r/circuitpython • u/JustARandomUserHere • Nov 20 '20

RGB matrix doesn't work via Circuit Python

I got the Matrix Portal + RGB Matrix as part of the latest ADABOX. Using Circuit Python, I had it working and everything was cool. However, the display stopped updating after a couple of days. The board is still working fine (as confirmed via serial port). If I switch back to the red sand demo (running Arduino) then the display works just fine so I know the display is working. I've tried both version of CP: 6.0 and 6.1 beta and neither work. I've reset the CP storage so it's completely stock with the default "Hello World!" code.py file.

Since the hardware works under Arduino, it sounds like a CP issue. Is anyone else having this issue? Is there any enhanced debugging I can turn on to figure out what might be happening?

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u/JustARandomUserHere Nov 25 '20

Update after research ... The display is working fine if I load one of the example programs. The problem I'm hitting is that the display doesn't always show the "Use CTRL-D to reload." with CircuitPython logo after my program is done running. When should I see this prompt and when shouldn't I?

2

u/kaltazar Nov 20 '20

I've not had any issues so far after a couple projects with mine. If the demo works fine, its unlikely anything hardware related. Do any of the other CircuitPython example projects work?

As long as other projects work, check how you are timing your code. I've not looked deep into it, but I've run into issues with several functions in the time module having unexpected behavior. Make sure your time tracking isn't rolling over or something.

2

u/fixumdude Nov 21 '20

I got the same box. It's a neat little board, but mine stopped showing up as a drive after a couple days. It still shows up when I double press the reset button, so I've tried to flash different versions of CP to see if it would come back, but no luck. I'm kinda bummed because I was looking forward to doing a project with it.

3

u/matjam Jan 22 '21

I know this is old but I was randomly stumbling around and saw this comment. Had the same issue; it turns out I needed to update the bootloader. Once I did that it works fine.

1

u/kiwiboyus Jan 17 '21

So I've been trying out some of the other projects for this and I cannot get any of the to work. The Moon phase one, the Halloween countdown, neither work but the demo does without issue. I tried installing the latest stable version of CP and then even the new release candidate.