LCD problems reading SD card

[Andrew Jepson]

Has anyone else experienced problems with their LCD. On the main screen it shows that the card is inserted, but when I go to load a G code file it says no card in the menu. Everything else seems to be working fine so I'm having a hard time trouble shooting this. I also can't send files to the printer via USB either, so right now my printer is dead in the water.

[ChrisHS]

On Thursday, 8 December 2016 18:17:22 UTC, Andrew Jepson wrote:

Has anyone else experienced problems with their LCD. On the main screen it shows that the card is inserted, but when I go to load a G code file it says no card in the menu. Everything else seems to be working fine so I'm having a hard time trouble shooting this. I also can't send files to the printer via USB either, so right now my printer is dead in the water.

The card present is a pin on the SD socket not that it can read the content.
The PC will use 4 bit high speed mode where the Arduino uses 1 bit spi so they aren't accessing content the same way,

1 Try another SD card
2 Try an old known working file in case it's something inside.
3 Check the filename doesn't have any unusual characters in it.

4 Check leads are good
Should be able to swap the two identical ones over.

5 Is 5 volt power reaching the display.
6 Is the regulator for the SD card providing 3.3 volts.

The Arduino code is unlikely to problems left from early eject.
7 Reformat the card on the PC.

You can reprogram the Arduino with some added debug code but I decided it was much better the get a couple more Arduinos & work out how to get it to program & work on a spare. If there is a voltage transient on the Arduino it can wipe some/all memory...

Let me know how you get on & if you need to go furthur into the problem.


Hope this helps.

Chris
~~~~~

[Andrew Jepson]

It turns out is was a problem with the ribbon cable. I used longer cables so I could move the LCD off the printer and it looks like there must have been a defect. Once I put the originals back on it could read the SD card again

[djam]

There will be limits on how long that cable can be and still work, it could be the long cable is just too long
and not faulty.

Regards,
Darren

[Andrew Jepson]

Has anyone had issues with the contacts on the SD reader? I'm getting intermittent issues with the card menu not allowing me to select a file, or going completely blank when I scroll through it. Sometimes its gone back to showing card not inserted, and removing and inserting the card a few times fixes it. This morning while trying to print a file the LCD was very erratic and after many attempts, trying a number of different SD cards I just couldn't get it to work. I'm thinking maybe something is failing on the SD card contacts?

I'm hesitant to replace it with another LCD just yet, as I've ordered a ReArm adapter through kickstarter, that will convert RAMPs to a 32 bit system, and will allow me to upgrade to a touchscreen display as well as connecting through ethernet, but I could use a short term solution if anyone has any ideas. BTW USB printing is not really an option as it has proven to be unreliable for me.