I have a Nanode 5 set up/running well and now have a nice new ready
built NanodeRF set to roll - upload fine, RTC fine etc but when it
comes to running Ian's Nanode RF Initialisation Sketch I get stuck at
the no MAC address message.... any pointers on how I move forward from
here?

Welcome to Nanode RF

MAC Address in MCP7941x is empty - attempting to read address from
11AA02E48.
No MAC address available from 11AA02E48

First, it worked for me on my RF ;-)

I assume that you've read this thread : http://groups.google.com/group/nanode-users/t/597853ee0354d932

While nanode 5 and RF differ by their PCBs, they are the same when it
comes to the MAC chip.
Tests to check that DIG7 is connected to nothing but pin1 of the MAC
chip apply.

Which IDE version do you use and have you changed anything in
nanodemac library or Ian's sketch ?

I have read through the previous MAC issue but as my NanodeRF came
ready built I am assuming it has been tested and is working fine.

I am using Arduino 22 with no changes to code.

A bit stumped really - perhaps this is a return unless there is
something daft I am doing wrong.

Can you see what happens when you use the NanodeMAC example from the
NanodeUNIO library?  It's at https://github.com/sde1000/NanodeUNIO

(This library has the advantage over the NanodeMAC library that it returns
a status code showing whether accessing the 11AA02E48 succeeded or failed -
you don't have to guess based on the returned MAC address.)

If this example shows "failure" then it is very likely that you have a
hardware problem.

Steve

Well, that worked:

Nanode MAC reader

Reading MAC address... success
MAC address is 00:04:A3:21:D6:9D

And following running that code it worked on other code too?  However,
I am suspecting the soldering is perhaps a problem as it doesn't look
too tidy and and I found the RFMB12 aerial contact wasn't soldered to
the PCB - I'm also finding that the Nanode crashes after a while....
hmmmm, sounds like an iffy contact or two?

Thanks for your help Stephen - getting there :-)

Interesting.

After a power-on or brown-out reset, the 11AA02E48 needs to see a
low-to-high transition on the bus at the start of the standby pulse.  The
NanodeUNIO code does this, the NanodeMAC code doesn't.  It's possible that
this is making a difference on your Nanode.

Steve

https://code.google.com/p/nanodekit

It allows testing the operation of the Nanode 5 boards, DHCP and DNS,
including Pachube datastreaming using a free room access. The MAC
address is displayed and is logged on Pachube datastream #4. You can
see the MAC of the last board tested at:

https://pachube.com/feeds/40451  (this is the free room used by the
code)

 I have tested 10 different boards this way. One board failed the MAC
test and I found that one of the chip pins was simply not soldered.
The MAC test worked fine after resoldering the IC pin.

To be noted that in the fully assembled Nanode RF sample board I got,
the soldering job is awfull. The boadd worked fine when received but I
had to rework all the solders as a precaution.

Cheers - Thierry

I came to this thread with an identical problem.    No MAC address from
the 11AA02E48.    I gave the board a through visual examination and did the
meter tests.   It passed the continuity test and visually looked ok.

With nothing else to try, I reflowed the solder on the 11AA02E48.    That
fixed it.