DCHP + Other Setup teething problems

[TGiles1998]

Hi,

I've been really struggling to get this to work.

I've got the hardware built at JLCPCB. I've built five of them to ensure it wasn't a hardware problem.

Initially SPI from the STM32-F103C8T6 to the W5500 wasn't working but have now got that to talk.

It's now all failing on setting up the DCHP.

My ethernet cable works and I've tested other things. Were there any teething problems you experienced in setting this up and how did you overcome them?

Should this code on VSCode with platformio just work or did you have to do other things?

many thanks,

Thomas

[TGiles1998]

@Neumi

What would you recommend to only allow for static IP to work?

[Neumi]

Hi @TGiles1998
It's great to hear that you already have the hardware on your desk and that the ordering process went OK! (we had some issues with that in the past)
The code and VScode files should be enough to tell VScode what dependencies it needs to load.

• does the code compile without errors?
• do you use external power? (like 12v 1A)
• are the boot pins connected correctly? (BOOT_1 = floating, BOOT_0 = HIGH (3.3V) for upload, BOOT_0 = floating, BOOT_1 = floating for running code from STM32 flash)
• try to restart the board without the USB being connected. Sometimes, I had issues with the W5500 not starting up / working properly when USB was connected (I am not sure where this error comes from, as they don't really need to interact). Usually, this error made the RJ45 LEDs flash in strange patterns.
• I had better experiences with DHCP, but this might also be an issue with the DHCP server/router. Some don't like fast MAC address changes (happens with Ethersweep after firmware change, when FLASH erase is enabled)

I still need to work a lot on the documentation, and this info has to find its way into that. I'm sorry that it's currently not as straightforward as it would ideally be!
Please keep me posted if the problem is solved or if you need further assistance!

[TGiles1998]

Hi @Neumi,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I've further debugged the hardware and there were some issues on signal quality between the two PCB halves, for my hardware at least it seems.

I've been adding a lot of debugging flags into the code to try and identify issues. I've now got the LINK to be okay, so communicating with the W5500 is happy, but it just fails to setup DCHP and/or STATIC.

I think this could be due to issues with the external ethernet library, for the bluepill_f103c8, that I've tried to debug and change.

I think I'm going to use a different hardware solution for what I'm after now, but can try new code if it gets changed on the repo.

I've attached some pictures and I hope they help.

many thanks,

Thomas

[Neumi]

Ok. Interesting error. Maybe check if the voltage converter is up for the task. Is there a reason to use a linear voltage regulator instead of the buck converter I liked in the repo? The W5500 draws quite some current.
Run the automated hardware tests to check if everything else works and maybe try the W5500 library examples without the rest to narrow down the problem.

[TGiles1998]

Hi @Neumi, the linear voltage regulator is being used as I couldn't source your buck converter anywhere with a reasonable lead time and other buck converters I then used for 24V to 3V3 died when I had to put boot_0 to 3V3 when programming as it just shorted stuff out haha, I've now tried simply putting a 24V into the 28V line and a separate power supply for 3V3 but to no luck unfortunately, I've checked all the cross PCB signals and they are all good. Some weirdness is just occurring with the Ethernet for some reason. I'll let you know where I get to with continued debugging.