major 634 problem

[DunM@]

I've been playing around with this 634 that I got trying to make it display game scores, all was going well until today... This morning I plugged in and tested the screen everything worked perfectly (for the testing I'm using LCD driver and the bundled winamp plugin) but when I got home 20 minutes ago it will only display the title screen (see attached) for a few seconds then clears the screen and sets the cursor to blink in the upper left corner, any ideas what demon has possesed my LCD?

--M@

Crystalfontz LCD Blog

Looking for additional LCD resources? Check out our LCD blog for the latest developments in LCD technology.

 

[CF Tech]

That is normal behavior for a display powered up with no software talking to it.

Please check the serial cable, is it the same one? Did the baud rate dip switches get moved?

 

[DunM@]

The serial cable is exactly the same, that screen is displayed only when software tries to talk to it.

 

[CF Tech]

By default, the display is powered by the DTR and RTS lines. These are typically brought high by the software when the port is opened.

Can you give WinTest a try?

 

[DunM@]

WinTest does exactly the same thing, title screen for 2 seconds then a cursor until the program closes.

 

[CF Tech]

One of three things:

1) your serial port's Tx line is no longer functional

2) the cable does not connect your PC's Tx line to the display's Rx line

3) the LCD's Rx input has been damaged

 

[DunM@]

Good news and bad news

The good news is that I got it working by attaching it to a different computer with the same software/serial cable. The bad news is that means my mobo has a dead or dieing serial port :-( Oh well, any excuse to upgrade is a good one. Thanks a lot for your help.

--M@

 

[DunM@]

A new twist

A very wise geek once said,"If it ain't broke keep fixing it until it is." With that philosophy I attempted to communicate with the LCD directly through hyperterminal and it magically caused the same error I was having at home, I rebooted and it stopped happening (at home rebooting didn't help), could this have been a software problem all along?