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Pixy USB not recognized (and how I fixed it)

Hi,
I am posting this to share my experience with the new Pixy CMUcam5.
I was very exciting when it first arrived. As usual, I plugged my Pixy to the Windows 7 computer to see what come up after install the software. No thing, even a warning message.
After browsing various forums, webs, … I see people have the same problem, and most of the time is it the bad USB cable.
I have tried 3 of them, knowing that they are good USB cables, even on a Mac !!! Still no luck.
Next I checked the voltage With the multimeter, there is no 3.3V at VCC !! Just 0.3V, a resistance check between any capacitors shows a short circuit between 3.3V and GND. Strange!!
After a close-up check, I notice the capacitor C40 (near USB port) is flipped side way ! Properly because of some impact when shipping/packaging. Then I just took it out, and even more strange the capacitor C40 is short-circuit by itself. That lucky, because the board now has VCC 3.3V and it is recognized by the computer !!!
I am not sure what the role of the capacitor C40 and how it is become short-circuit (and the board is still working without it). So I am passing this message to the people in case of you have the same problem, and to the developers if they can prevent this happen again.
Cheers.

levstic

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the info. Please let us know if you have any problems with your Pixy and we’ll look in to replacing it if needed. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Scott