Author: saulot (gw-1-async16.waw.satnet.pl)
Date: 07-11-2002 16:14
- Checking the connections to/from the Eclipse hardware takes some simple equipment and some patience. IMO, this is the most likely place of your problem (bad solder joint or cable). Actually doing anything about this is not easy (well a cable problem might not be too hard, but that is probably not it, anyway), though.
I've waited quite a long time for a new cable from David Encill(two or more months for a stupid cable!), but he talked about it only. Mine was faulty(I checked it with special tools). I've repaired it ,but without any success(eclipse not working at all).
I waited and waited and finally sended the card back(before Easter). David Encill has told me that he will check it soon.
In early may he has done nothing in my case. As far from what he has written it seems that he knows what was in letter I putted with my Eclipse, that the card isn't working, the ribbon cable is in the bad shape(the cable was in normal shape, I made it only to contact well and I stripped a 12v cable from plastic), the connector is broken(assembling and deassembling results- only a piece of plastic nothing more). And he has told me something about short during testing of a card(or something like this). I'm 100% sure that I made everything 100% good, especially if I'm receiving bad vendor id number from the beggining.
- Checking all the solder joints on the Eclipse cards. Not that easy to find problems, and worse to fix them.
- Reprogramming the PLD that does the actual
- Checking the various other components on the Eclipse boards. Not easy, and harder to do anything about.
I shouldn't be involved in this stuff at all. I've paid for product fully working, tested...
I would not expect even David to try all of these things, but a couple of them would be quick.
Of course, even if he can confirm that a card is not working, it is not necessarily obvious that he should replace it (after all, the customer might have left the hardware out in the rain or something ;-).
Yes, but who else can confirm it better than manufacturer? Yes , I could put it on the rain, but what for? I've done everything with the manual in hand, I've checked all the software versions. I didn't managed to force anything to work. So, i think it is quite normal, that I am direct myself to company who has sold me the faulty product.
So how do you explain all the mails without answer? I'm constantly ignored. I have no hardware now, I don't have the money too. Refund I think will not arrive until I Cortex personally(at last it seems the only solution, but you see I live in Poland, pretty far).
If it had been me, I'd have tried to make sure that every card I sent out had been verified to actually work. I have no idea if David does that.
He is doing some tests before dispatching. But as you see they aren't very well performed.
Unfortunately, if you do these things for a living, you need to charge for the time you spend doing it. That can quickly amount to a lot of money (and a very large fraction of the production cost (or more than it, for that matter) for stuff this cheap).
As far I know David Encill doesn't make all of this for living. Sven Karlsson has told me that he is running Cortex as a hobby and works for a fulltime elsewhere.
I don't know what Sven might have been referring to in this case, but everything has bugs...
It has told me about new bugs he discovered... Quite recently...
It is a good idea to confirm with the vendor that he is prepared to receive what you send.
If I were waiting for acceptance from Cortex I surely could die from old. There is one sad truth, If you don't kick anybody to do something, noone will do anything for you.
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