Intronix Logic Port: Attempting repair
October 23, 2009
I fried my USB based DLA around three months ago. The funny part is that I suspected it was going to fry before I powered things up – but did so anyway. Every now and then I do something stupid: I go against all better judgment just for the hell of it. So, it’s been about twelve years since i fried a tool(BTW, the smoke was let out of the previous tool under the same suspicions). Maybe i can make it another twelve.
So what happened? I was working on a GE ECM Module which i had adapted with an eight pin dip emulation socket. The chip i was interested in was a 94C64 serial EEPROM. This chip contains the program, or settings for a particular motor application. Instead of using a board I had previously built to read / monitor the EEPROM I thought it would be neat to use the DLA since it already has SPI filters built in the software.
Lets back up a moment and define exactly how this would have been neat.
“Neat-lazy”: I did not feel like walking across the room to use the proper equipment.
“Neat-ignorant”: I knew very well that common grounds would expose a high voltage potential.
“Neat-taught”: With a shrug of the shoulders, a bang, and a tripped breaker i blew up my logic port, the ECM Motor module, and suspected the same of the notebook computer.
With a damn it that was stupid! Why did i just do that? Yes, it was neat.
So i called up Intronix and spoke to Harrison. It just laughed and said i just friend my logic port. He asked if i was sure, and i laughed again and said. yeah, it’s fried. I ended up replacing a the USB FIFO and an EEPROM. The first repair attempt did not look to promising. While testing the USB FIFO i was getting some errors and i could not read the EEPROM at all. I put the logic port to the side to work on when i had more free time.
A little over a month ago i attempted to repair the logic port again. This time, things went well. The USB FIFO worked as i expected, and the EEPROM functioned. I then contacted Harrison again and told him i was read to load the EEPROM. We had some problems with gmail and my free time was running short so i put the logic port to the side again. A few days past and i found some more time, so i made arrangements to use a friend’s email. Later that week i got the files i needed and decided to wait untill i have plenty of time to work on the logic port.
Yesterday that time came, when i tried to use the EEPROM utility provided by Intronix i found that it was time limited! So i contacted Harrison for new activation, At this point i’m really starting to feel like a PITA; in the same token my logic port may be ok so i can’t give up now- not when i’m this close to finding out if all the trouble was worth while.
Right now i’m waiting for Harrison to active a new key so that i can load the EEPROM. I must say, I am very impressed with the service from this company. Whether my logic port works or not i will be buying another in the near future. After all, the logic port has been at my side for nearly five years with no major problems.
