Hey,
I´m new to kicad and I use version 5.1.0. My task is to optimize an existing board, therefore I got all the files (pcbs, schems and libs…, at least I hope so) from a colleague. So I opened the project, started working and noticed strange question mark boxes in the schematic instead of parts + I get errors like this when trying to save:
That is almost certainly the result of incompatible approaches to organizing the symbol libraries. The project was originally created with a particular method of organizing the libraries, quite likely based on custom, locally defined libraries; your installation probably has only the default KiCAD libraries, placed in a default directory structure. Search this Forum, especially the “FAQ” section, for a more complete explanation.
Solving your problem may be as simple as copying the symbol library files from the original designer’s computer to your machine. Or, if it is very obvious what a particular component is supposed to be - 10K resistor, 2N3904 transistor, etc - you can probably locate a suitable symbol in the default libraries of your KiCAD installation and add it to your schematic. (I give that approach a weak recommendation, at best. At the very least, I’d copy the default symbol into my own custom libraries and use it from there.)
Dale
Test_Point has become TestPoint in V5 libraries.
TPS54386 and LT1931 are missing from my default Ubuntu 5.1.2, though they may be in other libraries that are not installed by default in this build.
This means you definitely do not have all files. You are definitely missing the cache lib file which must be considered part of the schematic.
This file should ensure that your project is readable no matter what happens to the libraries.
The second problem you have is that libraries are differently setup as @dchisholm already explained.
For sure, but stuff goes a little bit further. I´m sorry I wasn´t able to finish my post yesterday. I have the corresponding cache.lib file and I implemented it via the Symbol libraries manager. So I select a random part which is causing an error and see this:
So kicad looks for this connector in his own global lib, not in the cache file, right?
Because when I change the lib reference to the way it`s specified in the cache file, the red question mark box
vanishes. That´s how I changed it So now it works for once, sady though as soon as I try to save the file, I get the same error again. The difference is, however, if I look into the same cache file again after saving in this example the Connector_test_point has completely vanished from cache. My conclusion is, now the kicad error message is understanstandable, but kicad also caused it by itself and I have no idea why.Thanks in advance.
Thanks Dale, it´s true my colleague used an older kicad version but I can´t talk to him for the next week. I tried both copying the original part specicification out of the cache file and changing lib direction to a part, kicad 5.1.0 knows. Both approaches work until saving the schematic.
The cache lib file should not be in the library tables. Your project should not directly reference it. It must have the file name of the type project_name-cache.lib. It must be within the project directory. It is handled by kicad automatically so do not modify it in any way. (Unless you really know what you are doing which you do not seem to do.)
If you get question marks even thought there is a cache lib then i guess that the lib has been damaged or is out of date. (Or has the wrong file name which kind of means that it is out of date) A typical example how this happens is if you screw up transfering a v4 project to v5. As you state it was created in an older version this might indeed be the case. You might want to read this: Converting KiCad version 4 projects to version 5 (Remap a project)
Your point is that you should never add your project_name-cache.lib to the project specific libraries to avoid confusing kicad?
I put it that way:
Yes never add it the way you did as strange things will happen that way.
Thanks for the hint. It didn´t solve my problem though. But as I took the original project_name-cache.lib file and changed it´s name to something unrelated to the project, then related all the troublesome parts there it worked. So I’m good for now I guess.
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