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Can somebody please explain why I am getting errors on my ground pins when connecting to a GND port?

enter image description here

As you can see the pins are defined as POWER type. The error is "Nets with possible connection problems", whatever that means. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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    \$\begingroup\$ what happens at pin 28 if you break the connection between pins 27 and 28? \$\endgroup\$
    – jsotola
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 2:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @jsotola If I break the link, pin 28 is still connected to GND and still gives the error. The other pins that arent connected to GND but are still connected to each other show no error. Until I connect them to GND again then the error reappears. Thx for the clue. \$\endgroup\$
    – TripleAntigen
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 3:46

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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Define all your power pins (GND included) as Passive. This will get rid of the error message.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks a lot, that fixed it. I had read in another question that you should use Power for power and ground for some reason, forum.kicad.info/t/… \$\endgroup\$
    – TripleAntigen
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 3:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ And also in the last post here. Confusing. eevblog.com/forum/beginners/… \$\endgroup\$
    – TripleAntigen
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 3:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TripleAntigen Problem with Altium, they only have Power as a pin type and don't differentiate between a power input or output. This ends up as a mess with Altium's DRC which is why I define power & ground pins as passive. \$\endgroup\$
    – qrk
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 22:37
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To add to the other answers, the default ERC check will flag warnings or errors if a power type pin is connected to an I/O or Output (any kind, e.g. open collector) pin. I had a bunch of my GND pins flagged as warnings because I had two I/O pins tied directly to ground on another sheet (unused and in my case safe to short to GND). Placing No-ERC crosses on those two pins resolved all the warnings on my GND pins.Altium default ERC rules

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Look really really close where your wires touch your pins.

Clue... they don't.

There's a very very small gap there.

After you zoom in and fix it, set your grid to 10 or 100. You have it set to '1'

Use the g hotkey to toggle it

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks but they were connected, the white bits are some graphical artifact of the four tiny pin dots. It goes away if you zoom. \$\endgroup\$
    – TripleAntigen
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 3:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ By setting those pins as 'passive' you've defeated the error check. Maybe it is a graphical anomaly, but I've been using Altium for a couple decades, and have seen this over & over (I administer it for our company). That graphic looks JUST LIKE it would if your IC were off grid 1 tick. I mean, I'm not there to wiggle the component and wires myself, but I'd have bet a lunch on this. You'll know if you've got the right connections you push this to PCB layout ... the actual netlist will become obvious. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle B
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 4:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Setting the pin to "GND" or "POWER" tells Altium those pins should connect to power or gnd (duh). It's flagging them because they don't. It might be your gnd symbol that's off grid... looks like it's a tick or two lower than the connecting wire. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kyle B
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 4:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ Although this wasn't the solution for this particular case, I have had this problem before with respect to the grid on the schematic editor. Since this might still help someone else with a similar problem, I recommend against deleting this answer (if you were remotely inclined to do so). \$\endgroup\$
    – JYelton
    Commented Nov 2, 2021 at 14:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @KyleB Yes, they are definitely connected to GND in the PCB too. \$\endgroup\$
    – TripleAntigen
    Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 3:19
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I belive that the accepted answer is not the best one. While it does get rid of the errors it doesn't fix the source of the problem. Having power pins connected to GND shouldn't cause a connection problem. I found this question while searching around for solutions to the same problem. In my case, the problem was actually elsewhere. I had GND connected to a pin that was of the I/O type. This caused the ERC to mark the I/O pin as well as all power pins on the GND net as problematic. Changing the pin to Input only, as it will be used, fixed the problem.

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