running the Blink example? It blinks fine and then randomly freezes at some later time?
Nope, this behavior happens with nothing installed, no code running, and when I want to run code.
Edit: Now I'm unsure if I did it correctly...
In the example, I can see much information about the board, on my screen however, I only see "Raspberry Pi Pico"
When I click upload, I can hear the typical disconnect sound and my board doesn't show up in the explorer, but I can still upload sketches to it...
When uploaded, the light doesn't blink, but I can click reset, so it doesn't block any input.
When the Featherwing is attached, the board disconnects from my PC, the Arduino IDE doesn't find my board anymore, and the RP2040 goes into it's locking up behavior.

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

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

After that, I connected everything with my PC and it worked, but only for around 11 Minutes.
When the Featherwing is attached, the board disconnects from my PC, the Arduino IDE doesn't find my board anymore, and the RP2040 goes into it's locking up behavior.
This is confusing. It sounds like you were able to get things to run for 11 minutes with everything connected? Or does it lock up the PC with everything connected?

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 4:59 pm This is confusing. It sounds like you were able to get things to run for 11 minutes with everything connected? Or does it lock up the PC with everything connected?
No the PC is working normally, the RP2040 is locking up, only if the Featherwing is attached.
Yes that is indeed confusing, I'm not sure why I get it working for a few minutes at the beginning, but then it just doesn't want to work anymore...

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

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

With the FeatherWing attached, the Blink example runs for 11 minutes? Or locks up immediately?

User avatar
MyAdaAlt
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 11:59 am

Re: My RGB Matrix Featherwing is blocking my RP2040 from connecting to my PC

Post by MyAdaAlt »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:26 pm With the FeatherWing attached, the Blink example runs for 11 minutes? Or locks up immediately?
With the Featherwing attached, everything is running sometimes for around 11 minutes or less and then locks up. Sometimes it doesn't work at all. By "everything" I mean that I can work with all components, like changing the code, or import some libs. Like it's intended to be used. It doesn't rely on the blinking example.
The 11 minutes however aren't a static value, it's random for some reason, but the more often I try again, the fewer minutes it becomes until the Featherwing is blocking the RP2040. And that's the confusing thing. Why does it work for so long straight until it randomly crashes, then it randomly works again for a shorter period of time, rinse and repeat, until the Featherwing starts blocking the RP2040, but I didn't change anything?
Really confusing, what should I try next? I'm open to anything at this point...

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

Return to “Feather - Adafruit's lightweight platform”