Plugging it in

[meltty]

Hi there, got a fancy Dazzler,
What do I do now?
I plugged it into an Uno R3, an HDMI monitor and uploaded the hello world code.
Nothing.

I plugged it into a Mega 2560, HDMI monitor, and tried the same.
Nothing.I tried the self test.
Serial monitor reports "---- GAMEDUINO 2/3 SELFTEST ----"
...and hangs there.

I'fe tried to power the arduino boards via USB and with remote power, same with the HDMI monitors and TVs. Nothing.

I've tried this with several HDMI monitors and TVs around here. Any suggestions? Naturally the documentation is a little thin lol.

Any help would be great I had high hopes for this thing.

[meltty]

UPDATE: I got the splash screen to show up on a monitor, one of 5 I tried. HOWEVER no demo code runs, fizz doesn't do anything and the upload is very balky. I'm trying to get SELF TEST installed but I run into cascading avrdude timeouts and errors on my mega 2560- the uno has stopped working altogether. What I was hoping for was a device that allowed me to plug a teensy into a nice waveshare amoled display but I'm getting the sense that this product is incomplete.

[meltty]

UPDATE:
Used the wiring diagram here:
excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino3/#hardware
To connect to a teensy 3.2...
Connected to the 1 out of 5 HDMI monitors around here that works,
Blank screen. Removed teensy entirely, turned back on: blank screen.

Is it finally dead?

[meltty]

UPDATE:
Since I cannot expect to hear from the developer or find an answer here I've requested to return the 'product' to crowdsupply. Got a return ticket anyway, waiting to hear back.

[meltty]

UPDATE:
It's been 3 days since Crowd Supply Support gave me a support ticket and promised that a support agent would be following up 'shortly' to assist me.

Not feeling optimistic.

[meltty]

UPDATE: It's been a week now; haven't gotten any response from Crowd Supply.
Going to take it to the Better Business Bureau as it seems the do respond to those complaints.

Never got any response emailing Excamera labs, but I expected that having read this forum.
What a complete and total disappointment this whole experience has been. I had plans for this thing lol.

[meltty]

UPDATE:
Complaint against Crowd Supply submitted to the BBB on the grounds that this thing simply doesn't do what it's being advertised to do:

"The Gameduino 3X Dazzler is an Arduino-compatible shield that outputs HD picture and sound to any HDMI display or TV."

We all know it doesn't do this.
I just want my money back, but I also think it's misleading advertising and ripping people off 50$ for a paperweight.

[meltty]

Well if the vendor nor developer will respond, the BBB will:

"Your complaint has been sent to the business for their response. Once they have responded to BBB, we will contact you again. In the meantime, if the complaint becomes resolved please inform us in writing. Please remember that copies of your future correspondence will be sent to the company as well. "

So now we wait.

[meltty]

UPDATE:
That got some attention.
"Thank you for reaching out to us. We sincerely apologize for the delayed response to your messages."


"If you haven't already, you can also share your feedback with the creator of this project, as the specifics of the difficulties you ran into could help them consider improvements: www.crowdsupply.com/excamera/gameduino-3x-dazzler/ask-question"
...I would love to but we all know there's no response.

" Please confirm whether you still have the original packaging, and we will get back to you within the next 1-2 business days with a return label."

I confirmed, awaiting reply with label...

[meltty]

Got my RMA from Crowd Supply and had a nice chat with them regarding the core issues; I hope the hardware gets the revision it so badly needs and that the documentation and demo code become useful. I'll be returning my unit out and closing this sad chapter; back to analog gauges and SPI oLEDs. I so wanted this to work, it seemed ideal!

For anyone reading this thread with a sense of hopelessness: I had to contact the Better Business Bureau before I got a response, YMMV; I hope it all gets smoother.

[armadafg]

For my part I did not burn arduino cards, but gameduino3 Dazzler cards directly.
As much as the gameduino2 was indestructible, but this one...

Yup strongly a new revision, because for the moment I have more the impression of a product with large potential but not finished.
And it's really a shame because the work provided to produce these gameduinos products is really interesting

[meltty]

...STILL waiting for my refund from crowd supply lol...

If the developer has no interest in correcting the errors with this thing maybe the group has what it takes? I can do PCB design and development in KiCad for example; and the guts are open-source... we could build up a wish list, implement it, produce the thing for ourselves at no profit and move on with our lives designing cool UI stuff...

[meltty]

UPDATE:
I can confirm that my credit card was refunded on 3/1; thus ending this chapter in the story.

[aramintaa83]

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