Unable to route bottom layer

[RnDMonkey]

My Ultiboard is not working correctly at all. I'm sure I've enabled all the options like Options>PCB Properties>Copper Bottom>Routable but I still get DRC errors saying:

"The object "Copper Polygon: Width(10.0000 mil) Layer(Copper Bottom)Clearance(10.0000 mil) Net(9) " is on a layer that is not allowed by the net settings"

The Autorouter refuses to use the bottom layer even though I have thru-hole parts that should be easily routable from the bottom. This is driving me crazy.

[RnDMonkey]

Well I figured out what the problem was. From my point of view: NI has opportunities for improvement. From NI's point of view: "You mean you didn't know you had to select all the nets in the spreadsheet view and select bottom as an allowed layer? Tsk tsk. Just because you selected "Routable" for the bottom layer in the autorouter settings doesn't mean it's ACTUALLY routable, silly boy."

[lacy]

I am not sure which version you have, but you need to look at the bottom of the screen. There should be a spreadsheet view done there. In this spreadsheet you will find a list of tabs. Goto the tab that is labeled "nets" and click it. Once there go to the right and find the column that says "routing layer" and see what it says. If you transfered from Multisim it will probably say "10" which means to route the copper top only.

To change this i use this technique. I go down selecting all the nets with SHIFT>Left Mouse button and then once they are all highlighted I click on one net in the column and then enter the following based upon which side of the board you want routed

10  Copper Top

01 Copper Bottom

11 Both sides

Once you change one using this technique all of them will be changed as a group.

This works for me in the Power Pro Version. if you have a different version then I will have to go back and re-investigate how this can be done without the spreadsheet.

I hope I have helped some.

[RnDMonkey]

If you hadn't posted that 2 minutes after I posted, I'd say you weren't listening. I find Ctrl-A easier than shift-LMB, though. Thanks!

Message Edited by morgol on 05-22-2008 07:47 AM

[lacy]

O.K. cool. See I learned something about that too. I knew there was another technique to use on this, but I just couldn't remember it. Thanks for refreshing my worn out memory on that.

[Henry Wroblewski]

I was getting the same error, but for a 4-layer board. It appears that each digit represents a layer, a "1" indicates it is routable, and a "0" indicates that it is not. My existing status was 1001, which I changed to 1111 to enable routing on all layers.