Electronics > KiCad

Eeschema messing with IC values and footprints

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ebastler:
I have run into a very annoying KiCad bug multiple times now, and am surprised that I cannot find any references to it via Google. Have others encountered this? Am I doing something wrong?

It happens while I am entering a new schematic. At some point, apparently when I add a new type of IC for the first time, Eeschma messes up multiple other ICs which are already in the schematic: It changes their value, footprint, and datasheet reference to that of the part which I just added! The symbol library reference, and the graphical symbol on the sheet, remain intact.

At least that is when I believe it occurs. I have had this happen at least half a dozen times, in three different projects, but never noticed it immediately at the part addition, but only slightly later. Going back via "Undo" will not repair the mess; it needs to be fixed manually, which can be quite tedious when many ICs are affected. Not all existing ICs on the sheet are renamed, but if one IC type gets messed with, all its instances on the sheet are affected. I have only seen this happen to ICs, never to passives.

Given that I have observed this multiple times, and that it is a really annoying problem, I would have expected to find it mentioned on the Web -- but have come up empty. Any idea what might be wrong there? I am using KiCad 5.1.9-1 under Windows 10, 64 bit.

Bassman59:

--- Quote from: ebastler on April 10, 2021, 05:09:22 pm ---I have run into a very annoying KiCad bug multiple times now, and am surprised that I cannot find any references to it via Google. Have others encountered this? Am I doing something wrong?

It happens while I am entering a new schematic. At some point, apparently when I add a new type of IC for the first time, Eeschma messes up multiple other ICs which are already in the schematic: It changes their value, footprint, and datasheet reference to that of the part which I just added! The symbol library reference, and the graphical symbol on the sheet, remain intact.

At least that is when I believe it occurs. I have had this happen at least half a dozen times, in three different projects, but never noticed it immediately at the part addition, but only slightly later. Going back via "Undo" will not repair the mess; it needs to be fixed manually, which can be quite tedious when many ICs are affected. Not all existing ICs on the sheet are renamed, but if one IC type gets messed with, all its instances on the sheet are affected. I have only seen this happen to ICs, never to passives.

Given that I have observed this multiple times, and that it is a really annoying problem, I would have expected to find it mentioned on the Web -- but have come up empty. Any idea what might be wrong there? I am using KiCad 5.1.9-1 under Windows 10, 64 bit.

--- End quote ---

Having done about two dozen designs in Kicad in the last few years, and maybe half a dozen with the 5.1.x line, I can honestly say I've never come across the problem you describe. I can't even imagine _why_ it would do what you describe!

phil from seattle:
Some symbols in the libraries actually point to other symbols.  You place the symbol in a schematic but when you go back and look at it, it is called something else.  I don't recall the specific part or library that did this. It was a real head scratcher for a while.  Might have been a 74 logic series part.

retiredfeline:
Sorry never had that happen to me. Perhaps you could make a note of the ICs and what they turned into next time it happens? Maybe the IC ID you chose was an alias for a group of chips?

ebastler:
Thank you for your thoughts! This is a mysterious one, I agree...

The parts that get messed up are totally unrelated to the new ones I place. Yesterday's example:
- Placed Sensor_Proximity:ITR8307-F43
- Placed 74xx:74HC14
- Noticed (a bit later) that all ITR8307 were now named 74HC14

After manually repairing this, a similar problem recurred a bit later on the same schematic:
- Placed 74xx:74HC123
- Noticed that all ITR8307 and all 74HC14 were now named 74HC123

As mentioned earlier, where part names were changed, the package information and datasheet link were also changed to that of the new part at the same time. I still see the incorrect links to the 74HC123 datasheet in the parts details to remind me of what happened...

This might occur only when adding parts which have multiple units in one package, but I am not 100% sure whether that was really true on all prior occasions.

Also, it might only mess up parts which I had originally placed once or a couple of times, then replicated (individually or as a small group) via the Shift-Select mouse operation. But that should not cause such problems, right? I spot-checked the "Unique ID" fields for various parts, and they do indeed seem to be unique.

What the heck...?  :-//

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