Lcd Smartie don't work, but frontview does!

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » July 20th, 2008, 11:48 pm

Hello everybody this is my final chance to get my lcd to work, i hope someone can help.
I have a Ahanix D5 mediacenter enclosure with a samsung 16x2 vfd (hd44780controller)
It is plugged in into my printerport.
I have tried the display and it works only with the special for mce written frontview.
But this is a trail version for only 30 days.
My trail is now over and i can't get it to work with smartie.
I have installed the port95 driver and smartie runs properly on my pc screen.
But nothing apear on my display.
Can anybody tell me what to do, is the standard ahanix wiring configuration oke for lcdsmartie?

Post by **caesar** » July 31st, 2008, 5:21 pm

Hi there!

Please post something (picture/link/documentation) about the ahanix wiring so we can investigate.

Wexu · Post by **Wexu** » August 4th, 2008, 11:08 pm

This sounds similar problem that also I have at the moment. Have I been posting into wrong forum area since there haven\t been any replies. Perhaps here are more readers than in Hardware category. Please, check this thread out (the last post). Could a HW variant change be a cause for the problem so that older plugins don't work anymore?

http://forums.lcdsmartie.org/viewtopic.php?t=1620

Thanks

Post by **caesar** » August 5th, 2008, 12:08 am

Thanks Wexu for pointing out that the topic is hardware related. It is now moved to Hardware Discussion.
BTW, I have replied to you post in your other topic. Hope it helps you.

Still waiting for bprijs' input on his problem.

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » August 7th, 2008, 9:45 pm

Okay, I've searched for a pinout or any electrical schemes or manuals about my VFD, but couldn't find anything. I've given all the data I know about my VFD in the first post.

I've bought this case and didn't mess with the wiring, so everything is original.

The thing I would like to point out is the fact that it works with the app called 'Frontview' (http://www.mediacentermagic.com), the display lights up, but it just won't work with LCD Smartie. I've selected the right settings (printerport, characters), I've played with the parameters, I've changed the EPP/ECP settings in the BIOS, but nothing seems to help. I've also doublechecked that the contrast/brightness setting is set correctly, again, no effect.

If you have any ideas (how simple or seemingly 'stupid') regarding this problem, that would be a great help. I think I've tried everything I could, but I'm not an expert on this...

Thanks anyway!

Post by **caesar** » August 8th, 2008, 6:04 am

Took a search by ahanix and d5. It seems that your vfd is made by samsung.

Took a look at samsungsdi.com for more info. Now if you would bother to look at the code imprinted on your VFD so we can know how to communicate with it would be really awesome. Some pics of the VFD's back side would help too while you're at it.

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » August 23rd, 2008, 2:19 pm

Sorry for the late response i have taken some pictures and hope you can help me now.

The pictures are in the rar file at this link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/nlm9rj
It is in high resolution so you can see the details better thats why its at a external link.
I think its not possible to ad high resolution photo's here!

Cheers Branko

Post by **caesar** » August 24th, 2008, 10:57 pm

I found your display, it's the 20T202DA1J/E on this page: http://www.samsungsdi.com/contents/en/p ... 01_06.html , the last row from the table.
I will check the datasheets and let you know the news.

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » August 25th, 2008, 4:20 pm

That would be very nice Caesar.

But take a good look it has 20x2 characters
My vfd has only 16x2 characters

Post by **caesar** » August 25th, 2008, 9:57 pm

Really? I saw "T202DA1E-A" on your display and thought that it is 20x2... 20T202DA1E-A hmm...

Could it be a 16T202DA1E-A???? Can you check what the first part of the code really is?

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » August 30th, 2008, 9:26 pm

Yes it is realy the T202DA1E but has only 16 characters.
Is that strange or not

Why are the thing i have always so difficult to make it work

Post by **caesar** » August 31st, 2008, 8:18 am

It is a good practice to check first for hardware compatibility before buying then looking to make it work afterwards.

Hmm, it should at least have a 16 before T202DA1E...

I'm hunting for datasheets now.

bprijs · Post by **bprijs** » November 8th, 2008, 12:18 pm

Okay its working now.
I installed windows xp on my computer and it works now.
I cant get it to work with windows (crap) vista.

Thanks everybody for the help.

Post by **caesar** » November 8th, 2008, 2:47 pm

For Vista you need inpout32.
It now works in Vista 32 and 64.

XP works fine with port95nt.

Glad you got it working.