OK, I tried deleting the zones, placing and routing the components and then creating the VDD and VSS zones on the L1 and L2 layers. I did a Fill/Refill Zones. Then I ran the DRC checks. I still get the "Unconnected Pads" errors even though a visual check of the photoplots shows very clearly the connections are there.
I guess I am left with only 3 options at this point: 1. Connect all of the VDD pins together with explicit traces on the L1 layer. This is bad in that it clutters up the board with lots of traces that should be invisible, like the invisible pins in the schematic. 2. Manually check each DRC error to determine if it is a bogus error due to not detecting the connection via the zone or if it is a legitimate missing connection error. This has a lot of issues of missing legitimate problems and having to repeat this lengthy process on every change to the board. 3. Wait for the DRC checks to get fixed so that they detect a connection to zones. This is the preferable option, but I understand it may not be a priority for those who are so graciously donating their time to make KiCAD the tremendously terrific tool it already is. Is there a way to find out if someone is already looking into this issue? Hmmm, maybe option 4 is that I offer my time to fix it? OK, guess I will try to figure out how to build everything and start looking into it. Thoughts, suggestions, comments?? Thanks, Greg --- On Tue, 8/11/09, Brian Sidebotham <[email protected]> wrote: From: Brian Sidebotham <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [kicad-users] Strange problem with Zones and DRC To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 9:01 AM 2009/8/11 Greg Dyess <[email protected]>: > > > Yeah, that was my posting a month or so back. I tried (or thought I tried) > everything that was suggested, but nothing has worked. > > I have not tried hand-routing all of the VSS-layer vias together and all the > VDD-layer vias together. That seems to be a very error-prone proposition. > > Maybe I just don't understand the intent behind zones? Maybe DRC is just > broken when it comes to zones? I hope the problem lies with me and not DRC > as I need to get this board finished ASAP. > > thanks, > Greg What version of KiCAD are you using then? I haven't seen you post what version. I have made a board with PCBNEW where I simply connected each GND pad to a via and then let the zone connect them together. This worked fine and DRC didn't give me any unconnected errors. I didn't bother routing tracks, it was only a two layer board though. Best Regards, Brian. ------------------------------------ Please read the Kicad FAQ in the group files section before posting your question. Please post your bug reports here. They will be picked up by the creator of Kicad. Please visit http://www.kicadlib.org for details of how to contribute your symbols/modules to the kicad library. For building Kicad from source and other development questions visit the kicad-devel group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kicad-develYahoo! Groups Links
