It Works, but "Not Inst" Message

[Christian Adamec]

Hello,

Well, I got up to the power on test for K2 #4718 and it worked! Very
exciting. Prior to this, the only electronics that I had built were
Elecraft's noise generator and test oscilator, which I plan to use with
the K2.

The issue, though, is that when I tap the menu button or the display
button, "not inst" will flash for a second before the menu is
displayed. All tests checked out after power up, except the keyer,
since I don't have a paddle. Let me add that at this point, I am
missing one pushbutton switch, S16, which I am waiting on a replacement
for.

Is this message a problem or something to worry about? Like I said,
everything seems to be working just fine, except for this message that
flashes occaisionally. I couldn't find anything in the manual regarding
this.

Thanks,
Chris KC9GSV

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[Ingo Meyer DK3RED]

Hello Christian,

> The issue, though, is that when I tap the menu button or the display
> button, "not inst" will flash for a second before the menu is displayed.
> All tests checked out after power up, except the keyer, since I don't
> have a paddle. Let me add that at this point, I am missing one
> pushbutton switch, S16, which I am waiting on a replacement for.

An not installed pushbutton is as good as an not switched pushbutton. No
problems with it.

First of all check the right orientation of the resistor pack RP1. I had
installed RP1 in the wrong direction and the results was very strange and
currios.

Then check the orientation of RP1 again. No, its no joke. Please do it.

Then check pins 3, 4 and 5 of the resistor pack RP1 on bottom of the PCB and
(!) on the top of the PCB. I think there is a solder bridge from pin 4 to 3
and 5. Pin 3 is the "DISPLAY" and pin 5 is the "MENU" and in the middle pin
4 is the "ANT 1/2" which is not installed in your K2 at the time. U2 is an
multiplex IC, so sometimes the bridge suggested the MCU U6 a switched on
display button or sometimes a switched on menue button (to be governed by
the U2 multiplexer status) or all seems to be OK.
--
72/73 de Ingo, DK3RED   Don't forget: the fun is the power!

[hidden email]   www.dk3red.homepage.t-online.de
    L-QRP-AG   #824   www.dl-qrp-ag.de
    QRP ARCI #11295   www.qrparci.org


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[Christian Adamec]

Hello,

I would like to thank everyone for responding. Unfortunately, I still
do not have this problem solved. Very frustrating! After some more
poking around, here is what I can say about this. It only happens when
I press 'Menu', not when pressing 'Display'. It is intermittent,
although it happens more often than not. After pressing 'NB', it seems
to go away for a while. I have checked all my soldering on each board.
I could not find any solder bridges anywhere, nor any globs of solder
not on a pad. I checked the direction of all diodes and the are all
correct. Hmmmm...

Thanks,
Chris KC9GSV

On Feb 1, 2005, at 11:21 PM, Dale Wiese wrote:

> Chris,
>
> It was a while back, but I think I had this same issue.  The problem
> turned out to be a diode installed backwards on the control board.
>
> 73,
>
> Dale, N9XD
>
>
> On Jan 31, 2005, at 5:43 PM, Christian Adamec wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Well, I got up to the power on test for K2 #4718 and it worked! Very
>> exciting. Prior to this, the only electronics that I had built were
>> Elecraft's noise generator and test oscilator, which I plan to use
>> with the K2.
>>
>> The issue, though, is that when I tap the menu button or the display
>> button, "not inst" will flash for a second before the menu is
>> displayed. All tests checked out after power up, except the keyer,
>> since I don't have a paddle. Let me add that at this point, I am
>> missing one pushbutton switch, S16, which I am waiting on a
>> replacement for.
>>
>> Is this message a problem or something to worry about? Like I said,
>> everything seems to be working just fine, except for this message
>> that flashes occaisionally. I couldn't find anything in the manual
>> regarding this.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chris KC9GSV
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Post to: [hidden email]
>> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
>> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
>> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>>
>

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[Don Wilhelm-3]

Chris,

The 'not inst' message is normal when the NB or ANT1/2 bttons are tapped -
it is NOT normal for that message to appear when the MENU or DISPLAY buttons
are tapped or pressed.

First check the orientation of RP1 on the Front Panel board - the dot (or
stripe) on the R-PAK (RP1) must be at the pin 1 end (look for the round
solder pad at the pin 1 end - the rest are square pads).  After that, check
for any solder 'bridges' at the pins of RP1 and the pins of U2.  Also be
certain that RP1 is the correct value (100K - look for a  '104' somewhere
within the R-Pak labeling).  Check especially for shorts between pins 2 and
3 of RP1 and pins 4 and 5 of RP1 - a short between either or both of these
pins wouuld cause the symptoms you are reporting.

Since you say that it happens mainly when MENU is tapped, the short between
pins 2 and 3 are the most likely culprit - you may want to check this with
an ohmmeter.  If all is well, you should measure approximately 200k with one
probe on RP1 pin 2 and the other probe on RP1 pin 3 - if it is significantly
lower than 200k, you are on the path of the problem (short or high
resistance leakage path).

Bottom line - either something is shorted to something it should not be or
there is some sort of 'sneak path' reulting from incorrect orientation of
RP1. Refer to the schematic of the Front Panel for verification of my
analysis.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> I would like to thank everyone for responding. Unfortunately, I still
> do not have this problem solved. Very frustrating! After some more
> poking around, here is what I can say about this. It only happens when
> I press 'Menu', not when pressing 'Display'. It is intermittent,
> although it happens more often than not. After pressing 'NB', it seems
> to go away for a while. I have checked all my soldering on each board.
> I could not find any solder bridges anywhere, nor any globs of solder
> not on a pad. I checked the direction of all diodes and the are all
> correct. Hmmmm...
>
> Thanks,
> Chris KC9GSV
>
>

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[Christian Adamec]

Hello,

Again, thanks for all the responses. After receiving my S16 switch and  
installing it, the message no longer appears. I did all the checks and  
tests that you all suggested and there were no problems. Looks like the  
missing switch was the problem.

Thanks,
Chris KC9GSV

On Feb 3, 2005, at 7:28 AM, W3FPR - Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Chris,
>
> Jack Brindle sent along the following information on your problem - He  
> could
> have the proper answer here (unless you have not yet installed any  
> options).
>
> Try removing all the options and adapters from your K2 and see if your
> problem disappears.  You won't have to install 'unmodules' or jumper  
> wires
> for this test (the K2 may not pass signals during your testing - but  
> that
> won't matter for nailing the problem area).
>
> If the MENU does OK (no 'not inst' messages) with everything removed,  
> then
> put the options back one at a time and continue to test MENU to see  
> which
> one causes the problem to start.  Once found, look at that option  
> module for
> the problem.
>
> If you still have the problem with all option modules removed, there  
> is yet
> one possibility that the KIO on the RF board could be acting strangely.
>
> Let me know if you find anything.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jack Brindle [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:06 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] It Works, but "Not Inst" Message
>
>
> Don;
>
> Let me throw something else in that seems to have been missed. I'll let
> you translate it for Chris if need be. When you go into the MENU mode,
> the main processor actually does try to communicate with various
> modules across the AuxBus. Which is communicates with is determined by
> the specific menu item that comes up. As an example, if you have a KRC2
> installed and go to the ACC entry, the K2 will immediately poll the
> KRC2 for the information to be displayed on the LCD. In the case of the
> KRC2, if one is not found, then the K2 will display "---". For other
> devices, if it cannot communicate with the device it will display "NOT
> INST" The easiest example is a tap of the ANT 1/2 button without a KAT2
> installed or KAT100 attached.
>
> Thus it appears to me that he actually has a module with a problem
> talking on AuxBus in his K2, and not a problem with the front panel. My
> suggestion would be to remove individual modules (KNB2, KSB2, etc) one
> at a time to see if the problem remains. I'd bet that when he removes
> one of these then things will start working again. Going further, the
> module with problems probably has an MCU with a resonator instead of a
> crystal. I believe the MCU is slow to wake up, and is simply missing
> the first request from the main MCU. Thus it could actually be the IO
> processor. So, what could the problem be? A resonator. Now let's see
> how my detective work is these days.
>
> On Feb 2, 2005, at 6:28 PM, W3FPR - Don Wilhelm wrote:
>
>> Chris,
>>
>> The 'not inst' message is normal when the NB or ANT1/2 bttons are
>> tapped -
>> it is NOT normal for that message to appear when the MENU or DISPLAY
>> buttons
>> are tapped or pressed.
>>
>> First check the orientation of RP1 on the Front Panel board - the dot
>> (or
>> stripe) on the R-PAK (RP1) must be at the pin 1 end (look for the  
>> round
>> solder pad at the pin 1 end - the rest are square pads).  After that,
>> check
>> for any solder 'bridges' at the pins of RP1 and the pins of U2.  Also
>> be
>> certain that RP1 is the correct value (100K - look for a  '104'
>> somewhere
>> within the R-Pak labeling).  Check especially for shorts between pins
>> 2 and
>> 3 of RP1 and pins 4 and 5 of RP1 - a short between either or both of
>> these
>> pins wouuld cause the symptoms you are reporting.
>>
>> Since you say that it happens mainly when MENU is tapped, the short
>> between
>> pins 2 and 3 are the most likely culprit - you may want to check this
>> with
>> an ohmmeter.  If all is well, you should measure approximately 200k
>> with one
>> probe on RP1 pin 2 and the other probe on RP1 pin 3 - if it is
>> significantly
>> lower than 200k, you are on the path of the problem (short or high
>> resistance leakage path).
>>
>> Bottom line - either something is shorted to something it should not
>> be or
>> there is some sort of 'sneak path' reulting from incorrect orientation
>> of
>> RP1. Refer to the schematic of the Front Panel for verification of my
>> analysis.
>>
>> 73,
>> Don W3FPR
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>
>>> I would like to thank everyone for responding. Unfortunately, I still
>>> do not have this problem solved. Very frustrating! After some more
>>> poking around, here is what I can say about this. It only happens  
>>> when
>>> I press 'Menu', not when pressing 'Display'. It is intermittent,
>>> although it happens more often than not. After pressing 'NB', it  
>>> seems
>>> to go away for a while. I have checked all my soldering on each  
>>> board.
>>> I could not find any solder bridges anywhere, nor any globs of solder
>>> not on a pad. I checked the direction of all diodes and the are all
>>> correct. Hmmmm...
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Chris KC9GSV
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
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>>
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>> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>>
>>
> - Jack Brindle, W6FB
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> ---------------------
>
>
>

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