I designed a PCB a few months ago, and after prototyping we have found a short circuit between a via and an internal power track. For an unknown reason I didn't see this problem earlier and when I reopen the PCB layout file I still don't see any mark from Altium indicating this short circuit. What I have done to see this short is to un-tent the via which was tented.
Does anybody know why Altium didn't indicate this short circuit to me before? Normally I run the design rule check so I am a bit amazed that I didn't catch this one. I attached two screenshots of the issue I had. One screenshot is taken immediately after reopening the layout file, and the other shows the violation I got after un-tenting the via. I didn't touch any design rules between the two pictures (I just un-tented the via)
Best Answer
I would guess you have your DRC (design rule check) set to only show shorts when the checker is run in BATCH mode. If you want to change this to also check in ONLINE mode you need to go to Tools --> Design Rule Check --> Rules To Check and check both boxes next to "Short-Circuit".
You need to make sure that the design rule check is set to report short circuit errors, and that you don't have any rules that tell it to ignore the errors.
It doesn't look like you reviewed your board a whole lot before submitting it. That's incredibly unprofessional and I'm not surprised you got this error. When designing PCBs it's always a good idea to not only check it yourself (with a long break between the initial design and when you review it again) but also have another PCB designer review it. For example, what's with that wacky bump in VDD_EXT_UG96?