We run a short 2 foot ethernet wire from our cRio to a female-to-female jack which is mounted to our frame. That way when we plug/unplug in our tether all the time, and also if our bot goes crazy and jerks on the wire, it will only ruin a $3 jack instead of our $1,500 cRio. It works really well. I checked that jack and it is fine. Remember, I had Power and Ethernet lights on the radio both times when I had no data/activity. If the ethernet cable/jack was bad, that light should be out. It certainly goes out when I unplug the wire. Plus, wiggling it as much and hard as you want causes no interruption in the signal/light.
When you all say you replaced the cRio, did you send it in for repair and get a new one or what? What did that cost?
Also, we do have a backup radio and a backup cRio. I'm anxious to get our bot back and start running it back here at the school. If it dies again, then I'll switch each component out one at a time and try and get it to happen again. That might give me a clue.
Finally, I received a PM from someone who said that they don't use Lexan to mount the cRio because it can cause static buildup. They saw that last year. Well, last year was nuts with that Regolith floor. How many of you mount yours on Lexan, and have you ever seen it where someone walked up to the system and touched it and caused it to lockup from a static shock?
Thanks all for your help. I miss the days of the IFI systems that booted in 2 seconds and just ran and ran forever without ever lockup up. Ah well, there's progress for you...
