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New LCD device support: Crystalfontz


Fiery

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We've added support for Crystalfontz USB-connected CFA-533, CFA-63x, CFA-735, CFA-835, XES-635 LCDs, as listed at:

Crystalfontz High Level Character Displays

Crystalfontz High Level Graphic Displays

You can enable the LCD device from AIDA64 / main menu / File / Preferences / Hardware Monitoring / LCD. The only thing needed to enable this feature is having the LCD drivers (FTDI or VCP) installed, and the display to be connected to a USB port. You can verify if your device is compatible with AIDA64 by finding the device on the Devices / USB Devices page in AIDA64, and checking its Device ID. It should be one of the following IDs:

0403-FC08

0403-FC09

0403-FC0B

0403-FC0C

0403-FC0D

0403-FC0E

223B-0004

223B-0005

CFA-635_TMF_Front_Backlight_On_1024.jpg

It is recommended to use the latest firmware for your display.

You can find the new AIDA64 beta update at:

http://www.aida64.com/downloads/latesta64xebeta

51QPU9Fh43L.jpg

Please let us know if you find any difficulties enabling or using this new feature. Also let us know if you've got another kind of LCD or VFD device that is currently unsupported by AIDA64. BTW, Trefon, BWCT, LCDInfo, and POS VFD (customer display, pole display, table display) devices are also supported now by the latest AIDA64 beta.

Regards,

Fiery

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  • 1 month later...

hi, running an cf835 with this informations: "CFA835:h1.0,f0.5".

 

i created 4 screens with the date but it doesn't show up on the display. also if i try to setup the contrast this doesnt work. no contrast seen on the display if i adjust it.

 

firmware not yet supported? something else wrong?

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It's due to a bug about contrast adjustment: AIDA64 sets the contrast in a way that even the maximum contrast is lower than the visible range of contrast of CFA835. It will be fixed in the next AIDA64 beta update due in a few days from now. I'll post a message in this topic once the new update is available for download.

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still cant see anything on my display using aida but contrast setting works now

We've tried in on our CFA835, and it works fine. If you delete all items on all 4 pages, and press the Apply on the Preferences window, will it display the splash screen? If not, try to adjust the contrast again, maybe it will help.

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no there is no splash screen, maybe something is wrong with my driver or firmware but using cftest i can write something on the display and with linux/lcdproc it works fine. Using windows 8.1 x64.

 

I eanabled in preferences -> lcd -> crystalfontz

LCD background color is white

Brightness: full

Contrast: about 70%

lcd items: clock on each page

 

if i change the page of the lcd screen it also lightens the correct led on the side of my 835 but the screen is empty. (only see the contrast)

 

will try to update to 0.6 firmware later when i got an micro sd card.

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It seems the problem is that AIDA64 handles CFA835 LCDs following the first spec issued for the display, based on firmware rev 0.1. We'll also update our CFA835 device to firmware rev 0.6 and adjust the LCD module to fit the major changes that the latest CFA835 firmwares introduced. I'll soon send you a new AIDA64 beta to try ;)

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  • 11 months later...

Hi, I have a Crystalfontz CFA634-USB (Device ID  0403-FC09) and only 3 lines show on the display.

I am running Windows 7 and the latest AIDA64 beta.

Example:

Under Preferences - LCD Items, Click "New",,Select "Date",Click "OK", Click "Apply"

The Date shows in the list as X,Y 0,0 but not on the screen at all.

If I repeat the above, the next Date shows in the list as X,Y 0,1 but on the screen in Line 1 (row 0)

It seems that everything moves up a row and thus row number 0 is not visible. I can only have 3 rows instead of 4 on my screen.

The screen itself is OK as it works with the CrystalFontz software fine. Please help. Thanks!

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Hi, I have a Crystalfontz CFA634-USB (Device ID  0403-FC09) and only 3 lines show on the display.

I am running Windows 7 and the latest AIDA64 beta.

Example:

Under Preferences - LCD Items, Click "New",,Select "Date",Click "OK", Click "Apply"

The Date shows in the list as X,Y 0,0 but not on the screen at all.

If I repeat the above, the next Date shows in the list as X,Y 0,1 but on the screen in Line 1 (row 0)

It seems that everything moves up a row and thus row number 0 is not visible. I can only have 3 rows instead of 4 on my screen.

The screen itself is OK as it works with the CrystalFontz software fine. Please help. Thanks!

Please let me know the firmware version of your CFA634, and also the version of the driver you're using. Because we've just tested our CFA634 with the latest AIDA64, and it worked flawlessly.

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Hi, Thanks so much for your reply!

The software driver version= v2.12.0.0

 

I am not sure about the firmware but have contacted Crystalfontz and awaiting a reply.

The model I have is quite old I think I purchased it 10 years ago. Maybe it's time for a new one.

The main PCB states: CrystalFontz SKD204-634 V2.2
A sticker labeled YMC states Date 12/8/04
Another sticker labeled USB states 3/1/05

There are two more silver stickers (maybe serial numbers?)
On the main pcb: 280461A
On the USB daughter pcb: 780091A

 

Again, Thanks for your time!

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Our CFA634 was bought not that long ago, but last year, and it has FW 3.1 in it. When we power up the display, it shows the firmware version as "FW 3.1". What does yours show when it powers up?

I suspect yours has got an older firmware (perhaps "SKD204-634 V2.2" means it's FW version 2.2 -- or maybe PCB version 2.2). If it's the case, then we will have to find out how to implement support for older firmware. Most likely the CFA634 communication protocol has gone through major changes in the past 10 years, and AIDA64 can only handle the later (newer) protocol.

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  • 2 months later...

I don't think it's your hardware or firmware SnowDigger!

 

I had an old CFA-634 USB running fine with AIDA64, but recently bought another one (also USB, was just swapping drive bay bezel to a black one to move the older silver one to a different case) and had the same problem as you with the new one - Lines 2-4 displayed on lines 1-3 of the actual display, and the first line was gone.

 

Old (working) hardware: SKD204-634 V2.2, firmware 2.0i ("FW 2.0i")

New (not working) hardware: 2013-05-20PCB v3.2, firmware 3.2 ("fw 3.2")

Both are Device ID 0403-FC09

 

One thing I noticed was different, aside from hardware and firmware - my old one that was working had a custom boot screen.

I reset my old one to not use the custom boot screen (boot to Crystalfontz logo) and then I got the same problem with the missing first line!

 

So it seems without a custom boot screen, the AIDA64 output is "shifted up" one line so you don't see the first line and the bottom line of the display is just blank.

 

Here's how I fixed it on the new screen:

  1. Completely exit AIDA64 or disable Crystalfontz LCD support for now.  AIDA64 needs to not be communicating with the LCD while we do this.
  2. If you haven't already, download and install the Crystalfontz LCDUSB driver and connect your LCD.
  3. Install CrystalControl2 from Crystalfontz
    It shouldn't matter whether you install as Startbar tray application or not.
    Don't install the plugins - we won't be using them
    Ignore the prompt to reboot (at least I didn't have to in Win7 Pro 64-bit)
  4. In the Start menu, right-click All Programs>CrystalControl2>Configure CC2 and Run as Administrator (may not be necessary if you did not install as Startbar Tray application).
  5. That should put a Red Crystalfontz icon in your tray.  Right-click it and choose Start CrystalControl2
  6. The icon should change from Red to Blue. If you selected user-space option, you might also get a green icon as well.
  7. Right-click the Blue icon and choose Configure...
  8. Click Add New under LCD Module Selection and add your module - it should show its name and COM port number in the list.
  9. Click Add New under Screen Selection
  10. Create a simple (or fancy, if you like) screen then click OK
  11. Click Restart CrystalControl2
  12. You should see your screen on the LCD now.  Close the CrystalControl2 configuration window.
  13. In the tray, Left-click the Blue Crystalfontz icon
  14. Click Save Boot State in the pop-up.
  15. Read and understand the warning, then click OK.
  16. In the tray, Right-click the the Blue Crystalfontz icon and select Stop CrystalControl2 (or manually stop the CC2Service service)
    The icon should change from Blue to Orange to Red
    If you had a blue icon, it should disappear.
  17. In the tray, Right-click the the Red Crystalfontz icon and select Remove Tray Icon
  18. Uninstall CrystalControl2 from Control Panel>Programs and Features (aka Add/Remove Programs)
  19. Check your Start menu.  If the CrystalControl2 group is still there, Right-click it and Delete it.
  20. Run AIDA64 or re-enable Crystalfontz support in AIDA64
  21. Bask in the glory of ALL FOUR lines!

Note that you can set a user boot screen via serial commands too, if that's your preference.  The key seems to be just having a custom boot screen selected, for whatever reason.

Note 2: Crystalfontz used to have a beta Boot Screen Designer application, it's no longer on their website (as the functionality is already in CrystalControl2) and I couldn't get it to work, but if you already have it installed it might be worth trying.

Now I have provided this clue, maybe the developers can figure out what the difference is and avoid requiring this workaround in the future. :)

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Thank you for the info :) Do you know how to disable the boot screen to make a CFA634 work incorrectly with AIDA64? :) The problem is that our device has got a boot screen, and "sadly" it works with AIDA64 -- and so we cannot reproduce the issue on our CFA634 test unit.

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  • 1 month later...

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