Help with parallel 4x40 on EPIA mini-itx

canty · Post by **canty** » October 16th, 2006, 10:18 pm

Hi to all!

i'm new to the LCD world, so i bought a already-wired 4x40 LCD.
No problem with LCDsmartie on Windows XP with my P4, but, after installing it on an EPIA SP13000 (mini-itx) with Windows 2003 only the third and fourth lines are showing up correctly, the first and the second one are freezed to a line of squares (first) and a blank line (second).
Here is a list of what i've tried...
- with and without dlportio
- i run lcdsmartie as administrator
- the port address of LCDSMARTIE are the same of that i found in the system properties (i've tried changing it from the BIOS, in case of conflicts).
- i resetted the ESCD data in the bios
- with PNP OS yes and no, in the bios
- changing the port type (SPP / ECP / EPP / ECP+EPP)
- the new beta version
- changing timing and "compatibility" flag as many discussione threads suggest.

Nothing... the LCD don't work properly (only line 3 and 4 are OK).
I think maybe the mini-itx doesn't give enought power to drive the LCD controller's internal logic?

The LCD is running perfectly on my notebook and on my P4 with Windows XP, any type of parallel port and with DLPORTIO... so, i cannot find-out where i'm failing...

Please help me... and excuse me for my poor english, i'm italian.

Regards, canty

Post by **limbo** » October 17th, 2006, 5:15 pm

Is the LCD connected to the parallel port or directly to the motherboard?

canty · Post by **canty** » October 17th, 2006, 5:27 pm

Hi! thank you for your interest in this problem...
The LCD is connected on a db-25 port at the and of a flat cable inserted in a 2x13pin connector on the motherboard.

I'm sure about the correct installation of the flat cable because the pin1 is marked clearly over the board.

Today i've discovered that the ENABLE1 pin of my lcd is connected to the STROBE pin (pin1) of the parallel port.
A friend suggest that the port is damaged.

During the development of a interface board at office i've discovered that mini-itx behave strangely on the parallel port, it seems to be that they cannot give enought power to the control port pins... but this hypotesys is not proved, so, it remains a hypotesys.

Btw, the problem is not related to the operating system, in fact the problem is here with Windows XP pro too.

Thanks a lot, canty

Post by **limbo** » October 18th, 2006, 7:14 am

The problem isn't for sure by the OS. I have tested the software in win95 win98, Win ME,(old versions of LCD Smartie, don't expect to use win9x nowdays), Win2000, WinXp, and Windows Vista (RC2).
I missed the 2003 server edition (never had any system with this OS installed).

Back to you problem: I suggest you to check out (if you have any documentation) your mobo port pinout...
If you can ask EPIA about a complete pinout of the mobo parallel port

I believe that something is going wrong with the pins there (but I'm not sure

)

canty · Post by **canty** » October 18th, 2006, 7:59 pm

I've news, bad news.

The LCD continue to work perfectly on others pc (tested other 2 pc).
On the EPIA 13000 from VIA, it continue to visualize correctly only the last 2 lines.
The manufacturer of the LCD say that maybe a problem on PIN1 (strobe) because the visualization problem seems to be related to a malfunction of the "ENABLE1" pin of the LCD. I don't understand WHY with any other pc work perfectly and with this mobo not.

I've installed a new PCI card with 2 parallel port (ECP/EPP), installed correctly under windows.
After configured lcdSmartie... the lcd panel display correctly only the last 2 lines!!!!! ARGH!!!!!

I cannot figure out WHERE is the problem! every connection made to this mobo, even with another port, even with another port manufacturer, even with different I/O addresses!

I have no idea! i'm open at any suggestion.

canty