Adventures in Microcontroller Circuit Debugging
Summary
The post documents debugging a batch of Floppy Emu boards with misbehaving microcontrollers, including boot failures, erratic output, and slow operation. It walks through a systematic troubleshooting process—verifying power, reflowing solder, testing timing with internal/external clocks, and swapping the crystal—eventually pinpointing clock/oscillator issues and capacitor values as likely culprits. The writer discusses Pierce oscillator theory, capacitor loading, and batch variability, with ongoing experiments and next steps.