ESP32 P4 dev kit quick start

[Chris Savage]

A version of the program that is shipped with the dev kit is included in the demos folder and is called "widgets".

Well, I feel like an idiot...the ZIP file I downloaded has no such demo (Widgets), nor can I find it online.

As for the update...I started the "Hello World" demo, which draws, "Hello World" randomly on the display in random sizes and colors. It ran for 30 minutes and then the display went blank. Unplugging everything and plugging it back in got me nowhere.

After waiting several minutes, I plugged it in again and the demo started up again. This time it ran for two minutes, before the screen turned blue and the unit died again. This is similar to what happened Sunday. Seems like a thermal issue.

UPDATE: I left it off for 6 minutes, fired it up and it ran for three minutes. Something is definitely wrong.

[Jeff_T]

Hi Chris, I don't think I explained what I meant in a good way.

The folder "demo" is part of the lvgl library package, if you go to your Arduino sketch folder then drill down to libraries/lvgl you will see in the lvgl folder a bunch of other folders, the actual "demo" folder the program uses is inside the "src" folder and widget is inside demo. There is normally no need to mess with these files but they do have a relationship with the "lv_conf.h" that is in the libraries folder.

If you open the "lv_conf.h" file with notepad you can and might want to edit some of the settings. Something you might consider is enabling the build of individual demos, if you scroll down the file until you reach

/*=====================
* BUILD OPTIONS
*======================*/

you will see the following text allows you to enable (1) or disable (0) various demos.

Right now there is no need to modify anything in the lv_conf file, the example Arduino sketch called "LVGLV9_Arduino" that came with the zip file uses lv_demo_widgets(); (line 133) as the default demo.

It does seem that your board has a problem, does it produce a log when it crashes?

[Chris Savage]

It does seem that your board has a problem, does it produce a log when it crashes?

Where would I find the log file? For future viewers of this thread, here's exactly what happened:

Those of you who have used Windows for years will recognize the BSoD. That wasn't exactly what happened, but while I was talking to Jeff on the phone, the display suddenly turned blue, did some strange things, then went black. I tried to reload the program, however the Arduino IDE could not connect to the board. I tried several times to connect, however the Arduino IDE would not see the ESP32-P4.

Our first thought was an issue with the ribbon cable, so I powered down, reseated it and tried power again. Still no connection. Eventually I disconnected the display entirely and tried again. By now the ESP32-P4 had been powered down for several minutes. When I tried to download some test code to run a counter using the serial terminal, it ran for a while, then stopped receiving data (there was a burst of garbage first). I tried a new USB cable, power supply, etc. Nothing changed. After an hour I reconnected the display and downloaded a "Hello World" program that randomly placed "Hello World!" around the display in random colors and font sizes. It ran for about 20 minutes before I had to go to bed.

The next day after work, I came home, reconnected power, and set a stopwatch to see how long the unit would run. It ran for a half an hour before the screen went blue with some garbage, then black. When I removed power, waited 5 seconds and plugged it back in, nothing. However, when I waited several minutes, then reconnected power, the unit ran for about 2 minutes and died again. I removed power for 10 minutes, reconnected and it again and it ran for about three minutes. Obviously, something is wrong, so I did contact Waveshare support.

It would seem something within the ESP32-P4 is overheating. Power is coming from a powered USB hub, so power should not be an issue.

[Jeff_T]

Hi Chris, that would be serial output that can be copied to the clipboard.

https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/articles/4407705216274-Use-verbose-output-in-the-Arduino-IDE

Output or no output that is what you would have to go back to Waveshare with.

[Chris Savage]

Hi Chris, that would be serial output that can be copied to the clipboard. Output or no output that is what you would have to go back to Waveshare with.

Well, that would be no output then, since I was just plugging in the board with an existing program on it. That said, I can run a different demo and send the verbose output of both compilation and programming, and there would most likely be nothing more.

Ironically, this is only the second product I ever ordered from Waveshare, and I never even opened the first one (ePaper displays), since that project was cancelled at the time. So I don't even know if those displays work.  I may need to break those out and test them while I am in the middle of troubleshooting.

[Jeff_T]

I am sorry your experience with Waveshare is not working out, I do hope they correct the matter and replace the faulty unit.

I have ordered a few Waveshare items and I have been lucky, I must say at times I will order their products or any other manufacturer direct from Amazon and pay the upcharge, at least Amazon will mostly do a quick exchange.

Let us know how it goes.

[Chris Savage]

I got a reply from Waveshare (this is slow communication) after I went to bed last night. Here's what they said:

You can test whether the voltage on the power pins of the development board is normal when the screen malfunctions. Please provide photos of the test results.

You cannot view this attachment.

[Jeff_T]

Hi Chris, I think they need to know that the mcu crashes even when there is no display connected. There is probably a better chance of getting just the controller over the whole package.

What will they do if the power drops anyway sounds to me they are being obstinate, they should change the unit period.

Other than that you would need to attach a LA or Scope with a trigger that can take a snap shot.

[Chris Savage]

Hi Chris, I think they need to know that the mcu crashes even when there is no display connected. Other than that you would need to attach a LA or Scope with a trigger that can take a snap shot.

Funny you should mention that. I was actually going to hook my scope up to both P/S lines at the same time. I will set the trigger to catch a drop just below the nominal value in single-shot mode. I can then screen capture what happens. But since I don't know how long it will run initially, I am going to run it the ~25-30 minutes in normal mode and see what's happening, knowing that when I disconnect and restart, it will only run a few minutes. I am going to video both the board output and the scope output at the same time. I will submit that to them.

By the way, I wasn't even familiar with I³C until I saw it on this board and looked it up. I haven't seen a single device yet that supports it.

[Jeff_T]

By the way, I wasn't even familiar with I3C until I saw it on this board and looked it up. I haven't seen a single device yet that supports it.

Yea I have been curious about that too.

What happened to your face lol, are you an alien that has kidnapped our leader lol.

[Chris Savage]

What happened to your face lol, are you an alien that has kidnapped our leader lol.

That is Chat GPT's rendering of me as a 3D cartoon. Speaking of which, what happened to your face? You're a shadow! 

[Jeff_T]

Yes I knew what it was I was teasing, I think it's pretty cool. Barbara actually has one of me and her I may clip it and make that my avatar. Let me see what I can do.


EDIT: Oh man this thing is hilarious, be careful what you wish for lol.

[Chris Savage]

Yes I knew what it was I was teasing, I think it's pretty cool. Barbara actually has one of me and her I may clip it and make that my avatar. Let me see what I can do.

I have one of Valerie and I. I'll have to post it when I get home.

EDIT: Oh man this thing is hilarious, be careful what you wish for lol.

I LOVE IT!!! LOL

[Chris Savage]

I was actually going to hook my scope up to both P/S lines at the same time. I will set the trigger to catch a drop just below the nominal value in single-shot mode. I can then screen capture what happens.

As a quick follow-up, since I didn't mention it, I will be testing tonight with and without the display connected. I will use the counter code I wrote to test without it. Last time I ran that, it stalled out too and the serial terminal showed some garbage after the last count...several blocks representing non-printable characters. FYI

I must be lazy these days, because back when I worked at Parallax, I would actually connect another controller looking for the data and letting me know when the other side stopped transmitting. Meh.

[Chris Savage]

So, here's the results of the testing, though I never did get to testing without the display...normally the display is laying horizontally on my bench with the ESP32-P4 attached to the back. It's not flat, but at a slope. Until this weekend, it would consistently fail after some time (~25-30 minutes) and not be programmable afterward for several minutes, as if it had to cool down. Once cooled down, it would run again, just for a few minutes and then fail again.

In order to monitor the 3.3V / 5V power pins on the GPIO connector, I needed the display to stand up on end. Other than that, nothing else changed. The same program was running and the same power / data connections were maintained as before. This time I pointed cameras at both the scope and the display so that I could record both when the display went blank as well as whatever happened on the power rails.

After 1/2 hour, I was getting impatient (unusual for me). After an hour I was experiencing "WTF" anxiety. After 1-1/2 hours I went to bed. It was 11:30PM and I had nothing left. Other than tilting the display upright, no other changes were made! Yet it didn't fail once in an hour and a half! I didn't get back to it this weekend. We had a lot going on.

Tonight when I get home, I'm going to power it up as soon as I get home (before dinner) and just leave it running. The cameras, scope, etc. are all still set up. But I am not going to record anything unless and until it fails. I'm considering trying to angle the display the way it was before. At this point, I don't know what else to do. Clearly this unit was failing. Clearly, once I had the scope and multiple cameras on it, it did not.