Is my Basic Stamp dead?

[Codetonic]

I've had and used this same Basic Stamp starter kit for years.
It just recenly got pulled off the shelf after several years
sitting idle.

What I have (from Long long ago...):
BASIC Stamp (experimenters board),
The chip has a sticker: STAMP 1.4,
Book: BASIC Stamp Starter Kit Version 1.0

Using a laptop with a printer port and booting to DOS 6.22,
when I try to program the stamp using the original STAMP.EXE
and the parallel programing cable, I get this error:

ERROR + EEPROM VERIFY
or
ERROR HARDWARE NOT FOUND

I can understand the HARDWARE NOT FOUND when trying
to write from Windows XP, but what does it mean from a
floppy booted DOS 6.22?

Could the stamp really be dead or is it the laptop?

Thanks
Michael

[Codetonic]

Me again...

I just got access to a desktop PC and was able to
write to the BASIC Stamp D using the parallel port
and DOS 6.22. So the stamp and board or ok.

I guess laptops tend to be persnickity about their
hardware. But, how can I get the parallel port to
behave? Windows has it as an ECP setting. But
I thought under DOS it was flat hardware.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Michael

[Forrest]

FYI if you want to use the latest Stamp IDE software that runs under Windows 2K/XP, you just need to invest $4.95 in a BS1 Serial Adapter (which connects to a 9 pin serial port on your computer) www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=27111 (http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=27111)

[Codetonic]

Thanks Forest,

Yeah, I downloaded the new software for XP last night and saw
that the programming is now done with the serial port.

I've got a serial adapter on order. In the mean time, I've
got my stamp programming 'de old vays'.

Thanks for the input
Michael