Fried Ethernet Ports

[heydowns]

Our team had physical separation of the connector as well.
At regionals over the past two weeks, I saw quite a few other failures of this nature while helping teams diagnose control system related issues.

Usually, when the physical separation takes place, the ports will continue to work (intermittent) as long as they can remain seated. If you put your finger or small pry tool in the port, and apply very gentle upward pressure, a separated ethernet port will pop right off the board or slide up and down in the socket. You can sometimes continue to use a physically separated port in a pinch by carefully wedging something appropriately sized (and non-conducting!) between the top of the port and the case surround.

As for the ESD failures... prior to ship, at our local pre-ship scrimmage, a team who had suffered failures on both DS ports decided to open theirs. We examined the ports and found them to be physically intact. Another mentor examined the HALOs and found them to be partially blown.

It is my hope that FIRST will reconsider the "no pigtail" rule and allow teams to use a short pigtail (cable + RJ45 inline coupler, visible to field personnel and easily removed if field issues are encountered) to prevent the physical separation issue.