Problems with JP1 (Flash) from DIY and Comcast M1067B3

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:16 pm

Although I do not have a DIY cable (I opted for one of Tommy Tyler's superb USB cables), according to common practice in this forum, the cables are constructed such that when properly plugged in, the cable bundle would tend in the OPPOSITE direction from the way you have it in your picture. i.e. the cable would cover the slightly "cut out" notch in the opening for the connector.

I cannot speak to how DIY construct their cables, but that's been the standard here for many years. (although being a DIY hackers' effort, there are no enforceable standards).

So as pictured, I would suggest that your cable is connected backwards.

That said, regardless of how you connect the cable, I agree with Tommy that it is EXTREMELY unlikely that the cable being backwards could have "fried" your remote. There is something else wrong with it.

If this is a Cox Cable company-provided remote (and you are a customer), just call them and tell them that the remote stopped working and they'll send you a new one, usually with no questions asked. I know that every time I swapped a box out with them, they gave me a new remote with the box even if I did not return one, and when I cancelled my Cox service, they never asked me to return the remotes, just the boxes.

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:52 pm

mdavej wrote:drop the attitude if you want any more help. Sheesh.

I didn't intend anything I said to be derogatory or a jab. I apologize if it came off that way, I'm grateful for the help. But, your message has obvious "attitude."

greenough1 · Post by **greenough1** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:56 pm

Jim,
You'd not be the first person to by a DIYgadgets.com JP1.x interface and have issues with it. Mine was also non-functional (misplaced components). I went back to your original thread and that's the cable I bought also.

Here's some most excellent detective work by Tommy Tyler HERE . the link he gives to a photo shows the problem with the interface I purchased.

You might check yours and see if you have an obvious failure like this. The component at R7 is a capacitor that should be mounted at C2 and the component mounted at C2 should be mounted on R7 (a resistor).

There's another poster there who's remote was partially fried during testing. So in cases like this it's not unlikely.

Best,
jeff

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:06 pm

Capn Trips wrote:. . according to common practice in this forum, the cables are constructed such that when properly plugged in, the cable bundle would tend in the OPPOSITE direction from the way you have it in your picture. i.e. the cable would cover the slightly "cut out" notch in the opening for the connector.
. . .

So as pictured, I would suggest that your cable is connected backwards.

Does that mean pin 1 would be nearest the slightly "cut out" notch?

That said, regardless of how you connect the cable, I agree with Tommy that it is EXTREMELY unlikely that the cable being backwards could have "fried" your remote. There is something else wrong with it.

I can only say the remote had been working for at least three month right up until I connected it to the cable and since then it has been completely dead.

If this is a Cox Cable company-provided remote (and you are a customer), just call them and tell them that the remote stopped working and they'll send you a new one, usually with no questions asked.

It's a Comcast remote. When I return them they make a record on my account. Since I have only returned one I don't know what happens if you make a habit of it. I intend to return it but I want to be sure I can't bring it back to life or figure out what killed it first. If I can't I will be afraid to fry another one by doing the same thing to it.

Is there any possibility a miswired cable could do this? Something like pins shorted internally

greenough1 · Post by **greenough1** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:59 pm

See my post above. you can easily take off the case of the DIYG interface and have a look to see if components are misplaced. Also see that another did end up with a remote in an odd state, but not completely dead.

jeff

Post by **The Robman** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:14 pm

If your DIY cable looks like this inside (ie, with a black component in the C2 spot and a tan component in the R7 spot), you have a bad cable.

If this is the case, your can either fix it yourself by swapping the two components, or you can return it to DIY for a replacement. Once you have a working cable, we should be able to get your remote working again.

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:09 pm

Okay, here's mine:

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:30 am

It appears that this is an out of date cable design that was scrapped when the JP1.3 remotes came along. I am doing some investigative work behind the scenes on this and will report back.

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:10 pm

The Robman wrote:I am doing some investigative work behind the scenes on this and will report back.

Thank you.

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:35 pm

Hey Jim,
Here's the story. Even though the cable that you bought was listed as a JP1.2/3 cable, we can tell from the pictures that you actually have been given a JP1.1/2 cable which has a known problem with JP1.3 remotes. (I am in communication with DIY addressing this separately).

Normally, removing the batteries, and pressing some buttons while the batteries are removed, is sufficient to reset the remote, but obviously you have tried that already and it didn't reset the remote. So the next option is to convert your cable to a JP1.2/3 cable and try connecting it to the remote again.

To convert this cable, you will need to disconnect wire #5 at the IDC end of the cable. As there was some confusion earlier as to whether the IDC correctly identified pin 1 (with the triangle), you should first determine if the IDC is the right way around. To do this, you can identify wire #6 if you look at the PCB on the left side of your picture, because "6" is printed on the PCB. You should follow this wire back to the IDC to identify wire #6 on the IDC end of the cable. Once you've identified wire #6, you should cut wire #5 as close to the IDC as possible. An even better option would be to remove the IDC, pull the wire back, and then re-connect the IDC.

Once the cable has been converted, try re-connecting it to the remote, making sure to line up the triangle with pin 1 on the remote (pin 1 is labelled on the remote's PCB), and then run the jp1xtest program to see if it finds the remote.

If after all that you can't connect to the remote, I don't know if we'll be able to help you revive the remote, in which case you should return it to Cox cable.

If the jp1xtest program is able to talk to the remote but IR.exe is not able to, let us know and we'll try to fix it.

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:40 pm

See the picture below. I traced the wire connected to the PC board at location 6 to the connector as shown. I assume because pin 6 is on the opposite end to pin 1, the connector was wired correctly. I have never done an IDC connector, but I also assume the wire next to #6 is #5.

I'm reluctant to modify the cable as I was intending to return because I cannot make it work. Do you know the chap at DIY well enough to get him to agree to accept the return even if I've modified the cable?

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:35 pm

You have correctly identified #5. I'll see if DIY will agree to accept the cable as a return even if wire #5 is cut and get back to you.

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:01 pm

I just heard from DIY and he said absolutely, go ahead and cut the wire, he'll still accept the return if it doesn't work.

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:23 pm

I cut the pin 5 lead and ran the test program. I got a similar, but different message this time:

jp1xtest version 0.00

Version checksum mismatch!

**** NO JP1.x COMPATIBLE REMOTE FOUND! ****

i_am_jim · Post by **i_am_jim** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:06 pm

Oh yes, I also got a beep this time when I ran the program. I don't remember getting it before but I didn't know what to expect and was concentrating on the screen, so it may have beeped and I didn't notice it.

One thing this has established, I connected the cable correctly the first time, so something about the cable or the IR program caused the remote to go dead.