Inkplate 10 display not updating after flashing examples

TECHNICAL SUPPORT Inkplate
1

Customer:

My Inkplate 10 display has stopped updating. I was running my own code on it, but as a test I flashed several example projects to it: Basic/Inkplate10_Black_And_White, Diagnostics/Inkplate10_Burn_In_Clean, and Diagnostics/Inkplate10_Peripheral_Mode. None of them update the display at all—the image shown is still the last thing my code displayed before it stopped updating.

Peripheral mode responds to echo requests (#?), which suggests the device isn’t entirely dead, but nothing is drawn to the screen even when I try to use it. #R(?) always reports #R(0)* even if I attempt to turn the panel power on.

I have electronics equipment available if you need me to do more in-depth troubleshooting.

Originally submitted via email support on 29 July 2024. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.

2

Soldered Support:

Which board definition are you using? Inkplate 10 has two versions: Soldered Inkplate 10 and e-Radionica Inkplate 10. These are different and update the display differently. Could you please try the other board definition than the one you’re using? If Soldered Inkplate 10 is selected, select e-Radionica Inkplate 10, and vice versa, then upload the code example again.

3

Customer:

I’m quite sure this is a Soldered Inkplate 10 (the physical PCB says it is that version, I was building my code for that version, and it stopped working in the middle of the day having not reflashed it). But for completeness, I just flashed Basic/Inkplate10_Black_And_White built for the e-Radionica device, and that also does not update the screen.

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4

Soldered Support:

Let’s use the Soldered Inkplate 10 board definition from now on. I’m quite sure the ePaper is functional in this case. Does your own code now update the ePaper at all? If it’s entirely a software error, your code should still update the ePaper. If it’s a hardware issue, your own code won’t work either.

Could you send me a screenshot of your ‘Tools’ menu in Arduino?

5

Customer:

Neither my code nor any of the example code updates the screen at all. What makes you say the ePaper is functional?

Here’s the screenshot you asked for:

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6

Soldered Support:

I think the ePaper is functional because they aren’t that fragile and uploading a different sketch shouldn’t break anything on the hardware side.

Let’s re-connect the ePaper to the main board via the flat cable connector on Inkplate 10. It’s delicate but not overly delicate—just don’t crease it and it’ll be fine.

Here’s how to do this:

  • Upload the Soldered Inkplate 10 > Basic > Black and white example
  • Disconnect Inkplate from USB and power it off completely
  • Turn the board around and find the ePaper flat cable connector
  • Gently pull the latches in the direction marked
  • This will release the connector; now you can slide the flat cable out
  • When you slide it out, wait a few seconds and then re-connect it, securing it back with the latches
  • Power Inkplate back on

Does that help the issue? Does anything happen on the display?

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7

Customer:

I’ve disconnected and reconnected the ribbon cable with no effect.

On a whim, I added a Serial.begin() and sprinkled some Serial.println() calls around my code to see if it was hanging anywhere. It is not—it’s successfully going through the motions of drawing everything to the back buffer, and then display() returns as if nothing is wrong. But I did notice that it prints the following when I call display.begin():

(output not shown in original message)

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8

Soldered Support:

Could you verify the following for me:

  • Is the border of the ePaper flashing at all when the attempted update happens?
  • Do you have a multimeter and are able to check some voltages on the back of the board on test pads?
  • Are there any mechanical damages on the board?

We are actually identifying a driver issue with Inkplate 10 which is being investigated. I will follow up with an additional message, likely with an update to the Inkplate library for you to try out.

9

Customer:

  • I do not see anything happening at the edges of the panel.
  • Yes. I measured the obvious ones: 5.200V at the USB 5V pin, 3.296V on 3.3V, and 4.820V on Vin. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like me to probe. I also have an oscilloscope and logic analyzer available.
  • No physical damage that I can see.
  • I’m happy to try your updated library.

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10

Soldered Support:

Here’s the updated library: GitHub - SolderedElectronics/Inkplate-Arduino-library at dev · GitHub

In short, the sequence of powering on and off the e-Paper was wrong due to an error in the datasheet. Give that a try with the basic black and white example and let me know.

11

Soldered Support:

Could you please try one last thing: downgrade the board definition to 6.0.0 or so via the Boards Manager in Arduino. This would still let you keep Inkplate 10’s board definition.

We’re noticing this same error with some other users, so we’re wondering if an update to the ESP32 core was what’s causing it.

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