DRC error warning banner - but what's the error?

[flotul]

Hello there,

I need to place vias on my PCB.

But when I try to do so, a DRC error warning shows up “Via location violates DRC” and doesn’t let me insert the via.

Okay, but where do I find THE parameter(s) I’m currently violating?

I’m not a KiCAD expert so I use the default desing rules settings.

[paulvdh]

There is not much to see on this screenshot. Maybe you have something on another layer that interferes, but that layer is turned off?

And, how are you placing those via’s?
You probably use PCB Editor / Place / Add Via’s. (I can reproduce your warning with that).
That is however not the normal way for placing via’s. The intended use for that function is to stitch zones together, or for other “out of the ordinary” via placements.

The normal way for placing via’s is to do it interactively during routing of tracks.

Try this:

1. Remove the track connected to the “PCB Finger” pad.
2. Press: X and then start a track from that same pad.
3. Press: V while drawing the track. A via is now attached to the track end.
4. Click somewhere to place the via, and then continue routing on the other side.

There are also some other possibilities I can’t deduce from a screenshot.
I am missing the net names. Normally a PCB looks like:

Have you turned the net names off in the Preferences, or do you not have net names at all? KiCad is completely built around nets, and if you try to draw a PCB without a schematic (that generates the netlist) then you will be struggling all the way and fighting KiCad to get something done.
Some people argue they want to make “trivially simple” PCB’s, but even in those cases it’s also trivially simple to draw a schematic (but there is a bit of a learning curve, mostly for attaching footprints to schematic symbols).

A third option is that the red connector at the bottom are not tracks, but graphics on a copper layer. This is something you should never do in KiCad. Always use tracks for laying conductive copper, and they should never touch any graphics on a copper layer.

Your via also looks very small (or the other pads are very big) There are limits to the minimum drill size for PCB’s, and the smallest sizes usually also cost more to manufacture.

If you’re still stuck after this, then just zip up the project (without backup files to make it smaller) and post it here.

[flotul]

Hi Paul,

Thanks a lot for your help.

First of all, I’m confused because I just realized I was “drawing lines” and not “tracks”

I have to get used to draw the tracks and place vias whenever needed.

Tracks names don’t appear because I didn’t make a schematic.“Simple” doesn’t always mean “easy”.

Thanks a lot again; I have to make a step back and draw a schematic FIRST!

[BlackCoffee]

For my older non-kicad projects that have schematics that I don’t want to create new one’s for, I just create the PCB.

If I want tacks (in the PCB) to belong to a Net, I double-click the track and add Net Name.
They won’t show on the track (as they would if there’s a schematic) BUT, they will show in lower-corner of panel…

[Jonathan_Haas]

@flotul

First of all, I’m confused because I just realized I was “drawing lines” and not “tracks”

Yes, that would explain the error. Lines (and graphical polygons and so on) in KiCad are just “decorative elements” that can’t have an electrical net, DRC doesn’t want them to connect to electrically relevant parts like tracks and vias.