I now have 4 damaged or dead BBBs. On this last board (Element 14), I had only a stepper motor driver board connected (Pololu DRV8834), and nothing else. The DRV8834 was initially drawing power from the VDD5v on the BBB. The BBB "blacked out" twice while nothing was happening and while connected to both a 5V regulated power supply (Adafruit) and USB power. I was worried that the DRV8834 was drawing too much power (although I have found it uses < 200 mA @ 5V), so I used a separate power supply for the DRB8834. Only the logic of the DRV8834 was hooked up to the BBB - nothing that would supply power and no analog inputs. The third blackout also occurred without an obvious precipitant - again with both power sources connected (USB and barrel plug). Now the power LED flashes briefly when either USB or barrel plug power (Adafruit power source for BBB) is connected to the BBB. It will not sustain the power button nor boot up.
This seems to be a repetitive theme on this forum. I am losing faith in the BBB ever functioning in a real world environment if it is this fragile. Is there any way to protect the BBB processor (or whatever is blowing) with external circuitry or power? Appreciate any help. I'm now out over $200 with these boards and I cannot identify anything that should be damaging them. Considering changing to another system at this point. Although I am impressed with the capability of the BBB, I would not call it a robust system. Help! On Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 9:08:39 PM UTC-4, Gerald wrote: > > The flashing LED indicates excess current is being drawn by the processor. > This can be related to damaged I/O pins or power supplies that are not well > regulated.. > > Gerald > > > On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 4:38 PM, <[email protected] <javascript:>> wrote: > >> I have the same issue, already 3 boards has died. >> any solution, i tried to use optoisolator/pwm and noting. the BBB is a >> bad board. >> >> >> >> Le mercredi 25 février 2015 18:03:24 UTC+1, [email protected] a écrit : >>> >>> Identical problem this morning: BBB boots fine when powered by USB, but >>> not when powered by a 2.0 mA rated 5.0 V DC power supply (nicked from some >>> other device). BBB power LED blinks continuously. This power supply has >>> worked with this BBB in the past. >>> >>> Mike. >>> >>> On Friday, January 23, 2015 at 8:44:59 PM UTC-8, [email protected] >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> I had a similar problem- my power LED would just continue blinking when >>>> connected to a 5V power source. This meant there was something wrong. >>>> First, I checked if my BBB was still alive. To find that, I connected my >>>> board to a computer via USB. Surprisingly, this time power LED turned on >>>> normally. Then to make sure that everything was properly, I ran some >>>> program as given in the BB website >>>> http://beagleboard.org/getting-started. I was happy to see, the >>>> programs on the website worked just fine on my board. Thus, I was able to >>>> conclude that strangely, my BBB board didn't like 5V external power source! >>>> >>>> On Friday, November 22, 2013 at 6:41:41 AM UTC-8, Bert Lindner wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Just had a 5V powered Beaglebone Black seemingly die on me. First the >>>>> power led kept blinking, then after removing the (BB Toys CAN) cape the >>>>> power led would flash just once after applying power. Looking back in >>>>> previous threads this seemed to mean I killed the board somehow; there >>>>> was >>>>> also a GPS module attached to one of the UARTs and a probably power >>>>> hungry >>>>> USB wlan stick that I'm trying to get to work, so a power hungry setup. >>>>> >>>>> I was ready to declare it dead, it remained just flashing once after >>>>> repeatedly unplugging and reattaching the power supply. >>>>> >>>>> However I noticed the single power led flash would also happen if I >>>>> pressed the power button (leaving the 5V plug in). Doing that repeatedly >>>>> seems to have revived the board, will see if new problems occur. For now >>>>> it >>>>> behaves normally. >>>>> >>>>> Is this expected behaviour? >>>>> >>>>> Best, >>>>> >>>>> -Bert >>>>> >>>>> -- >> For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "BeagleBoard" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > Gerald > > [email protected] <javascript:> > http://beagleboard.org/ > -- For more options, visit http://beagleboard.org/discuss --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BeagleBoard" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
