HM dying


 

Karl Vacek

TVWBB Member
Having had longstanding WiFi issues with my HM and RPi B+, this morning I sat down to reload the latest software and try afresh to get WiFi going. I'm really tired of reeling out my 100' Ethernet cable...

Software load went fine and initially it booted and communicated - registering itself online via Ethernet. Everything worked OK as far as I could see. I shut it down to put it back into the case (I'd removed the SD card to write it in my computer), and all looked fine till I tried to boot it. No screen backlight, no digits - black squares, and the left ones tapering in height. No communications. Reinstalled int he case a few times, plugged and unplugged the header socket connection, even tried the HM alone. No luck. Good 12V battery backup power supply that I've been using for 1-1/2 years.

Where do I start? I'm not an electronics tech but I can solder electronics, I have a good Fluke DMM, and am willing to try before I send it off to someone to repair. I was planning to cook Saturday night - looks like that'll be a manual smoke.
 
Start with posting some good quality, high resolution pics for others to have a look.

Since your Pi is a B+, I'll assume you're on a v4.2 board.

Use this diagram to see if you've got 12v, 5v and 3.3v voltages.

I'd focus on the 12v and 5v pins for now.

The blue rectangle is the 5v regulator. The red mark on that device is the 5v source for the board.

This should all be done without the RasPi attached.

3fXSVDU.png
 
Sorry, mine is none of the above. And how do I post pictures here? Can't find any selection for an attachment and pasting doesn't work. It's not important now anyway, since I've been able to contact the original builder who's pretty certain it's a processor issue, and I'm just sending it to him.

Meanwhile I've ordered a "Tip Top Temp" mechanical controller that senses and regulates outlet air temperature. Once my HM comes back I can still use the mechanical thing on my kettle.

Thanks to all!
 
FWIW, mine has no model number visible, but it's a SMD version from late 2015. Part of why I bought it assembled - he does that sort of thing for work too.
 
FWIW, mine has no model number visible, but it's a SMD version from late 2015. Part of why I bought it assembled - he does that sort of thing for work too.

I would talk to the person who made it for you. It's based off my design, then modified by name escapes me, at the moment. If you like you can send it to me and I can see what's needed and get it back to running.
 
Was it from the Auber website? I've never seen the inside of one of those but their design is their own closed design and we don't have access to any information on it so it would be impossible to know where to point you. It is copied from my v4.2.2 design so it should have all the same parts except replaced with surface mount replacements so you might be able to get some information from the 4.2 image posted above.

If it was made by someone here on the forums, which I know there was someone who had made an SMD version, it was also based on the 4.2 design.
 
OK - the third browser (FireFox) let me post photos. Why not Chrome or Edge? No toolbar there at all.




Made by Forum member Jascha Epley in BC - I think he made and sold a bunch of these a year and a half ago - not sure if he still does that or not. It's in the mail back to him now.
 
The URL for your pictures points to your local hard drive, that will never work, the pics need to be on the web somewhere to post them.
 
OK - I thought it would upload them like many other sites. Or failing that, I figured there might be a place in this forum. I don't have a website and don't store photos anyplace like Flickr, or in fact anywhere online. I'll try OneDrive, AmazonDrive, etc.
 
If I right click the image and copy the url I can see the pic.
The boxes on the display look like an unprogrammed ATMega, which is odd since this unit was previously programmed and working. That said, maybe the program got hosed up during your upgrade flash?
I would start with a fresh image on your SD card, preferably a different SD card to eliminate that as the issue. Once you get the rPi to boot and connect via lan cable then try to flash the atmega and see what it reports? It may try to program the atmega automatically, so after you boot from the fresh image I would wait for linkmeter to try and program and reboot etc on its own first, if not then try to connect via lan and manually flash.
 
Well, it DID boot and work when I first reflashed it. Then I put it back into the case - which I've done a dozen or more times and it was hosed. Forst tiime I opened it again and checked I'd indeed popped the SD card loose - I pushed it in again and tried but nothing. Nothing obvious broke, came loose, etc - it all looks fine.

Anyway, it's in the mail up to Jascha now, so he'll be the next one to see it.

Thank you !!
 
Jascha has it and found a bad processor and questionable SD card. He has it running well now. And I upgraded my wifi just yesterday to a mesh system that gets signal to every corner of my property, so I'm looking forward to some much easier smoking when I get the HM back.
 

 

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