Amega328p-au shorted pins ?

Hi James,

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

Finally motivated myself into trying Eagle files only to see my original instincts told me NOT to bother.

I get it you are feeling frustrated, the first time I tried to use EAGLE it didn't go so well. I had to sit down and read the manual and tutorials to understand how it works as previously I had spent a lot of time with DxDesigner/PADS and OrCAD, and EAGLE was quite a change from both of these.

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

The last thing I expected was not finding common components in the library.My first mistake to assume that an Atmega328p-au would be one of the easiest to find.Not so and had to search the ends of the earth to find it and manually place it into the LIBR directory.After a 4 hour search and finally having this IC in my schematic layout

So the issue here is assuming the bundled parts library is useful. As with the "free" parts libraries that are bundled with absolutely all ECAD packages, not just EAGLE, you get what you pay for. If you value your time and the integrity of your designs you'll just create your own libraries. It's actually quite easy once you've done a few parts. There are great tutorials to get you started on Adafruit and Dangerous Prototypes. To start this from scratch and do it properly yourself would have been a fraction of the time you spent searching.

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

.After a 4 hour search and finally having this IC in my schematic layout I now see "shorts" on several pins of this chip in the BRD window.The worse possible places no less on 3.3v and ground !!

I can probably modify this file but now getting far deeper into a simple project I thought would be straight forward.

Is it a software glitch causing this or a bad library file ?

Anyone know where to find a working Atmega328p-au footprint

See attached screen shot of the issue.

It looks like it's just showing air wires between pins on the same net, not between nets i.e. it's connecting all the GND and separately all the 3.3V but I am a little perplexed why as it doesn't look like you have any nets added on the schematic and dropping in a part with multiple pads on the same pin of the part doesn't show air wires for me until I connect up a net in the schematic. Could you put the lib/sch/brd files up on here so we can take a look at what you have done please?

Best Regards,

Rachael

The screenshot is just me adding the very first component into the work space.I did nothing but add the library file for the Atmega328p-au,started the program and was the very first component selected.I did nothing but check the board view to find these pins already wired.

I spent an entire day downloading as many components for my project as possible and had it just about completed on the second day when I discovered many wires in places that should not have been.So,cleaned the slate and even re-installed Eagle and started over.

This time I wanted to place a component and do little at a time while checking for bogus traces.That is when I finally discovered these connections right off before even starting the project...just merely adding the component and this shows up.

I also would like to note that sometimes the program crashes and will lose my work unless I save each and everything I do.

Frustrated is a mild term at this point.

So basically,I open the program,create a project and the first thing I do is select the Atmega328p-au and put it into the schematic work space.and that is what I am getting.I have done nothing else

Here is the file I used and wonder if it is just a bad file itself ?

https://www.snapeda.com/parts/ATMEGA328P-AU/Atmel/view-part/

Give it a try and see what you get ?

Ok,I found another library file for the Atmega328p-au and it seems to work without those mysterious traces

But again,still getting an error when switching to board view.

Always something new to deal with

I need to now either fix this error or switch to another machine.Now using Win XP Pro and may try Windows 10 machine next.

Hi James,

I've downloaded it and what it is doing isn't wrong as such. The VCC and GND pins on that part have their pin type set to PWR. When you place them on the board they try and connect up to identically named power nets from other devices with pins of type PWR. As soon as you connect them up to what you want them to connect to then if they are different they will no longer connect to the other devices. Does that make sense?

I tend to not use the PWR pin type in my devices (although I was experimenting with it recently to make a ULP simpler, I will go for the hard approach now I have seen this but that's a different story) so I haven't had this happen before. It's not a problem as log as you fully connect everything up how you want in the schematic and don't end up with connections you didn't intend because it used device PWR pin names to guess at connections.

Best Regards,

Rachael

I'd recommend you learn how to create your own libraries rather than searching and downloading them. It'll be less hassle and a lot quicker in the long run.

As for your windows related crash, sorry I can't help you there, EAGLE 7.7 runs perfectly on both my Mac and Linux machines. With Windows you're on your own I'm afraid

Best Regards,

Rachael

I was ok with it connecting grounds and power,but looked to me one was going from ground to power pins?

3.3 to ground I think.

I now have another file that does not do this and feel better about using it instead...automation is not something I care for.

Like spell check...even that is wrong sometimes

Thanks for the replies and now going to see if I can get something actually accomplished here.

By the way,using this tutorial and so far getting me through -

https://youtu.be/1AXwjZoyNno

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

I was ok with it connecting grounds and power,but looked to me one was going from ground to power pins?

3.3 to ground I think.

It may have looked that way but it really wasn't I quickly routed in the GND and the 3V3 was going correctly between its two pins. It just looked that way because the air wires were overlapping.

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

I now have another file that does not do this and feel better about using it instead...automation is not something I care for.

Like spell check...even that is wrong sometimes

So long as you are happy with it. Please do THOROUGHLY check it against the datasheet though as it could have mistakes which would ruin a PCB. You must check all parts you get from elsewhere.

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

 

Thanks for the replies and now going to see if I can get something actually accomplished here.

You are welcome, Good luck!

James Zelazny jr wrote:

 

By the way,using this tutorial and so far getting me through -

https://youtu.be/1AXwjZoyNno

Jeremy Blum's youtube tutorials are pretty good to get you going I think. Do look at the Adafruit and Dangerous Prototypes tutorials on creating library parts though and then read the EAGLE manual once it's all starting to make sense

Best Regards,

Rachael

rachaelp wrote:

 

I'd recommend you learn how to create your own libraries rather than searching and downloading them. It'll be less hassle and a lot quicker in the long run.

 

As for your windows related crash, sorry I can't help you there, EAGLE 7.7 runs perfectly on both my Mac and Linux machines. With Windows you're on your own I'm afraid

Creating your own libraries is good advice, You're not relying on another party getting the design right. Only just today I have downloaded the latest version of Eagle (for Mac) and attempted to create parts for a new design. Unfortunately the library editor seems to continually crash. It seems to be a known issue: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/eagle-forum/editing-device-crashes-eagle-8/td-p/6879433

I would recommend you stick with version 7.7. At least for now.

I'm going to have a look at KiCad.

Paul Ellison wrote:

 

Only just today I have downloaded the latest version of Eagle (for Mac) and attempted to create parts for a new design. Unfortunately the library editor seems to continually crash. It seems to be a known issue: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/eagle-forum/editing-device-crashes-eagle-8/td-p/6879433

 

I would recommend you stick with version 7.7. At least for now.

 

I'm going to have a look at KiCad.

Yes, license issue aside (I don't want that to kick off in this thread too!), it seems the 8.0.x releases are not fit for purpose at the moment. I've had numerous crashes and the latest v8.0.2 seems to have the most dysfunctional library editor yet....

Fortunately I have a 7.7 Ultimate license which I will be sticking with until such time v8 works reliably and they have some worthwhile new features.

Best Regards,

Rachael

I appreciate the advice and the replies to help out.

However,the program crashes too much now every time I go to the board view.This will all be a waste of time even if I get a schematic finished.

By the time I drag all the components in board view it crashes and can not even check my work.

Since my project is to fly on balloons and never be seen again,I may just make hand crafted surfaces(cardboard/plastic) And glue the components to that. Then use very thin magnet wire to connect the components.The bright side is I can take normal showers,eat dinner,get normal sleep and save money on PCB`s

I even think I can reduce the weight over PCB materials which was the goal anyhow.

A fine tip soldering iron and steady hands will do the trick.

I just want progress.