Hello,
Has anyone ever had there Bullet M2 HP ( plastic) no longer want to connect on a LAN connection ?
Mine worked fine a couple of days ago .
I plugged the LAN ethernet cable into my Laptop to check the unit and nothing happens.
The Laptop doesn`t show a connection and viewing the NetWorking setup in Control Panel , indicates no connection.
I checked the ethernet port and cable using a Bullet M2 Titanium , which I just flashed , and the LAN connection showed up as it normally would.
I was able to connect with the plastic Bullet wirelessly using the Bullet Titanium connected to the LAN on my Laptop.
Using the Mesh Status screen on the Bullet M2 Titanium , I was able to leap over to the other Bullet M2 (plastic) and have a look at it`s setup screen.
So while I was connected wirelessly to the plastic Bullet , I checked the setup screen , and did some other screen checks for WiFi Scan, Mesh status, etc., and it seemed fine.
I did a 15 sec. reset on the Bullet , but it still get " A network cable is unplugged. "
It just refuses to make a Lan connection to my laptop.
I even tried a different laptop , with both Bullets and the results were the same.
Any ideas what is going on ?
Dan VA3OT
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Bullet M2 no longer making a LAN connection
Mon, 11/14/2016 - 21:39
#1
Bullet M2 no longer making a LAN connection
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Any chance you have dropped it on the floor?
The little Ethernet transformer that couples the data from the LAN port into the CPU can rip loose from the PCB as it is held on only by some tiny circuit traces.
see photo's
Is it fixable ?
If the solder joints are what cracked, then probably yes, but if the circuit board traces lifted and separated from the board, it would be much more difficult. as a test, you should be able, with an ohmmeter, be able to measure a very low resistance between the wires of an orange twisted pair of an ethernet cable, and also a low resistance between the wires of the green twisted pair. But this won't tell you if the problem is on the "internal" side of the transformer. But if you can take the node apart, you then could access the internal side.
While not all of the leads on that package are required to be connected, some of the ones that are required, go to internal layers of the multi-layer PCB and would be quite impossible to fix. You can still use the node for something like Meshchat of course ...
Thank you both for responding to my question.
I have checked the green pair , they show a low resistance , but the orange pair shows an open situation .
I slid the PC board out of the sleeve and the contacts around the transformer appear ok, but my eyes aren`t as good as they once were.
Is there a particular spot on the board I can check the orange pair for continuity to locate a break ?
Does Mesh Chat include things like Voice over IP ?
It is still useable I guess , as a fill-in node somewhere.
I`m new to Ham Mesh and as yet have not viewed first hand any of it`s capabilities.
on your PC, set your network adapter from AUTO to 10MB/Half-duplex and see if it makes any difference.
Thanks for the idea.
Check the ethernet connector solder joints too. And see which of the orange pair orange doesn't make continuity between the transformer and the connector. If reheating the solder joint doesn't fix it, you probably could get away with a short piece of wire between the connector and the transformer to bridge the break, carefully soldering it to the transformer leg and the connector pin.. The ethernet standard seems pretty robust enough to take small wiring sins (this case a short stub of circuit board trace) as long as the ethernet cable run isn't real long, not at the 100 meter limit. You could use the good bullet you have (IIRC, yes) to compare the continuity.