Suddenly the other day 1/3’ish of my neopixel blade went dark. Just testing some style edits on my desk, never any dueling or anything. It is localized to one strip of the blade as I marked it with a tape, turned it 90 and 180 degrees.
Perhaps a week before this, there was a most curious happening. No matter what I did, certain sounds just would not play. For instance, the sounds for font selection, volume, and blade color. Just not playing. The button actions would work, so I could change colors, fonts, volume, but I had no audio indicator I was in the correct menu.
I have not changed anything with my PC or software. Arduino and drivers show no issues and I get no errors when loading. Everything otherwise running as usual.
I loaded, reloaded, formatted SD, downloaded new original files, use Orig ProffieOS, used S3 preconfig files (zero user interaction needed, just load and go), new USB cable. Nada. It’s like the board isn’t accepting or reading the prop/sound files. I’m at a loss.
I have not yet set up a 2nd computer with the software, doing that presently, but could there any connection between the two? Seems too coincidental for my liking. Could a flaky SD card to me blame?
Are there specific addressed LEDs in the blade that maybe aren’t being read/written properly. Like 12:00 is LED 1 to 25, 3:00 is LED 26 to 50, etc? Hence why one particular strip isn’t working even when rotated? Just don’t get it.
I read your post twice, and I still don’t understand when this works and when it doesn’t work. It sounds like rotating the blade makes it start/stop working somehow? Now unless you’re using a very strange blade style, that would indicate a problem inside the blade itself. Something is either disconnecting or shorting as you move the blade around.
You can test this in more detail by just rotating the blade, or just rotating the hilt.
Hey Rob! I believe you’ve reached out to us via FB messenger about the issue with your blade. Much like @profezzorn said, we also suspect that it’s a problem with the blade wiring, which of course if it is, is covered under our warranty. We want to assure you that we’ve fully got your back if it turns out to be the case.
As for the issue with the sound effects, is the folder named “common” present in your SD card? If it’s missing, that would be the reason why there’s no sound for font selection, volume and blade color, as they’re read from there.
Looking forward to your feedback so that we can better assist you.
It is a random event. It will happen on any and every blade style.
Test example as follows. Let’s take standard Teensy. I keep the saber stationary on a desk. Just ignite and retract a few times, just pushing the button, not moving the saber at all. I keep doing this a few times and eventually that one strip of LEDs along the blade will not light up. While that one side is dark, use any function (lightning, blaster) and that strip may light back up so the full blade is fully lit. Keep pressing blaster and that strip may go out or back on again.
I marked that dark section with a piece of tape. I remove the blade, rotate and try it again. That same strip is still acting up no matter the orientation.
While keeping stationary, I try a few very light taps on the hilt to mimic a clash. Eventually that same marked strip of LEDs will go dark and blink black on.
Now I noticed something new. When I pulled the chassis out a little to access the SD card and USB port, a small portion of the blade would actually light up a little with just the USB plugged in. Power kill switch is off. If I wiggle the chassis a little, that little lit up area would flicker. Definitely a wiring issue, seems like with both the blade and saber.
Perhaps one caused the other to fail.
And yes, of course the common folder is there with all the files. As I explained in the first post.
I loaded, reloaded, formatted SD, downloaded new original files, use Orig ProffieOS, used S3 preconfig files (zero user interaction needed, just load and go), new USB cable. Nada. It’s like the board isn’t accepting or reading the prop/sound files. I’m at a loss.
Yeah, that’s my plan. Video is tricky to take of a really shiny bright thing but I think I got a good one.
Oh and I’m pretty sure a windows update and/or Cylance update is preventing the prop files from being properly loaded hence the flaky menus, and now things are only ‘half’ loading. And since all my computers are running the same software, serious irritation. Decades of computer experience and a simple driver is winning the fight. Might make a new thread on that one. Some very curious event logs.
Never thought I’d say this, but can I borrow someone’s Mac?
A failed upload usually just doesn’t change anything on the saber. It doesn’t make things flaky.
If the upload fails in the middle, it can make the board unusable though, but that can be fixed with a re-upload. (Which might need BOOT+RESET to work properly.)
I know. Been there, a lot. Everything was uploading fine for months, until one day it wasn’t. 3 solid days of trying. Full Arduino uninstall/reinstall (multiple versions), driver uninstall/reinstall (zadig and libdwi, which incidentally cylance hates), regedit for arduino entries, usb cables, sd cards, the whole bit. I’m not new to diagnosing computer issues. Even tried multiple sabers, so it isn’t just one board. It’s a windows/AV thing, somehow on 2 completely different systems that have never touched each other.
My next plan is to either do a VM of I dunno, windows 10?, or pop in a new M.2 ssd and do a fresh install, with minimal windows updates. Basically sandboxed.
A failed upload usually just doesn’t change anything on the saber. It doesn’t make things flaky.
If the upload fails in the middle, it can make the board unusable though, but that can be fixed with a re-upload. (Which might need BOOT+RESET to work properly.)
Seeing that you’ve received the shipping notification for the replacement blade, I believe this should be able to close the case on the blade issue which is very likely a problem with the wiring.
In regards to certain sounds not being read, I’d like to see those event logs to get a glimpse of what’s going on. Very curious as to what could be the problem since it wasn’t resolved by simply reflashing the saber, reformatting the SD card, and replacing all the files back inside again before it is ejected from the PC and re-inserted into the soundboard.
You also mentioned its interference from a Windows/Cylance update, and you tried multiple sabers with it. Were both of the sabers running from the same identical config, as well as the same file contents on their SD Cards?
