Crunch time on projects always seems to come during lab debug. That's when the FPGA, software and PCB all come together for the first time. It's also the last, and frequently, most difficult phase in the project. Any slack time in the schedule has long since been eaten up by unanticipated delays of one sort or another. The entire team has to work together on the same thing and in the same place, possibly for the first time.

Many developers put off thinking seriously about the latter stages of the project and what tools they might need once they get there. There's so much to do initially in specifying the design, partitioning it and keeping all the parallel efforts on track and in sync to consider what you ll do when you get to the lab. Electronics Design
When designing any product, the first steps are to identify the need the product will fill, and identify the market it will be sold into. Then we consider the competing products that can already perform the job - even 'unique' products have some kind of competition, somewhere. Finally we build up a specification for a new product positioned successfully in the market. This is detailed a little more in our guide to writing a new product spec.
This guide describes our process for designing a new electronic circuit board, typically one that is microprocessor based with embedded firmware. This same process is used for most products we design. Usually an industrial designer is employed to produce the product enclosure or case, with labelling and graphics. We deliver working prototypes and technical documentation to the client - and then the product goes on to beta testing, pilot run, and production release.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. --Henry Ford
The Specification

The Specification is the customer's instructions to the designer describing the features the new product should have. (See: More info - Specifications) A specification starts out as ideas and a wish list, then gradually gets nailed down to something more formal and explicit. It is a good idea to have a list of "reasons why" and "how it's done" to explain the specification, but keep these separate from the main document.

We have, online, a guide to writing a specification for a new electronic product, help with specification construction, examples of specifications, and a glossary of technical information.

The basic, introduction explanation of the products function within a specification should be quite short, keep it to one page:

One Page Principle: A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper cannot be understood. -- Mark Ardis

Contact Detail: Specs Specs Where you see the magnifying glass symbol you can CLICK to get MORE DETAIL

The Circuit Design

The Circuit Diagram, also called the Schematic or Logic Diagram, maps out the electronics and connections in the most readily readable form. (See: More info - Circuit Design) The designer needs to do background work while producing the Circuit diagram, researching specifications of components, interaction between components (especially timing and loading) physical packages, and arrangement of connector pinouts. The circuit will often start on paper and finish in Computer Aided Design (CAD) format.

The finished circuit diagram, supported by notes if required, is the main reference document for the design.

Detail: Circuit Design Circuit

The Printed Circuit Board Layout

The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is the laminate to which all the electronic components are soldered, with one or more layers of etched metal tracks making the connections. (See: More info - PCB Layout) The components and connections in the PCB Layout are derived from the circuit diagram, and physically placed and routed by the designer to get the best result. The PCB Layout defines the final physical form of the circuit, and enclosure and labelling details can be finalised as the layout is completed.

When the PCB layout is complete, the final CAD file is sent to a subcontract PCB laminate manufacturer. (for detail on PCB laminate production see More info - PCB Etching) The manufacturer returns the etched PCB laminates a few days later, ready for assembly into prototypes.

Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account.
Detail: Layout Detail: Etch
Prototypes

At AirBorn Electronics we usually make 2 or 3 identical prototypes at the same time. (See: More info - Prototypes) The Prototype circuitry is debugged in stages. The debugging proceeds according to the debug test procedure, which is written for the product as it is designed. Prototype microprocessor circuits are generally debugged with specially written diagnostic code, again progressing in stages.

When confidence has been gained in the operation of the prototype hardware, debug of the actual prototype program ("Firmware") can begin, on the target.

Firmware

Software for the electronics is often 50% or more of the design work in a project. The programming that controls the microprocessor usually gives the electronic product its features and "glitz" whereas the hardware is the purely functional side of the equation.

The programming or coding for electronic products is usually written in 'C' or assembler, whereas the programming that runs on a PC will normally be written in C++, java or another language (and almost certainly not assembler). The programming for microcontrollers is totally different from that for a PC in any case - it is usually "more detailed" and less "generic" than the type of programming made for a personal computer, because it is more tightly coupled to the electronic hardware on which it runs, and because it usually has to respond more quickly - that is it has to run in "real time". There is usually a great deal of care and testing involved with programming for electronic products - while for some reason clients seem willing to accept bugs in windows software as somewhat normal, they are pretty unacceptable in, say, an engine control unit for a modern car.

The firmware may be developed by a separate team, and it is at the prototype stage that the two projects come together. (See: More info - Firmware) When the two components are integrated and prototype testing is complete, the finished project is handed over to the customer.

The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. -- from "Fortunes"
Detail: Protos Detail: Firmware S/W

Pilot Run

To test the product further, a Pilot run normally follows the prototyping stage (See: More info - PCB Assembly). In the Pilot run, a small quantity of units (for instance 25) are field trialed in a beta test. The Pilot run is also an opportunity to assess the manufacturability of the design, and the useability of the documentation (See: More info - PCB Documentation).

Detail: PCB Doc Detail: PCB Assem

Production

Following the pilot run there will likely be changes to the firmware, and possibly the circuit design, as the unit develops into a stable, final product. This process is controlled by ECOs and version numbers. We handle the actual production of electronics for some customers, but others prefer to produce the circuitry in house, or use other assembly subcontractors. Our technical documentation is sufficiently detailed for our customers to have the electronics produced by a third party subcontractor. The cost of the final production, and to some degree the style of design, is heavily influenced by the number of units manufactured (see Economies of scale).

Detail: PCB Assembly

Innovation and Inspiration ... an opinion
For five seconds you're a genius, the rest of your life a bum. Write it down. -- Lawrence Miller
Inspiration - Why have we left this until last? We all know it has to come first! The electronic design process can be methodical, almost mechanical, but the creativity at the start uses a very different set of human qualities. Throughout the high-tech business world the most amazing success stories are of inspired people, not large bureaucratic engineering departments with efficient Total Quality Management. (No offence intended - we work to standards ourselves)

Creative aptitude is really important in making new technology products come to life, and also in identifying the market and the need the product will fill. The ability to bring that inspiration through into a final product requires the level-headed decision making. Some electronic designs are not really new products as such, but developments of existing products. These designs, also, require creative vision to see which new features are really the most desirable, and how the design can be economically produced.

Bring in ideas and entertain them royally, for one of them may be king. --Mark Van Doren

But when you're budgeting the project, it's important to consider what tools you will need on the back end as well as the front to ensure success. Simulation is fine for logic verification in a test bench environment. But verification in an actual system running at speed is another matter. Most projects require hardware verification in the lab with the system software operating on an embedded processor and interacting with other logic on the FPGA. You use hardware verification tools to debug that system.

Hardware Verification

For lab debug you will need to gather information about what's going on inside your FPGA and relate it back to the source RTL to implement corrections. If, for example you do not see the expected outputs from a state machine, you need to know what state you're in and what inputs are failing to move you through the states. When you detect a bug, you have to iterate the design swiftly so that the team does not lose focus waiting.

Probing Logic

You gather that information by probing the logic and storing the results. To probe you need a way to quickly isolate logic and attach sensors and triggers.

One probing solution would be to use a logic analyzer to monitor internal signals. You do that by bringing the signals to pins on the device that are connected to PCB headers. The headers logic analyzer pods plug into the headers. Typically you then select one of the signals as a clock and one as a trigger to begin storage. One set of vectors is stored each clock.

This method does provide a window into the device in operation without any cost in logic resources. In addition the analyzer may be familiar to the design team and its use avoids the delay in learning a new tool. At the same time it has a number of shortcomings. One big issue is that you have to connect signals in your design to the device manually. Nodes at lower levels of the hierarchy have to be routed up to the top level by editing the designs pins and iterating through debug manually each time. Any nodes you seek to view that are not at the device level of the design must be routed to the top-level.

The probing capacity of the analyzers is limited by the number of free pins available on the device and the number of pins placed on the board. The names of the signals have to be entered into the logic analyzer viewer in order to track which node in the design is displayed on which line. The entire process has to be performed every time the probes are moved. Routing nodes in the design to the pins may interfere with device operation or timing.

A few programmable logic vendors offer tools for hardware debugging using the programming channel to access device operation information. These tools use the programming port on the device to connect to the internal nodes so that external pins are not required.

Connections are made using a two tiered component. One component connects to nodes in the design and transfers the results to the second component that forwards them to the JTAG port. The tools support more sampling channels than would be practical using an analyzer and can sample at varying ranges around a trigger event.

The vendor tools offer some advantages over logic analyzers in that they do not require external package pins. The tools also support multiple clock domain sampling and more levels of triggering than a logic analyzer. Unlike logic analyzers the vendor tools use logic resources, however few, that are then unavailable for use in the application.

The vendor tools share some shortcomings with analyzers such as manual text editing to insert probes, limited results reporting and lengthy iteration cycles.

Another solution is the Identify RTL debugger from Synplicity. This product is made up of two tools ¨?
(C an instrumentor and a debugger. The Instrumentor uses a component system similar to those offered by the device vendors. But instead of editing your source files to add nets to connect pins or add probing components to connect nodes, you use the Instrumentor to display the design hierarchy in one window and select the module you wish to view as shown in Figure 1. When you complete the instrumentation, the logic is added automatically. Like the vendor tools, adding probes requires the use of some logic resources, but it is minimal.
Once you see the section you wish to probe you select those nets in the design for sampling, triggering or both. Values can be logic levels or enumerated states. All signals are displayed with eyeglass icons and the lenses show the mode you select for the signals.

The hierarchical design display lets you find lines of code fast because it exactly reflects the structure you used to create them. When you navigate to a module or architecture, you'll see the branching statements displayed along with their line number.

ll the code branch statements such as IF and ELSE are marked as potential breakpoints and you activate them merely by clicking on the circle. Examples of probes and breakpoints are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Instrumentor Sets Breakpoints and Triggers

After you have instrumented the design you then compile it to add the probes. The tool makes a copy of the design with all the probes and JTAG port communicator included. The additional logic is implemented using logic resources and consumes only a small percentage of even small devices. Their inclusion has no effect on design timing.

The tool supports multiple instrumentations of a single design and you can switch between them simply by clicking a tab and compiling. That feature allows you to leverage the same resources over several sets of probes. Different engineers can use the tool to instrument the same version of the design without interfering with each other.
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Regardless of the tool you use the next steps after inserting probes are to synthesize the design, route it on your device and then program the chip in the lab.

Debugging the Design
When you debug you are operating your design in a laboratory and monitoring the behavior of internal nodes. You will be looking for logic transitions at different points in time and storing a series of events for display. Storage begins on a triggering event. The debug process involves iterations of the connection and implementation flow.

When debugging with a logic analyzer you set one signal value as a trigger. When the analyzer sees the value, it captures data in a buffer and displays it on its screen. Logic analyzers do not support complex triggering on multiple events easily although such mechanisms could be designed by the user.

The vendor tools and Synplicity's Identify tool perform all the triggering and storage of results internally. After you have programmed the device and it is operating in the system, the components sample and store behavior of nodes using logic and memory resources on the device.

The vendor tools include a viewer that runs on a PC and accesses the information over the programming port and displays it in the signal waveforms.

The second tool in the Identify suite is the Debugger that offers complex and user-defined triggering for data capture to trap exactly those events that resolve design malfunctions. It also supports multiple sets of probes and the means to seamlessly toggle between sets on a single version of the design.

Controlling Debug
You need to use the Identify Debugger to control when data is collected and how it is displayed. The Debugger lets you design complex trigger mechanisms that look for a single event of one clock, multiple clocks or multiple instances of the event. The triggers can operate on RTL control flow statements such as IF, WHEN, CASE and others. There is also an editor that lets you create state machines that control triggering in a series of events caused by a series of conditions.

Reporting Results
Debugging requires a means of displaying the results. You analyze the results to understand behavior and correct faults. The probed values are stored in a buffer and displayed on a waveform viewer. You want to be able to use the results to pinpoint bugs in your design and correct them.

Logic analyzers contain displays and one benefit of using the analyzer to show FPGA signals is that it may display PCB signals in addition to those from the FPGA. The analyzer screen is smaller than a typical PC monitor and as a result is a cumbersome object in the lab.

The vendor tools have their own waveform viewers that run on a PC. Waveform signals can be labeled and the text displayed between iterations. Waveform viewing shows signal timing relationships, but does not directly relate values back to the code. You still have to relate the behavior of signals observed back to the source code to understand what caused the transitions. This is a time-consuming and error prone task without an RTL debugger like the Identify product.

Like the vendor tools, the Identify Debugger supports waveform viewing, but it can also annotate the logic values directly back into the source code. The values may be binary or enumerated data types. You can step backward and forward in time to view the results over a series of clocks and watch the code being updated each cycle.

ou use the icons, shown in Figure 3, and menus to set the various trigger options, start and stop debugging and view the instrumentation. You use the cycle tabs to move back and forth through the results on individual clocks.

Figure 3: Debugger Icons

The tool includes a waveform viewer and supports exports to other viewers through standard VCD format.

Iterating the Design

Logic analyzers are completely outside of the tool flow of design iterations. The iterations are performed by editing the source code to move probes, synthesizing and routing the entire design.

Vendor tools also require you to re-synthesize unless you do post synthesis insertion of the probe cores. In that case, however, you must have synthesized with an option to retain all net names and also re-specify the prove connections with every iteration because they are not retained through synthesis.

The Identify tool allows you to perform very fast iterations by directly calling the vendor place and route in incremental mode so that only those connections required to move the probes are routed and the remainder of the design is frozen. That allows debug compilations to complete in a fraction of the time required for the entire design. That means the team can see the results of changes right away.

Summary
Hardware verification is an essential phase of the development cycle of systems using FPGA devices. Several methods are available. Synplicity s Identify RTL Debugger tool supports most popular families of devices and uses their programming cables to transfer commands and data. This allows you to use a single software environment for debugging devices from different FPGA vendors.

The Identify product is the only tool that offers you a complete solution to hardware debug and helps you to quickly find out what you need to complete your design and move it out of the lab. ARM/XScale Emulator

Supported MCUs

Compilers/Debuggers

Package List

Development Platform

ARM7-DevPlatform

AT91RM9200DevKit

AT91RM9200DevKit

S3C2510-DevPlatform

IXP425-DevPlatform
iMX21-DevPlatform

ARM Development Kits

ARM7-Development-Kits

ARM9-Development-Kits

Embedded Linux Kits

Embedded Linux RTOS

Advanced FPGA&SOPC
Teaching System
FD-FPGA&SOPC_SYS
DSP JTAG Emulator

Single Computer

Single Computer

Embedded System ODMProfessional Service AT91RM9200DevKit

High-Powered AT91RM9200 Linux Development Kits
Download:
Overview
AT91RM9200DevKitis embedded Linux development platform based on ATMEL AT91RM9200 ARM920T 32-bit RISC microcontroller, the rich hardware resources, 200MIPS processing speed, built-in Memory Controller, the external bus interfaces, 10/100M network MAC, 2 USB 2.0 HOST interfaces, 1 USB2.0 Device, 5 serial ports, which can support Modem/RS485 and support ISO7816 T0/T1 Smart Card Multimedia Card interface(MCI), 115Kbps IrDA, 4 SPI interfaces, 3 synchronism serial connection(SSC), they can support I2C, I2S, 16 bits Timer, EEPROM interface and so on, they can be used at all kinds of embedded system.

AT91RM9200DevKit development platform provides the rich software and hardware functions, providing one 10/100M Ethernet Interface, two USB2.0 HOST interfaces, one USB2.0 DEVICE interface, Five standard RS232 interfaces, two CAN-Bus interfaces, SD card interface, CF card interface, TFT/STN LCD interface, touch panel interface, one 320x240 TFT LCD Panel and touch panel, CRT interface, 4x4 small keyboard, 8x8 keyboard interface, 8 7Segment lights, I/O LED and so on.AT91RM9200DevKit is made up of one CPU Module board (FD9200-CARD-ENGINE ) and one application base board, and one TFT LCD Panel and touch panel. The CPU module board---AT91RM9200-CARD-ENGINE is the perfect OEM Single Computer, all most of functions have been integrated on the CPU module board. The customer can directly use CPU module board into the project. It is very easy to develop your products if you use CPU module board. For more information of CPU module board, you can refer to AT91RM9200-CARD-ENGINE .
AT91RM9200DevKit , as the full function general industrial embedded system development platform, it can be widely used into the consumption electronics, communication device, industrial control, car electronics, safe equipment, medical equipment, spaceflight/aviation and military use equipment GPS/GPRS and so on.
---- AT91RM9200DevKit- provides Software Development Kits(SDK):The open source code embedded Linux OS, File system, device driver and many application demos, all of these are provided with open source code.Providing all the embedded Linux development tool SDK: Linux BSP, GNU cross-development tools (compiler, linker, assembler, debugger).

Highlights
ATMEL 200MHz ARM920T industrial 32 bits general embedded processor AT91RM9200
64MByte SDRAM memory
8MByte Flash, up to 16MByte
10/100M Ethernet interface
two USB2.0 HOST interfaces, one USB2.0 device interface
Five RS232 interface, COM1 can connect modem directly
Two CAN-Bus interfaces
One SD card interface
One CF card interface
Color LCD interface, supporting STN, TFT LCD
Touch panel interface
One 3.5 320x240 LCD panel and touch Screen
VGA CRT interface
4x4 small keyboard, 8x8 keyboard interface
8 7LEDsegment lights, I/O LED

Specifications
Hardware Components
Items Description
Processor ATMEL 200MHz AT91RM9200 32-bit ARM920T RISC microprocessor
Memory SDRAM: 64MBytes
Flash : 8MBytes, Up to 16MByte

Network 10/100 Ethernet Interface
USB Two USB2.0 HOST Interface One USB2.0 device Interface
Serial Interfaces Five UART Interfaces
- Four Standard RS232 interfaces
- One Console Port

CAN-BUS Interface Two CAN-BUS Interfaces, Support CAN specification V2.0 A/B
LCD Interface - Support STN,TFT Color Panel
- Support to 800X600 16bpp Color

Touch Panel Interface Touch Panel Interface
VGA CRT One VGA CRT interface
CF interface One CF card interface
SD interface One SD card interface
LCD Panel Touch Screen Providing one 3.5 320x240 TFT panel and Touch screen
Keyboard Interface - 8X8 Keyboard interface
- 4X4 Small keyboard

RTC RTC function
I/O I/O LED display
7SegmentDisplay Eight 7Segment display
JTAG One JTAG Debug port
Cable RS232 Cable, RJ45 Cable, USB Cable
AC adapter One set
Mechanical 260mm x 200mm

Software Components
Items Description
BSP Linux Board Support Packages available
Boot loader System Boot, bootloader/monitor U-boot loader
OS ARM Linux 2.4.27 for AT91RM9200
File System NFS, Ramdisk, Flash File system: Mtd+Jffs2
Device Driver - EPSON SED1356F Video display driver,
- Ethernet driver,
- USB driver,
- LCD Video display driver
- SPI driver,
- Flash driver
- Nand Flash driver,
- RTC driver
- Keyboard driver,
- 7LED segment display driver
- I/O LED driver,
- RS232 Communication driver
- Touch Panel Driver, Etc.

SDK Software Development Kits(SDK) for ARM Linux
GNU cross development tools:
- ARM linux C compiler and linker, ARM linux C++ compiler
- glibc Library, Bin utilities
- debugger

DEMO Many Example source code and sample application:
- Display demo application source code based on Linux
- Keyboard demo application source code based on Linux
- Communication demo application source code
- I/O demo
- Serial communication demo
- Etc

GUI We provide embedded GUI software development package free
- MicroWindow GUI
- GUI application developing DEMO
- GUI technology developing Document
- GUI development experiments user manual

Technology open document We have provided all the technology documents
- All the hardware design schematics
- The user technology development manual
- Embedded Linux development experiments user manual

Embedded GUI
Items Description
GUI Provide embedded GUI SDK for the board
- MicroWindows GUI
- GUI API

Tools MicroWindows GUI Developmnent tools:
- GUI compiler
- GUI Linker

GUI Examples Provide several GUI demos examples:
- Display graphic example
- Display character example
- Draw line example
- Etc.

Document Technology development manual

System Package List
Items Description
Hardware - One hardware development platform
- One CPU module board and base board
- One 3.5 320x240 TFT LCD Panel and touch Screen

Software ARM Linux embedded OS
- Embedded ARM Linux, all open source code
- ARM Linux 2.4.27 core
- All open source code file system??
8a?
0Ramdisk
- All open source code device driver
- All open source code DEMO
- All open source code experiment DEMO
- MicroWindow development package

Development tools - GNU compiler, linker, the full development tools
- Ethernet download, FLASH download tools
- GUI development tools, and software development package

Documents - Embedded Linux technology development manual
- Embedded Linux application technology development manual
- All the hardware design schematics: including CPU module board and base board and LCD board schematics
- Base board PCB

Accessories - One 5V adaptor
- One consloe RS232 cable
- One network cable
- One USB HOST cable
- One USB DEVICE cable

Application:
It can be widely used into the consumption electronics, communication device, industrial control, car electronics, safe equipment, medical equipment, spaceflight/aviation and military use equipment GPS/GPRS and so on:
The industrial products development platform
The project development platform
The development tools based on embedded Linux products
High speed network communication device development platform
High level POS development platform
teaching/training system in university or college

Advantages of AT91RM9200DEVKIT:
Applied directly as R&D platform for research projects: development of any projects or products with this ARM Linux-Development-Kit becomes very easy, omitting the development and debugging of hardware, debugging of embedded OS, and development of equipment driver procedures. All jobs can be done with this Linux-Development-Kit;
Applied directly as embedded lab teaching and training system at research institutes and universities;
Applied directly as embedded Linux based product development platform and tool, shortening R&D life cycle and bringing down investment and risks;
Applied directly as development platform for various equipment, such as network comunicaiton devices, POS, industrial intelligent equipment and so forth, consideralbly shortening R&D life cycle and bringing down investment and risks.
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MEP Simplicity of Design- Mercury Monitoring made easy
Meeting 40 CFR Part 75 is just the starting point for a mercury monitoring solution. The next step is a system thats easy to live with. Our engineering focus has been simplicity of design.

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Archive News Story
(Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)

PCB Testing Kit helps debug existing systems.

July 20, 2006 - Designed to provide new or additional test points on printed circuit boards (PCBs), PCB Probe Kit offers functionality for probing and viewing signals on logic analyzer, oscilloscope, meter, or other instrument. Hands-free system includes arm probe with heavy base, spring loaded tip, rotatable head, and fine vertical adjustment knob. Kit also includes lead clips, SMD clips, SMD clip support with guide wire, and integrated magnifying glass with tweezers.

Related categories: Test and Measuring Instruments

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Archive Press Release
(Products mentioned in this Archive Press Release may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)

Release date: June 14, 2006

OptoTherm Releases PCB Probe Kit

OptoTherm has added a PCB Probe testing kit to its product line. The PCB Probe Kit is specially designed to provide new or additional test points on printed circuit boards (PCB). Engineers attempting to debug an existing system will find this as an indispensable tool for probing and viewing signals on a logic analyzer, oscilloscope, meter, or other instrument. This complete hands-free system allows engineers to focus on the analysis rather than on how to physically probe the system, regardless of the availability of test points on the PCB.

The following components are included in the in the PCB Probe Kit: Arm probe with a heavy base, spring loaded tip, rotatable head and fine vertical adjustment knob to enable precise positioning to adjacent test points; Small lead clips enabling quick connection to SMD leads from 0.5mm down to 0.2mm lead pitch; Large lead clips enabling connection to leads from 1.25mm down to 0.3mm lead pitch; SMD clips available in four sizes: 0201, 0402, 0603, and 0805; SMD Clip Support with Guide Wire; and an integrated Magnifying Glass with Tweezers designed to assist the user when working on small components in tight areas.

Please review our website or contact us directly for more information.

Company Name: OptoTherm
Address 1: 2591 Wexford-Bayne Road
Address 2: Suite 304
City: Sewickley
State: PA
Zip: 15143
Country: USA
Phone: 724-940-7600
URL: www.optotherm.com

Contact Name: Al Stricker
Organization:
Title: Business Manager
E-mail: astricker@optotherm.com

Name: Optotherm, Inc.
Address: 2591 Wexford-Bayne Rd.
City: Sewickley
State: PA
ZIP: 15143
Country: USA
Phone: 724-940-7600
FAX: 724-940-7601
http://www.optotherm.com

More news from this company:
Jul 30, 2007 - Thermal Imaging System includes microscopic camera.
Apr 2, 2007 - PCB Test Arm Probe connects test instruments to SMDs.
Sep 28, 2006 - Software creates thermal imaging videos in AVI format.
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PAnswers to FAQ

1.How to inHow to istinguish original and fake of PC Analyzer?
2.Why is none or one bit displayed in the digital screeenpanel?
3.How do we distinguish "intiative code" and " trouble code"?
4.Why is the initiative code meaningless?
5.How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the PC Analyzer PI0050A?
6.How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the parallel-port PC Analyzer L50?
7.How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the M04 PC Analyzer?
8.If the code is not included in the manual, what can I do?
9.The meaning of the code 00and FF?
10.Is code
Answer :As all the two-bit-code PC Analyzer diagnose the main board by BIOS (refered to the "SYNOPSIS" in the chapter one of the manual), the code must not been displayed in such following conditions:
In any condition as above, There will be only one-bit code or no code to displayed automatically on two-bit-code PC Analyzer from PI0049C series to PI0049F series.It has filtered the meaningless "intiative code". But some users didn't know this function and consider by error that PC Analyzer is wrong itself. Four-bit-code PC Analyzer with intelligent structure own the function that it can judge "intiative code " and " trouble code"

3.How do we distinguish "intiative code" and " trouble code"? Top
Answer :When conventional two-bit-code PC Analyzer displayed a code, at first, We must see whether there is a series of codes varying before the code is deplayed.If there is aseries of codes varying and it stops at acertain code in the end, the code is the" trouble code"; If the deplayed code is first code and you cannot see any other code varying before it, the code is the" intiative code". The intiative code is meaningless. But sometimes the speed of code varying is too fast on some computer so that by unaided eye we cannot make a judgement whether there is a series of codes varying before it stops at the certain code that I can see in the end. you need consider this code as the trouble code" here in this condition. If you have not solve the trouble, this code must be the intiative code. Four-bit-code PC Analyzer can thumb through the code that has gone. It is very easy for us to make a judgement that the code that is deplayed is "intiative code" or" trouble code".

4.Why is the initiative code meaningless? Top
Answer :The code that is first displayed when power is on is called intiative code by us.Because the PC Analyzer is also electronical device itself, When not the POST code (refered to the "SYNOPSIS" in the chapter one of the manual) of the computer.So the intiative is meaningless.

5 .How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the PI0050 PC Analyzer PI0050?
Answer :Both " 0000 "and" FFFF " are "initiative code".

6.How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the parallel-port PC Analyzer L50?
Answer :Both " 0000 "and" FFFF " are "initiative code".

7 .How is the "initiative code" exactly identified on the PC Analyzer M04?
Answer :Both " 0000 "and" FFFF " are "initiative code".

8.If the code is not included in the manual, what can I do
Answer :As the main board manufacturer defines the codes, Some codes haven't been defined. So If you want to know the meaning of the code that is not in the manual. you can get in touch with your main board manufacturer and make a consultion.

9.The meaning of the code 00and FF? Top
Answer :The meaning of the code 00 is as same as the code FF.There are three conditons in the meaning of code 00 or FF as follows:
. If you set that it dose not point the error out in the CMOS setup and there is common trouble with the computer. There is still a series of codes that don't include and "FF" varying and it stops at the code of "00"in theend. At this time you can set that it can point all the error out in the CMOS setup. If there is common trouble with the computer, it can stop and indicate the error code. You can correct it by the error code according to the code table.

10.Is code 26 "trouble code" or "OK" code? Top
Answer :When the" trouble code" that PC Analyzer displayed is 26, It is pivotal for you see whether there is display on the screen. If there is, the code 26 is "OK" code. Even though there is some trouble, it is nonfatal (for example , Setup of BIOS is wrong.)and dosen' taffect the display. the non-fatal "trouble code " wouldn't be sent to the PC Analyzer. You can read the words about the trouble on the screen of monitor. directly and solve the non-fatal trouble according to it; Else,the code 26 is" trouble code" its meaning is : test the exception situation of protected mode. Please check the memory of CPU and main board.

11.Statement of signals LEDs group for PI0049 series and PI005OA series that own PCI bus and ISA bus.
Answer :When PC Analyzers such as PI0049 series and PI005OA series is inserted in PCI slot, The power indicators are 12V,-12V,3V3 and 5V The singals indicators are IRDY,FRAME, CLK,RST and RUN.There is no indicator for -5V,BIOS and OSC.

12.Statement of FRAME LED and BIOS LED. Top
Answer :When PC Analyzer is inserted in PCI slot, If FRAME LED is on, It indicates that there is cycle frame signal of PCI slot or MiniPCI slot at the moment; If FRAME LED is off, It indicates that there is no cycle frame signal of PCI slot or MiniPCI slot at the moment. If FRAME LED sparkles, It indicates that duration of cycle frame signal is short. Sometimes there is so short duration of cycle frame signal that you cannot feel the FRAME LED have been on by naked eyes. the same kind, if sometimes the cycle frame signal have vanished for a short time, the time is so short that you cannot feel the FRAME LED have been on by naked eyes.
When PI0050A-S or PI0050A-SD is inserted in ISA slot, If BIOS LED is on, It indicates that BIOS is not being read from at the moment; If BIOS LED is off, It indicates BIOS is being read from at the moment. If BIOS LED sparkles, It indicates the time for which BIOS has been being read is short. Sometimes there are so short time that you cannot feel the BIOS LED have been on by naked eyes. If sometimes BIOS has not been being read for a short time, the time is so short that you cannot feel the BIOS LED have been off by naked eyes