Is My MiSTer Dead?

[aeronius]

Help! My MiSTer was working fine a few weeks ago. Didn't play it over the holidays. Went to fire it up last night and... nothing. The blue 3.3v LED, the orange CONF_D LED stay on, the green LEDs by the ethernet port pulsate, and the green USERLED is faintly lit. I did some research here and saw that people have had similar problems, ranging from corrupt Linux files to bad BGA soldering. So, here's what I've done to try to figure out the problem:

• Fresh Mr. Fusion install on 4GB SD card.

  • Goes the the file expansion part just fine, but when it auto-reboots it just hangs like before.

• Copied over fresh Linux files from the repo. Same result.

• Installed the Linux image provided by Terasic. This boots fine, but I can't really test it since I don't have a mouse/keyboard with a micro USB connector.

Also, my USB hub (v2.1) isn't powering on. Even if I just plug it in without connecting it to the DE10, the little red power LED at the back just flashes on-and-off really quickly. I dunno if it's supposed to do that if it's not connected to the DE10, or if it's supposed to get some sort of initialization from MiSTer first for it to work.

My thoughts are either:

• Bad BGA soldering. My DE10 was made around the time that this issue was being reported on the forums

• Static fried the FPGA side of my board. Maybe less likely because I would think it would've fried the whole board. But since Mr. Fusion and Linux still boot and it only fails when booting to MiSTer that leads me to think the problem lies specifically with the FPGA side. If it was static, then hopefully it didn't fry my SDRAM and my USB hub, too.

I've emailed Terasic about a repair authorization, but they're out of office until Jan 3. Does anyone have any suggestions or any experience with this issue?

[thisisamigaspeaking]

Fresh Mr. Fusion install on 4GB SD card.
Goes the the file expansion part just fine, but when it auto-reboots it just hangs like before.

Do you have a different microSD card to try? If the Terasic one is working that makes me suspect the other one is not working right, and 4GB is very small so I assume it is older.

Also, my USB hub (v2.1) isn't powering on. Even if I just plug it in without connecting it to the DE10, the little red power LED at the back just flashes on-and-off really quickly. I dunno if it's supposed to do that if it's not connected to the DE10, or if it's supposed to get some sort of initialization from MiSTer first for it to work.

Did you plug the wrong power supply into the DE10? Was the power supply adequate to power both the hub and the DE10 assuming the same one was powering both?

[aeronius]

Do you have a different microSD card to try? If the Terasic one is working that makes me suspect the other one is not working right, and 4GB is very small so I assume it is older.

Yeah I've tried multiple SD cards and get the same results.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

Yeah I've tried multiple SD cards and get the same results.

I edited the post after I made it because I noticed what you said about the hub not working. What were you using as a power supply? And was it powering both the hub and the DE10-nano?

[aeronius]

I edited the post after I made it because I noticed what you said about the hub not working. What were you using as a power supply? And was it powering both the hub and the DE10-nano?

Yeah just using the stock power supply with the splitter from MiSTer Addons. I don't have another PSU to test with. But since the board boots with Linux I'm assuming the PSU is fine.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

I edited the post after I made it because I noticed what you said about the hub not working. What were you using as a power supply? And was it powering both the hub and the DE10-nano?

Yeah just using the stock power supply with the splitter from MiSTer Addons. I don't have another PSU to test with. But since the board boots with Linux I'm assuming the PSU is fine.

Someone else can answer this definitively, but a 5V 2A power supply doesn't seem like enough to power both the DE10-nano and a powered hub, depending on what you plug into the hub.

[aeronius]

Someone else can answer this definitively, but a 5V 2A power supply doesn't seem like enough to power both the DE10-nano and a powered hub, depending on what you plug into the hub.

All I ever have plugged in is my controller and WiFi dongle. Been flawless up until now. If someone north of Los Angeles has a 5V 4A supply for me to try out I'd be happy to do so!

[Malor]

The DE10 is unlikely to be broken, unless you've plugged something in wrong. It's very robust in normal use. The failure is likely something ancillary to the central board.

Inadequate power supply is one of the more likely issues. Two amps can often be inadequate for a Mister stack. The general recommendation is a 5V4A supply. You can go bigger than 4A, but there's no point if you're routing the power through the DE-10, as its overvoltage and overcurrent protections won't route that much power downstream. A bigger supply will only be useful when using a Y cable.

You likely want one anyway, so I'd recommend buying a new supply before you spend any other money. The Mean Well GST25A05-P1J is a good default recommendation, as it works with pretty much any input power. It does not come with a wall plug, so you'll also need to source a local computer-style power cable. (from the wall to the thick 3-pin connection that most computer power supplies use.) There's nothing magic about that one, it's just solid, and should work in any country. You will likely be able to find cheaper options.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

Someone else can answer this definitively, but a 5V 2A power supply doesn't seem like enough to power both the DE10-nano and a powered hub, depending on what you plug into the hub.

All I ever have plugged in is my controller and WiFi dongle. Been flawless up until now. If someone north of Los Angeles has a 5V 4A supply for me to try out I'd be happy to do so!

It'd probably cost less to get one off Amazon than the gas money to pick one up and take it back (or take it to you and take it back).

[aeronius]

The DE10 is unlikely to be broken, unless you've plugged something in wrong. It's very robust in normal use. The failure is likely something ancillary to the central board.

As I mentioned, everything was working fine prior. It just hadn't been used in a few weeks due to being busy during the holidays. MiSTer still fails to boot even when it's just the bare DE10 (no USB or SDRAM). Is it possible the stock PSU was just overtaxed over the last couple years and it's only providing enough power now to boot the Linux side of things?

Thanks for the PSU recommendation. I'll try a new PSU and see what Terasic says.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

As I mentioned, everything was working fine prior. It just hadn't been used in a few weeks due to being busy during the holidays. MiSTer still fails to boot even when it's just the bare DE10 (no USB or SDRAM). Is it possible the stock PSU was just overtaxed over the last couple years and it's only providing enough power now to boot the Linux side of things?

It's not working now though, and you say even your USB hub won't power on on its own. It's more likely the PSU is having problems than the DE10-nano and certainly worth checking before shipping it back to Taiwan.

[Malor]

The DE10 is unlikely to be broken, unless you've plugged something in wrong. It's very robust in normal use. The failure is likely something ancillary to the central board.

As I mentioned, everything was working fine prior. It just hadn't been used in a few weeks due to being busy during the holidays. MiSTer still fails to boot even when it's just the bare DE10 (no USB or SDRAM). Is it possible the stock PSU was just overtaxed over the last couple years and it's only providing enough power now to boot the Linux side of things?

Thanks for the PSU recommendation. I'll try a new PSU and see what Terasic says.

It's not very likely, but it's at least conceivable that it was overtaxed before and is outright failing now. That's the easiest thing to test, and you probably want the better supply anyway, so that's a fairly painless next step. But I'd expect the bare board to boot up, particularly when Terasic's native environment boots successfully. I'd be mildly surprised if the AC adapter fixed that symptom.

Maybe you might have a switch set wrong? I don't understand what the switches actually do, I just know that they're supposed to be set to specific patterns. I'm pretty sure the Wiki has docs on those.

[Xbytez]

I just know that they're supposed to be set to specific patterns. I'm pretty sure the Wiki has docs on those.

That is correct, the DIP switch configuration for the DE10-Nano is here for reference:

https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_M ... eshooting/

[DoubleA]

Did you try to remote connect to your Mister (e.g. use WinSCP)?

If that works, your Mister ist not dead .

After connecting, try running reboot.sh from the scripts folder.

[aeronius]

Confirmed all switches are in the right positions. I'm not able to connect via WinSCP nor Cyberduck. I also don't think it's my power supply as:

• the board boots the default Linux image just fine

• Mr. Fusion boots and expands as expected

• The PSU is outputting _5v on my multimeter

So I'm still leaning towards bad board. TerasIC wants me to go thru some troubleshooting steps but that requires me to download Quartus. Hopefully I'll be able to figure all that out. I've also ordered the Mean Well PSU just in case there is a problem with the stock PSU which prevents it from powering the FPGA side of things.

Fingers crossed. I'm not looking forward to having to shell out $300 for a new one if it comes to that :/

[Malor]

Did you have any power failures over the holidays? The DE-10 is pretty resistant to overvolt and overcurrent, but a big surge when the power was restored could definitely kill it.

[Slypty]

Considering this thread is just a week old, I wanted to add myself as another DE-10 nano user with similar problems. In my case however, I'm not the original owner. This one was given to me to fix. I think the wrong polarity PSU was used, is there any protection for that?
I figured just having a look at the fuses might solve something, but I don't see any fuses listed on the board. When I plug it in, I just have the blue and red lights, I've tried re-seating the memory card etc. I'm using an OEM PSU.
I have another MiSTerFPGA to troubleshoot with, so I can at least figure out if it's the DE-10 or maybe the I/O board that was shot.
What exactly does WinSCP do with a DE-10 that doesn't boot? Communiate online? I've done a bit of JTAG programming, so I'm all ears to any suggestions.

[jca]

Try to search the forum: once a user revived a DE-10 nano using some voodoo. I think he used JTAG for CPR.
Sorry I cannot help more but it has to be somewhere in the forum.

[Xbytez]

Try to search the forum: once a user revived a DE-10 nano using some voodoo. I think he used JTAG for CPR.
Sorry I cannot help more but it has to be somewhere in the forum.

I think this might be the thread you mean?

viewtopic.php?p=44878#p44878

[jca]

Yes, that's the one

[Slypty]

Thanks for the helpful link, I only have a USB Blaster 1 on hand, it uses the 8-pin connector (not USB)
I noticed an empty J8 JTAG connector input, if I install a JTAG connector can I use a USB Blaster 1?

[jca]

You do not need a USB Blaster as there is an on board USB Blaster, you just need a USB cable.
See Pic.

[Slypty]

Oh no way! I was scavenging for a Blaster with a USB adapter for output.. no such thing!

OK well hopefully Quartus will see it, will post results.

[jca]

You may have trouble installing the driver. Here is a thread indicating how to proceed.
https://community.intel.com/t5/FPGA-SoC ... m-p/136333

[Slypty]

When installing the newest Quartus 22.1, the option to add the USB Blaster II Driver is automated during setup, I'm assuming that would be all I need for driver support when using mini-USB for JTAG.

I followed the steps outlined in the link above :

1. disconnect any cables from de10.

2. close the loop of the JTAG chain (alows programming) by bridging the two pins as shown on page 13 of the manual.

3. Set msel dipswitches to 10010 ( the on position is 0 and the off position is 1 ) as shown on page 107 of the manual.

4. install usb-blaster driver ( these may be done as part of the quartus installation)

5. Attach mini usb to J13 and the other end to pc.

6. connect power cable to de10.

7. follow the instructions on page 14 of the manual.

   No worky. Quartus doesn't see a JTAG connection. I still have the same 3.3v blinking blue LED and 8 LEDs flashing, so I think this DE-10 likely has some transistor or fuse issue, possibly chips as well. Anybody know someone who repairs these?

[Malor]

Terasic can sometimes fix them, depending on the problem. They'll probably charge you, but they'd be the place to check first.