Strange problems with the screen (lines and flipped font)

Hey everybody,
together with three friends I’ve pledged the MAKERbuino Party Pack. The build process of three devices went flawlessly, but with the fourth device we had some problems with the display header.

Now we’ve finished the build but we have a strange, reproducible bug:
The menu of the MakerBuino shows up as expected (1), but if we press the “up”-button there are unwanted lines and the game title is flipped! (2) If we go one page down only one line is visible. (3) This behaviour is consistent everytime we turn the device on.

(1)

(2)

(3)

Any ideas what’s wrong?

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@Lisamith, thank you for supporting MAKERbuino :slight_smile:

That is usually caused by problems with the screen’s CLK (clock) data line.
In other words, the connection between the screen and the microcontroller is bad.

Please try resoldering the joints on the screen’s socket and on the microcontroller socket.
If that doesn’t help, send us some photos of your MAKERbuino’s PCB with the casing and screen detached.

Interesting, that glitch sounds more like it’d be caused by something funky happening with the software, rather than a physical problem with the screens connection, do you know why it causes that to happen?

@Dalemaunder You can see it in the second image. At the moment I’ve no idea why that happens.

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Did you try improving the soldering joints and inspecting them with a multimeter?

If that doesn’t help, the screen must be defective in some way. We can send you a new screen in that case.

Thanks for the offer :blush: The MAKERbuino is not mine, so I haven’t found the time to test it yet. I can probably report by the end of next week. We have a complete set left from our Party Pack so we can try it with another screen and find out whether we need an exchange part or not.

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Sorry for the long time since my last update. I found the time to check the display problem out a few days ago. After removing the display and the microcontroller, I resoldered a lot of solder joints and inspected those for the microcontroller and the display with a voltmeter. Unfortunately, the display signal was still very wobbly. With another microcontroller and screen I couldn’t even get a display signal :thinking::neutral_face:

The problem is still not solved. Any ideas? :see_no_evil:

Dear @Lisamith, I apologize, I’ve somehow missed your reply to this topic back in November.

Please, before we go any further, send us photos of your MAKERbuino’s front and back side (with the screen and the casing removed).

Thank you for supporting MAKERbuino!

Sorry for the long delay. I finally got hold of some pictures :sweat_smile:

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@Lisamith, your soldering joints look marvelous!
Well done!

I think that you’re dealing with a defective screen on this one. Can you perhaps try replacing this unit’s screen with some other screen from the party pack that you’ve ordered?

If the problem is indeed screen-related, we’ll send you a replacement to your address ASAP!

Thanks :blush: As I said earlier, I reworked all of the solder joints after seeing the problem. When I used either the microcontroller or the display and both parts from the other kit, I couldn’t get a display signal. So this seems to be a more severe problem that is also connected to the tolerances of the parts :neutral_face:

@Lisamith, I’m out of ideas and I am afraid that I cannot help you any further remotely like this.

Please, can you ship the defective unit to our address:
CircuitMess (Albert Gajšak),
Maksimilijana Vrhovca 11,
47000 Karlovac,
Croatia

Ship using your national post’s standard tracked service (it shouldn’t cost more than 8 euros).
Which country will you ship from?

I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation but I just saw you mention the cost of shipping “not costing more than 8 euros”;

Literally double your “at most” estimate :laughing:, oh the woes of living on an island in the middle of nowhere.

@Dalemaunder,
I am aware that differences in shipping costs can significantly vary from one national post to the other, but I think that you might be looking at the wrong service.

You need to find your national post’s service for sending small registered letters (less than 250g). You should send your shipment as a letter, NOT as a package.

My friend is going to ship it from Germany :slight_smile:

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@Lisamith, great, please keep me updated on the shipment!