Parallella hardly ever powers on

[acroock]

Hi all
So I bought a Parallella (SKU: P1601-DK03) from Amazon while I was in the US recently, and so far I haven't been able to get it working properly.

This version has two green LEDs on the serial port side of the board, one of which is the power LED and the other indicates that the Zynq is powered (I assume). Most of the time when I connect power, only the power-on LED lights up. There is no output on the serial port when this happens. Occasionally both LEDs do light up and there is some output on the serial port, but it usually freezes somewhere before U-boot finishes. Obviously the board isn't completely defective, but something is wrong with it. I am using the power supply that it came with, but I have also tried a different USB 3A supply and different plugs with no change.

Is there any way I can try to fix this or get a replacement board in South Africa? I don't think I can do an Amazon exchange and my emails to support@adapteva.com have not been answered. This has been extremely frustrating since $150 later the board does nothing useful.

Thanks

[greytery]

Purely as a guess, I'd say that using the US power supply in SA may be the problem. Did it work when you were in the US?
Isn't it still expecting that old fashioned 110V?

Any chance you can get a local version of the PSU?

The USB 3A supply: more details please. e.g. type.
Reminder: you need to plug it into the usb socket next the ethernet socket - the other usb socket is data only.

Cheers,

[acroock]

I suspected that too but it is rated for 110 - 240 V I didn't get a chance to test it in the us.

Anyway here's the Web page where I bought the usb supply: https://www.robotics.org.za/index.php?r ... +micro+USB

Not too much info but it's rated for 3A. And it must be in the correct usb port because one of the leds switches on.

Also I measured the input voltage and it's usually between 4.9v and 5.2v

[9600]

[acroock]

I am using the usb port near the ethernet so it should work.

I can try powering it with a PC power supply with the mounting hole pads and if that doesn't work I'll try measure the output with an oscilloscope.

EDIT: I connected J15 and tried the PC power supply. Exact same thing happens. Only CR8 lights up. CR10 does not. The output from the supply is a steady 5.16V according to my multimeter.

Is it possible to exchange the board for a new one if I bought it through Amazon? Amazon tells me they cannot do it; they can only refund me.

[acroock]

I have tested fuse F1 and it's intact, so now I really don't know what's wrong.

Please can someone from Adapteva tell me if it's possible to get an exchange or at the very least a refund?