dave slagle

thanks for the reply I found a probable explanation. The input that was hooked up was a series string of transformers on a circuit board and I had missed one solder connection so the wire was just a loose wire through the hole. when you add a signal generator to a series string of inductors, a momentary open can generate a seriously large voltage spike. The real curiosity for me was all the damage happend at the USB side and not at the signal side. dave

I have no idea of what happened here but I would like for it to not happen again. I was measuring the output of a vacuum tube circuit using input transformers for noise with the input shorted. I then unshorted the input and when I connected the + of the signal generator BOOM... and a visible flash from inside the AD2. It was clear this thing was toast but then I noticed that the 27" imac is was running on also was off and will not reboot. FWIW... I have Zener diode clamps on the input to the AD2 but no protection on the signal output side and by all accounts the primary of the transformer connected to ground should prevent any possibility for DC. I am at a loss for what the cause could have been. The other thing to note is all of the charring and burnt up bits in the AD2 are right by the USB interface which is on the complete opposite side of the board from where any input from the DUT would be. I am not 100% sure the thing blew up at exactly the time I connected the DUT to the signal generator and I am really interested in a possible cause since blowing up a $400 sound card isn't too painful but taking out a computer with it is another story altogether. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story and any thoughts greatly appreciated.

I have been trying to buy new sets of probes and keep running into an odd problem when I look at the 10X settings. This seems inline with the issue that people have reported with trying to calibrate the probe to a square wave but my issue is a dropping response above 100Hz in the bode plots. Here is the best square wave I can get which translates to this bode plot. when I adjust the trim capacitor this is the worst I get. This tells me there is clearly a range of adjustment it just happens to be outside the needed range . I have probes that I can get flat but the majority of the probes I can get dialed in are older lower bandwidth ones. I have everything from 20MHz to 200MHz and there doesn't seem to be a specific pattern. At best I can just get a probe flat and never seem to get an rise / overshoot and figure there has to be an obvious solution I am overlooking. I have tried with and without the BNC adapter and it makes no difference. any thoughts?

went to 10.18.14 same thing... when I force quit this is the report that gets sent to apple. Date/Time: 2022-01-24 10:20:50 -0500 End time: 2022-01-24 10:20:52 -0500 OS Version: Mac OS X 10.14.6 (Build 18G9216) Architecture: x86_64h Report Version: 28 Data Source: Stackshots Shared Cache: 0xa2cb000 0AAC2509-305F-33C8-A30C-29FF1CD5AD75 Shared Cache: 0 705F3C00-33B3-3014-9AA4-D8655923FC54 Command: WaveForms Path: /Applications/WaveForms.app/Contents/MacOS/WaveForms Identifier: com.digilent.waveforms Version: 3.18.14 (3.18.14) Parent: launchd [1] PID: 30122 Event: hang Duration: 2.10s (process was unresponsive for 79 seconds before sampling) Steps: 21 (100ms sampling interval) Hardware model: MacBookPro11,2 Active cpus: 8 Time Awake Since Boot: 440000s Time Since Wake: 44s Fan speed: 2604 rpm 5 more pages snipped..... see doc attached hang.docx

two screen shots and the workspace attached hanging.dwf3work I have given up on trying to get these versions to work in my current environment... hopefully a future release will solve the issue.

Unclear if the Disable the auto reconnect was for me but I disabled it and no difference. I also have a brand new AD2 that I tried and the same thing. Swapped cables... same thing. this was all on a Macbook Pro Retina 15" 2.3gHz i7 Late 2013 running 10.14.6 Also went to a 27" imac 3.2gHz i5 Late 2013 running 10.15.7 same thing. All of this is while running Bode plots in the network function. I went to the signal generator looped back to the scope and same thing on both computers. dave

More info. Ver 3.10 runs bode sweeps for hours in and out of sleep/wake without a pause or hiccup. When ver 3.18 hangs it stays stuck on a single tone until the beach ball stops spinning then it continues to sweep. other observations: -if left sweeping for 5 minutes and then the mouse is moved it hangs for 5-10 seconds then continues. -If left sweeping until the computer goes to sleep it took 3 minutes of spinning beach ball to resume. -If the AD2 is plugged in the green LED flashes at a constant rate independent of the software function.

Went to 3.18.10 and reset the device and it still hangs. I'm on OS 10.14 on a Retina LAte 2013 MBP... I cant go up to 10.15 because i'll lose all my 32 bit software. I have noticed it happens when the program has been doing sweeps for a bit. If left running it will sweep the bode plots for hours but when I return after a minute or two and try to make a change it hangs. The computer is in use so it is not a sleep thing. Once it is working I can make changes to levels or whatever without issue. It also seems the longer it is idle without a change of anything the longer it takes to "wake up" It almost seems as if the program goes to sleep and takes a long time to wake.

I just worked about 4 hours with my old version 3.10 without a hiccup. This leads me to believe it is a software issue and not a hardware one.

The odd thing is this never happend before I went from 3.10.9 which has run flawlessly for years to 3.17 then 3.16. I'll try 3.10 again and see if the problem persists. I first loaded 3.17 on an Imac running 1OS 10.15 and it also hung up.... At the time I thought that was from a lack of processing power since I have a few other programs that also run slow on it but now I see a pattern happening with older (2012/2013) macs. what version was the first to have the tracer function? dave

It doesn't typically "crash" rather the spinning beach ball continues for more than a few minutes and I force quit in order to restart and finish working. I'll try to get it to "stall" and leave it until it crashes to get a report. I do not recall actually crashing since I backed down from 3.17 to 3.16.

I was running an older (2-3 years) version of waveforms with OS 10.14.6 on a 2012 macbook pro and all was great. I switched to Waveforms 3.17 to get the curve tracer function anf I get the "spinning beach ball" a lot. Sometimes it lasts a few seconds other times I need to force quit and restart. I tried the latest beta version of 3.17.21 with the same issue and then went back a release to 3.16 and it still gets stuck. I have restarted the computer, quit other programs and done repeated installs and it still hangs. It will run a continuous bode plot for an hour but the minute I try to change a parameter It occasionally gets hung up with the beach ball. Does anyone know that the first version was with the tracer function? dave

got my replacement AD2 and all is fine. tried the new USB cord with the problematic AD2 and the same pattern remains. I do occasionally lose connection when the computer does sleep but the 5-10 minute thing has to be a different issue since it happens while I am actively using the device. I'll try the USB connector next. by any chance do you have a part number that fits? dave

I will routinely lose connection when the macbook does go to sleep but that isn't the issue in this case because it happens like clockwork after about 4-6 minutes. Once it loses connection it may reconnect for a minute before it simply will not reconnect, not be visible or crashes Waveforms. If I unplug it for 20 minutes I am able to get another 5 minute "run" when I reconnecti it. I was looking at some FFT's with my other AD2 and it was of a 15Khz sine oversampled 20X with distortion and active cursors and that one would occasionally crash too. this is the first time that has happened with that unit. I purchased another AD2 to see if that solves the issue. I mentioned above that the gold had worn off of the USB connector and when the new unit comes I will try swapping out the USB connector to see if that is the cause. Is it possible that the loss of connection could be from a corrupt or noisy data path due to a bad USB contact? It is the loss of connection consistently at around 5 minutes that has to be meaningful. I will try it on a different computer this week.

how do I get to the window that shows the temperature?

I have played a bit more with it and don't think the USB connector is the issue. If the device has been of and is cold it will run for 4-6 minutes before it disconnects and then will not stay connected for more than a few seconds. I plug in the cold AD2 and run the datalogger to see the timeframe and leave it undisturbed until disconnect. after 5 cycles of this the 4-6 minute pattern is identical and the AD2 becomes warm. My backup AD2 will run for hours and not change temperature appreciably. dave

looking in at the USB connector in the AD2 it appears as if the gold plating is worn off / missing on the device with the issues. The other device that is working has some distressed marks in the gold but the offending unit is in much worse shape.

Why would it be device specific? It only occurs with one of my AD2's. I have tried several different USB cables and I also tried adding an external 5V wall supply and the one device still gives the same error after a few minutes of use.

My AD2 has been working flawlessly for about two years and recently it suddenly started losing connection after a minute or two and giving the following warning: Communication with the device failed. Please check the USB cable and power supply connections. For further troubleshooting consult the Help. Communication with the device failed DptiIO failed ERC: 0xA I tried different USB cables and both USB ports on the macbook with no change and I have another "backup" AD2 with one channel out that does not have this issue. I have reinstalled Waveforms and reset the device through the calibration window. I am running a Macbook Pro Laptop with OS 10.14.6 what are my options to troubleshoot this? dave