Flashing LCD on normal startup, bootloader menu fine

[Rubis]

My board from Synthex came in a couple of days ago, but today was the first I got to work on it. I ordered the one he made to test the new firmware, not one of the kits, so I did not have to solder the components to the board.

I wired up the LCD, buttons, and LED today. Me being careless, I attached the LCD connector backwards, so I filed off the plastic that keeps it from going in backwards and shoved it in backwards. It isn't the best fix, but I had broken the connector putting it on and epoxied it to hold it together, so I couldn't take it off. I plug it in only to get flashing squares on both lines of the LCD. My first thought was that I had screwed up somewhere; I've already told you about several possible places. On a whim, I tried holding the left button. To my amazement, it worked fine and went to the bootloader screen. The contrast was a bit hard to read, but the text was all there, so I don't think it is a problem with the LCD wiring, even if it is a bit jury rigged.

Also, MCT sees the MegaDrum just fine. I can load and save settings to/from the MD, but can't update the firmware from a manually downloaded file. If I check for updates it says I have a newer version than the latest (kind of expected). I thought maybe the new firmware might be the cause, which is why I tried to update. I am running Linux, so that may cause some problems with the update.

Does any one know why it would only display flashing boxes on a normal startup, but the bootloader menu works fine?

[dmitri]

You must at least solder R3,R4,R9-R12,L1 and all capacitors.

[Rubis]

I got the board already completely populated. Synthex did all of that before he shipped it, so I don't think there is a problem there. He made the board to test a new firmware, so the board itself is already done, not to mention better than anything I would make myself.

It looked like all I had to do were the things not directly soldered to the AIO board. I added the LCD, buttons, and LED.

When doing a normal startup, the LCD displays two rows of flashing boxes. If I turn it on while holding left, the bootloader menu works just fine.

[dmitri]

Then I'd recommend you to update the firmware via the bootloader.

[Synthex]

You must update the firmware like that :
http://www.megadrum.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=608&start=40#p7176

[Rubis]

Ah, thank you both. I did not realize that it had to send the erase file first. I was using MCT to try to update which said nothing about that. With MIDIOX, all is good thank you.

[Synthex]

MCT should be updated soon !