Matrix Orbital Corp

I'm not sure how to describe my trouble with the display. At first it was working ok then suddenly all it did was to display "garbage" on the screen. The only way i could "restore" the display to working order was to run LCDC and then wipe the entire memory of the lcd and then upload new fonts into the display. After that the display would work for a couple of hours only to start displaying garbage again.
At the moment the display is connected to a computer running Linux so i'm not able to run LCDC to get it to work again. For instance a simple:

echo "NOT WORKING" > /dev/ttyS1

outputs one character on line four looking like this:

==X===
=X====
X=====
=XXX==
======
======
X=====
("X" are pixels and "=" are blanks)

The display doesn't respond to commands that clears the screen or that turns the backlight on/off.

The com port is set to baud 19200 and i know it supports that speed. Also the bootscreen works just fine. Do you have any ideas on what could be wrong with my display? I think my display is running with firmware 1.2 (but i'm not sure). Is there a way to upgrade the firmware in the display? If so please let me know!

Thanks!

Hi Lugiber,

Thanks for your question, sorry to hear that your GLK12232-25-SM has been acting rather strangely of late. First, I'd like to ask if you began experiencing this problem before or after you switched computers, to isolate the problem to the display or the computer. Second, unfortunately, you would have to send your unit in to our Production facility to upgrade the firmware, but it can be done. Finally, you may want to try the manual over ride procedure outlined here to reset the baud rate of your display ans ensure that it is communicating at 19200. If you continue to experience problems, please post them here, so that we can get that display working like it should.

Thanks,

Troy

Thanks for the quick reply!
Unfortunately i'm on linux right now so i can't use windows software. I tried running uProject through a windows emulator (wine) but it didn't work. If anyone is interested mogd.exe works just fine.
Anyway i issued the commands via the commandline as such:

echo -e "\xFE\x39\x20" > /dev/ttyS1 (This sets the baud rate to 9600)
echo -e "\xFE\x39\xF0" > /dev/ttyS1 (Sets baud to 19200)

(The "-e" flag is used to issu hex output to the serial port. This should work as i could issue the command "echo -e "\xFE\x58" > /dev/ttyS1" to ckear the display when it was working.)

I also changed the baudrate of the serial port with the command

stty -F /dev/ttyS1 speed 9600

Nothing makes the display show anything but garbage. In fact the display doesn't seem to respond to the commands. But something thats interesting is that when the serial port is set to a different baud rates the display displays different kinds of garbage.
For instance the command to display "Matrix Orbital" on 9600 shows a symbol that looks like this:

X===
=X==
==X=
===X
====
===X
==X=
=X==

While on 19200 it displays:

=XXX
==X=
XXXX
==X=
====
=X==
XXXX
=X==

The display also only show these strange characters on line four.

Now to your question:

The display has never worked satisfactory and has always had this kind of problem. Sometimes it has worked for two weeks without a glitch and sometimes just for half an hour. I have tried it on three different computers and it has always been acting this way. My problems right now is that i can't "restore it" with lcdc as i could before.

I have also tried shorting pin five and six in order to utilize the displays manual override to set it to 19200 baud. It did not help and never has (i've tried it before when the display has been acting up).

Any other input would come most in handy!

Thanks for your help!

/Peter

Hi Lugiber,

Thanks for the additional information that you have provided, it will definitely help me to diagnose your problem. Unfortunately, as I am sure you are aware, there is currently little in the way of Linux support for our displays, so the news that you have been able to use MOGD is very good to hear. I'd like to ask you to provide one more piece of information; if you could look on the back of your display, you should find a serial number (##M##-#### or ####-##M##), please let me know what that is. This will help me to determine the age of your display, which could be a factor in the problems that you have been experiencing.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Troy

Hi again!
My model nuber is 3376-05M01. I hope that it tells you something. by dismounting my computer i also found out that the display was revision 1.4. Hope that helps to some point...

Again, thanks for helping out!

/Peter

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the additional information, it has helped a great deal, although I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble. The first thing I have noticed is that our manual is a little confusing when it comes to manual override; the pins that should be jumped are the middle two, pin 6 and 7 from the left. Also, I'm not sure whether you've got a typo or indeed the wrong data, but the command to set the baud rate to 19.2kbps should read:

echo -e "\xFE\x39\x0F" > /dev/ttyS1 (rather than xF0)

Try that out, and let me know if you can get communication working between your host and the module. My colleague and I have a couple ideas about what might be failing on your module, hopefully neither of us are correct .

Thanks,

Troy

Hi again!
Yes, i shorted pins six and seven, i know i'm not supposed to count the first and last pin. And yes, it was a typo.
Anyway this has not made the display work differently and it still only outputs jibberish. So please let me know of your other ideas on what could be wrong!

Thanks!

/Peter

Hi Peter,

Thanks for clearing up the manual over ride and the baud commands, sorry to hear that you're still unable to communicate with your display. Unfortunately, it looks like a simple software fix is not going to get your unit running again, as it seems that this is a hardware problem. My thought is that by erasing and rewriting the memory, the EEPROM module may have been written to more than its estimated lifespan of 100,000 times. Sadly, this display was manufactured more than a year ago, so it is no longer covered under our warranty plan. The option to repair does exist, but all cost would fall to you, alternately, you may want to look at some of our newer models to replace this unit. Again, if you have any more questions, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks,

Troy

Ok, so the display is busted. What a bummer! Anyway thanks for your help! But it can't be because of the EEPROM module. I have had these problems with the display since 2005 and have never actually used it because of its unreliability. (Check this thread http://www.lcdforums.com/forums/viewtop ... ght=#14236).

Again thanks for the great support! And wish me better luck with my next display

/Peter