Octagon PC-500 User manual

NOTICE
The drivers and utilities for Octagon products, previously provided
on a CD, are now in a self-extracting zip file located at the Octagon
Systems web site on the product-specific page. Download this file to a
separate directory on your hard drive, then double click on it to extract
the files. All references in this manual to files and directories on the CD
now refer to files in the Utilities zip file.

O C T A G O N S Y S T E M S
Embedded PCs For Extreme Environments
PC-500 User’s Manual
5170 (0403)

DiskOnChip®isaregisteredtrademarkofM-Systems. MicroPC™,PCSmartLink™,
OctagonSystemsCorporation®,theOctagonlogoandtheMicroPClogoaretrademarks
ofOctagonSystemsCorporation. QuickBASIC®isaregisteredtrademarkofMicrosoft
Corporation. QNX®isaregisteredtrademarkofQNXSoftwareSystemsLtd.
ROM-DOS™isatrademarkofDatalight. Windows™andWindowsNT™aretrade-
marksofMicrosoftCorporation. PICOFA™isatrademarkofPhoenixTechnologies
Ltd.
Copyright 1997, 1998, 2003—Octagon Systems Corporation. All rights reserved.
However, any part of this document may be reproduced, provided that Octagon
Systems Corporation is cited as the source. The contents of this manual and the
specifications herein may change without notice.
Theinformationcontainedinthismanualisbelievedtobecorrect. However,Octagon
assumesnoresponsibilityforanyofthecircuitsdescribedherein,conveysnolicense
underanypatentorotherright,andmakesnorepresentationsthatthecircuitsarefree
frompatentinfringement. Octagonmakesnorepresentationorwarrantythatsuch
applicationswillbesuitablefortheusespecifiedwithoutfurthertestingormodification.
OctagonSystemsCorporationgeneralpolicydoesnotrecommendtheuseofitsproducts
inlifesupportapplicationswherethefailureormalfunctionofacomponentmaydirectly
threatenlifeorinjury. ItisaConditionofSalethattheuserofOctagonproductsinlife
supportapplicationsassumesalltheriskofsuchuseandindemnifiesOctagonagainst
alldamage.
Technicalsupport: 303-426-4521
Telephone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
Web site: www.octagonsystems.com

PC-500 user’s manual Notice to user
IMPORTANT!
Please read the following section before installing your product:
Octagon’sproductsaredesignedtobehighinperformancewhileconsuming
verylittlepower. In order to maintainthisadvantage, CMOS circuitry is
used.
CMOSchipshavespecificneedsandsomespecialrequirementsthattheuser
mustbeawareof. Readthefollowingtohelpavoiddamagetoyourcardfrom
theuseofCMOSchips.
≡Using CMOS circuitry in industrial control
IndustrialcomputersoriginallyusedLSTTLcircuits. BecausemanyPC
componentsareusedinlaptopcomputers,ICmanufacturersareexclu-
sivelyusingCMOStechnology. BothTTLandCMOShavefailure
mechanisms,buttheyaredifferent. Describedbelowaresomeofthe
failureswhicharecommontoallmanufacturersofCMOSequipment.
However,muchoftheinformationhasbeenputinthecontextofthe
MicroPC.
Octagonhasdevelopedareliabledatabaseofcustomer-induced,field
failures. TheaverageMTBFofMicroPCcardsexceeds11years,yet
therearefailures. Mostfailureshavebeenidentifiedascustomer-
induced,butthereisasmallpercentagethatcannotbeidentified. As
expected,virtuallyallthefailuresoccurwhenbringingupthefirst
system. Onsubsequentsystems,thefailureratedropsdramatically.
nApproximately20%ofthereturnedcardsareproblem-free. These
cards,typically,havethewrongjumpersettingsorthecustomerhas
problemswiththesoftware. Thiscausesfrustrationforthecus-
tomerandincursatestingchargefromOctagon.
nOftheremaining 80% of thecards,90% of these cardsfaildueto
customermisuseandaccident. Customersoftencannotpinpointthe
causeofthemisuse.
nTherefore,72%ofthereturnedcardsaredamagedthroughsome
typeofmisuse. Oftheremaining 8%,Octagonisunabletodeter-
minethecauseofthefailureandrepairsthesecardsatnochargeif
theyareunderwarranty.

Notice to user PC-500 user’s manual
ThemostcommonfailuresonCPUcardsareovervoltageofthepower
supply,staticdischarge,anddamagetotheserialandparallelports.
Onexpansioncards,themostcommonfailuresarestaticdischarge,over
voltageofinputs,overcurrentofoutputs,andmisuseoftheCMOS
circuitrywithregardstopowersupplysequencing. Inthecaseofthe
videocards,themostcommonfailureistomiswirethecardtotheflat
paneldisplay. Miswiringcandamageboththecardandanexpensive
display.
nMultiple component failures -Thechanceofarandomcompo-
nentfailureisveryraresincetheaverageMTBFofanOctagoncard
is greater than 11 years. In a 7 year study, Octagon has never
foundasinglecasewheremultipleICfailureswerenotcausedby
misuseoraccident. Itisveryprobablethatmultiplecomponent
failuresindicatethattheywereuser-induced.
nTesting “dead” cards -Foracardthatis“completelynonfunc-
tional”,thereisasimpletesttodetermineaccidentalovervoltage,
reversevoltageorother“forced”currentsituations. Unplugthecard
fromthebusandremoveallcables. Usinganordinarydigital
ohmmeteronthe2,000ohmscale,measuretheresistancebetween
powerandground. Recordthisnumber. Reversetheohmmeter
leadsandmeasuretheresistanceagain.Iftheratiooftheresis-
tancesis2:1orgreater,faultconditionsmostlikelyhaveoccurred.
Acommoncauseismiswiringthepowersupply.
nImproper power causes catastrophic failure - If a card has had
reversepolarityorhighvoltageapplied,replacingafailedcompo-
nentisnotanadequatefix. Othercomponentsprobablyhavebeen
partiallydamagedorafailuremechanismhasbeeninduced. There-
fore,afailurewillprobablyoccurinthefuture. Forsuchcards,
Octagonhighlyrecommendsthatthesecardsbereplaced.
nOther over-voltage symptoms-Inover-voltagesituations,the
programmablelogicdevices,EPROMsandCPUchips,usuallyfailin
thisorder.Thefaileddevicemay behottothetouch. Itisusually
thecasethatonlyoneICwillbeoverheatedatatime.
nPower sequencing -ThemajorfailureofI/Ochipsiscausedbythe
externalapplicationofinputvoltagewhiletheMicroPCpowerisoff.
Ifyouapply 5V to the inputofa TTL chip with thepoweroff,noth-
ingwillhappen. Applyinga5VinputtoaCMOScardwillcausethe
currenttoflowthroughtheinputandoutthe5Vpowerpin. This
currentattemptstopowerupthecard. Mostinputsareratedat
25 mA maximum. When this is exceeded, the chip may be damaged.
nFailure on powerup -Evenwhenthereisnotenoughcurrentto
destroyaninputdescribedabove,thechipmaybedestroyedwhen
thepowertothecardisapplied. Thisis duetothefactthatthe
inputcurrentbiasestheICsothat itactsasaforwardbiaseddiode
onpowerup. Thistypeoffailureistypicalonserialinterfacechips.