[SOLVED] Synchronization errors between schematic and PCB in Altium Designer Summer 2009

[nkinar]

Hello,

I am using Altium Designer Summer 2009.

After modifying the schematic and doing a re-annotation of all schematic designators, I find that both the schematic and the PCB are not synchronized.

While in the schematic, I choose Design --> Update PCB document. The software presents a dialog box stating that "Failed to Match 9 of 642 components using unique identifiers." When I choose the "yes" response to this dialog box, only one unmatched component class is shown.

Within the PCB, if I go to Project --> Update component links, I am presented with a partial list of components, some of which are not linked to a net.

Is there a way to remove the offending components, and then update the PCB so that both the schematic and the PCB are perfectly synchronized? Since I've already done much of the routing of traces on this PCB, I don't want to throw away all of work and start over.

 

[john blue]

you can just delete that particular component on the PCB and the schematic then try updating it

 

[nkinar]

Thanks for your response, john blue! I will try this as soon as I get my Windows machine back up and running. Windows 7 has been crashing lately, and I think that when a crash occurs and Altium Designer is running, something can go wrong with the schematic to PCB update process.

 

[nkinar]

Okay, the problems with the Windows 7 crashes have now mysteriously disappeared; all of this seems to have been associated with graphics card update problems.

As suggested by john blue, I've deleted the components causing errors on the PCB (simply by selecting the component and pressing the delete key on the keyboard). After much tinkering, this has finally made the components on the schematic agree with the components with the PCB! I now suspect that some of these problems were created by having "Standard" components shown on the schematic without having an assigned footprint. By double-clicking on the component, I changed the type to "Mechanical." Perhaps this fixed some of the problems.

Now I have one more (small) problem. In the schematic, when I select Design --> Update PCB document from the drop-down menu, I am prompted to add pins to nets. However, when I click on the "Validate Changes" button, the message listed beside each of the pins says "Unknown pin."

Could someone comment on what I might be able to do to remove these nets tied to unknown pins? This I think is the final synchronization error that I need to deal with before both the schematic and the PCB are synchronized.

 

[john blue]

Is there an unknown pin added to the PCB or in the schematics that has not be updated on the PCB?

 

[nkinar]

Thanks john blue; this could indeed be the case. I don't know if there are any unknown pins; is there a way to check for unknown pins on the schematic or the PCB?

 

[nkinar]

Okay, so what I did was use a trial-and-error approach. I simply did a search for components on a particular "unknown net" and removed these components in the schematic. I then checked to see if all pins were matched to pads on the footprints (some were not). I then ran Design --> Update PCB. Finally the schematic matches the PCB.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, john blue. It's too bad that the software is so finicky - this is not a pleasant experience.