Troubleshooting my Arduinoboy

[Dead Wildcat]

Hi,

I've just built the Arduinoboy with the protoshield and have a few
questions since it's not working correctly at the moment.

1)Can I use the usb plug as the main power source forr the Arduinoboy
when syncing my GB with a drum machine?
2)When I turn on the Arduino (power from USB, midi IN connected to dr
muchine) I have two LED's on permanently and they do not respond when
I press the button (pins d13,d12) . when I connect the game jack to
the gameboy, they respond but there is no sync between the drum
machine and LSDJ. What could be the problem?

My game jack's blue wire is connected to ground on the protoshield3.
I have not connected the shielding wire.

If you have any suggestions any advice will help!

[Dead Wildcat]

Running from an external power supply now. A strange thing happened :
when I switched the modes really fast the GB would play a for a moment
and then stop... going through the conections now.
I suspect it's got to do with 6n138 I salvaged from mc2, I built
previously.

one more question.

should the Arduinoboy d13LED blink when receiving midi clock from the
drum machine, even if it's not connected to the GB?

[trash80]

> 1)Can I use the usb plug as the main power source forr the Arduinoboy
> when syncing my GB with a drum machine?

Yes

> 2)When I turn on the Arduino (power from USB, midi IN connected to dr
> muchine) I have two LED's on permanently and they do not respond when
> I press the button (pins d13,d12) . when I connect the game jack to
> the gameboy, they respond but there is no sync between the drum
> machine and LSDJ. What could be the problem?

Try reflashing/uploading the code to the arduino? Check your
connections make make sure everything is good.

> My game jack's blue wire is connected to ground on the protoshield3.
> I have not connected the shielding wire.

I don't think I've tried the actual ground pin in quite some time, I
use the shielding wire.

[trash80]

> Running from an external power supply now. A strange thing happened :
> when I switched the modes really fast the GB would play a for a moment
> and then stop... going through the conections now.

It might do that because some of the modes send a high voltage to the
gb clock pin. (any mode that sends data) And the other modes the pin
flips to low (0v) on gb output modes.
Switching really fast might create artificial sync. ^__^

> I suspect it's got to do with 6n138 I salvaged from  mc2, I built
> previously.

No. That chip should be fine. When I first started toying iwth the
idea of using arduino I also stole my lsdjmc2's 6n138 because I didn't
have one. :D

> should the Arduinoboy d13LED blink when receiving midi clock from the
> drum machine, even if it's not connected to the GB?

There should be light response from the arduino board without a
gameboy. Unless of couse thats the source of its power.
The first things to try when something isnt working is:
- Try switching the midi wires around
- Check to make sure the diode is the right direction
- Make sure the 6n138 is getting power and ground.
- Try switching the wires around again on the midi jack

/Timothy

[Dead Wildcat]

I get MIDI CLOCK signals to the ARDUINOBOY in mode 0 (lsdj slave sync
mode). It also responds when I hit keys on the midi controller. I had
to swap the wires on the MIDI Jack and the ORANGE and RED wire on the
GB game jack to do make it work. However, I still have a problem with
the Arduino:

When it is connected to the drmachine via midi it wont respond unless
I connect the gamejack and turn on the GB. When I disconnect the power
source the Arduino power smd LED (on the Arduino board) for some
reason stays on, it only goes off when I turn off the GB.

Also I couldn't figure out how to play with the keyboard. hitting any
key would result in only one tone, midi channel change also didn't
help, although LSDJ should that the instruments change.

any suggestions?

[trash80]

are you tring to get power via usb? make sure the jumper next to the power and usb port is set to usb, its marked "PWR SEL"
in sync mode it shouldnt respond to midi keyboard note data etc stuff unless i messed something up with the newer version of arduinoboy. in which case i'll check

again i need to check the modes and make sure they are working here, if anything i'd say that the power is getting pulled from the gameboy and messing everything up. make sure to disconnect the power from the gameboy's power pin, you dont need it if your using usb for power.

/t

[Ove Ridé]

Maybe I'm saying something obvious here, but don't connect the +5Vpin
of the GB link cable to the 5V ril of the Arduino. That will likely
sink the voltage in the Arduino and make it think the citcuit is
overloaded.and in turn shut it off.

2008/11/12 Dead Wildcat <weirdg...@gmail.com>:

--
/Ove

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[Dead Wildcat]

.... I think I have fixed the problem now. I had my shielding wire
going to GND on the Analog sid of the Arduino. I have now soldered it
to the opposite row and it fixed the problem with two LED's staying
on when GB link cable was not connected.

Also I think it's not a good Idea to power the Arduinoboy via usb from
your computer there is just too much digital noise. On the other hand
maybe it's because I was monitoring the GB through my laptop's
firewire card. Anyway tooo much noise in my opnion.

Oh and one last thing. How do you actually play the GB instruments
through Arduinoboy (I cant burn mGB o my cartridge - no transferer)
with lsdj. Is it the same as with the mc2?
200 bpm, 4 channels with the same chain etc etc? Or share a link where
to find the info..

Tim and Ove thanks for the help!!

[trash80]

Also I think it's not a good Idea to power the Arduinoboy via usb from
your computer there is just too much digital noise. On the other hand
maybe it's because I was monitoring the GB through my laptop's
firewire card. Anyway tooo much noise in my opnion.

You could get some nastiness from that I'm sure. I power my arduinoboy with the gameboy, but on DMG the performance of it changes with the state of the batteries.

Oh and one last thing. How do you actually play the GB instruments
through Arduinoboy (I cant burn mGB o my cartridge - no transferer)
with lsdj. Is it the same as with the mc2?
200 bpm, 4 channels with the same chain etc etc? Or share a link where
to find the info..

It's the same as LSDJMc2, except the midi channel is sent by default on channel 16. you can edit that in the arduinoboy source, its a setting.

Best,
/Timothy

[Ove Ridé]

2008/11/13 trash80 <tra...@gmail.com>:

>> Also I think it's not a good Idea to power the Arduinoboy via usb from
>> your computer there is just too much digital noise. On the other hand
>> maybe it's because I was monitoring the GB through my laptop's
>> firewire card. Anyway tooo much noise in my opnion.
>
> You could get some nastiness from that I'm sure. I power my arduinoboy with
> the gameboy, but on DMG the performance of it changes with the state of the
> batteries.

My point was not to mix USB power *and* GB power at the same time.
That's asking for trouble.

Trah80, as for your b attery related problem. The Atmega168 can
actually run fine on anything down 3.3 V. However, the opto-coupler
might become a bit shaky since it wants 5 V on the secondary side.

[trash80]

Actually the problem seems to be more on the gameboy's end. Either the pins sending 5v HIGH or the GB just dieing on its own.

And about the power , yes I agree with you, thats what my thought was with the power issues.

/Timothy

[the...@gmail.com]

> You could get some nastiness from that I'm sure. I power my arduinoboy with
> the gameboy, but on DMG the performance of it changes with the state of the
> batteries.
>

your DMG has a +5v pin in the link port? all 3 of my dmgs don't have
those pins... they just have 4 pins, and 2 empty spots where pins
could go...

snap.. that's unfair! iw ould rather power from my DMG than bring
along a cgb to plug in :(

[trash80]

snap.. that's unfair!  iw ould rather power from my DMG than bring
along a cgb to plug in :(

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