snipe3687 wrote on 2025-07-16, 15:11:

vanfanel wrote on 2025-07-15, 07:25:

Thanks! There are some other issues with the BOM: some of the parts seem to be "out of stock" or have wrong identifiers. I'm att […]
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snipe3687 wrote on 2025-07-14, 20:53:

thanks for hanging in there. also sorry to Rasteri for hijacking this thread a little bit.
that being said, I made the adjustments and uploaded to github. try it again. you shouldn't have any issues now 😀

Thanks! There are some other issues with the BOM: some of the parts seem to be "out of stock" or have wrong identifiers.
I'm attaching a modified BOM XML so you can see for yourself, in case you can also adjust that.
I specially fear for the CS4237B availability (that was why I was trying to order it time ago), and I believe the SOM304RD-VI should be removed from the BOM since it should be provided by us the final users.

The CS4237b is going to be old stock but you can still buy them from places like UTsource. sorry I usually dont have them built so im sure there's some errors. will get back to you!

Thanks for the great work, snipe3687! I’ve been closely following your progress and am really looking forward to seeing your Weecee version with the RPi module underneath. No pressure at all—take your time!

mbandalauk wrote on 2025-07-30, 04:26:

snipe3687 wrote on 2025-07-16, 15:11:

vanfanel wrote on 2025-07-15, 07:25:

Thanks! There are some other issues with the BOM: some of the parts seem to be "out of stock" or have wrong identifiers.
I'm attaching a modified BOM XML so you can see for yourself, in case you can also adjust that.
I specially fear for the CS4237B availability (that was why I was trying to order it time ago), and I believe the SOM304RD-VI should be removed from the BOM since it should be provided by us the final users.

The CS4237b is going to be old stock but you can still buy them from places like UTsource. sorry I usually dont have them built so im sure there's some errors. will get back to you!

Thanks for the great work, snipe3687! I’ve been closely following your progress and am really looking forward to seeing your Weecee version with the RPi module underneath. No pressure at all—take your time!

Just got another rev of that one actually. It’s almost where I want it but there was a few silly mistakes on the last rev. Hopefully an update soon!

I’ve been experimenting with a dual-boot setup using DOS and Windows 98. It’s working fine now, but it took several installation attempts before I got it configured the way I wanted. After so many Windows 98 installs, I decided to try the Windows 9x QuickInstall project. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get the WeeCee to recognize the USB bootable image, even though the same image works perfectly on my other PCs.

Along the same lines, I’ve also been testing the USBODE project. It runs very well in both DOS and Windows 98, but my WeeCee refuses to boot if the device is already plugged into the USB port.

Because both issues seem to involve USB behaviour during boot, I suspect there’s a BIOS setting causing the problem. Has anyone else run into this, or found a workaround?

mbandalauk wrote on 2025-08-25, 20:21:

I’ve been experimenting with a dual-boot setup using DOS and Windows 98. It’s working fine now, but it took several installation attempts before I got it configured the way I wanted. After so many Windows 98 installs, I decided to try the Windows 9x QuickInstall project. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get the WeeCee to recognize the USB bootable image, even though the same image works perfectly on my other PCs.

Along the same lines, I’ve also been testing the USBODE project. It runs very well in both DOS and Windows 98, but my WeeCee refuses to boot if the device is already plugged into the USB port.

Because both issues seem to involve USB behaviour during boot, I suspect there’s a BIOS setting causing the problem. Has anyone else run into this, or found a workaround?

yeah, I noticed that too. does yours reboot repeatedly or just not show up at all?
mine was doing the former. I think it has to do with the way to device initializes and the timing of the USB detection, but I don't know for sure. I did notice that if I plug it into a powered USB hub first it works so it could also have to do with it overloading the VBUS on the USB port which is something that we had discussed previously on here.

snipe3687 wrote on 2025-08-26, 12:03:

mbandalauk wrote on 2025-08-25, 20:21:

I’ve been experimenting with a dual-boot setup using DOS and Windows 98. It’s working fine now, but it took several installation attempts before I got it configured the way I wanted. After so many Windows 98 installs, I decided to try the Windows 9x QuickInstall project. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get the WeeCee to recognize the USB bootable image, even though the same image works perfectly on my other PCs.

Along the same lines, I’ve also been testing the USBODE project. It runs very well in both DOS and Windows 98, but my WeeCee refuses to boot if the device is already plugged into the USB port.

Because both issues seem to involve USB behaviour during boot, I suspect there’s a BIOS setting causing the problem. Has anyone else run into this, or found a workaround?

yeah, I noticed that too. does yours reboot repeatedly or just not show up at all?
mine was doing the former. I think it has to do with the way to device initializes and the timing of the USB detection, but I don't know for sure. I did notice that if I plug it into a powered USB hub first it works so it could also have to do with it overloading the VBUS on the USB port which is something that we had discussed previously on here.

On Windows 98, the USBODE begins to mount — I can see the green icon appear in the taskbar — but then the WeeCee freezes. Mouse movement still works, but everything else is unresponsive.

In my case, the WeeCee is also unable to boot with either the USBODE or a flash drive containing the Win9x QuickInstall image plugged in; the screen just goes black and locks up.

I know the USB port itself is fine, since the USBODE works flawlessly under MS-DOS. Regular flash drives also appear to work properly in Windows 98. I’ll try testing with an external USB hub, but if that resolves the issue, it would confirm a VBUS power problem on my WeeCee, which would be a shame.

Overloading VBUS is very likely the explaination, raspberry pis use a lot of power and the polyfuse in the weecee wasn't specced to power a whole second SoM.

yep, I had the same problem with the USBODE, so I just removed the polyfuse and just bridged the pads with solder. YOLO!

Yep, polyfuses are tricky devices, even if works fine when new they tend to increase resistance while aging under load and then causes a lot of weird behavior due to voltage drops on powered devices... there are active load switches with current limiting for usb that are much more durable...

Mu0n wrote on 2025-08-26, 23:16:

yep, I had the same problem with the USBODE, so I just removed the polyfuse and just bridged the pads with solder. YOLO!

Honestly this is fine. I can't really remember my reasoning for adding a polyfuse in the first place. Possibly the SoM's datasheet advised it. But that's probably for industrial environments where the power supply might be capable of double-digit amps

you can also shore up the voltage of your pi zero 2 with extra usb power, I guess?