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Nothing happens at all

JosiahG28JosiahG28 Posts: 3
in BASIC Stamp
I don't have anything plugged in other than the BASIC stamp, a battery, and the USB cable. Both the Board and my laptop (a mac) are turned on, but nothing happens. I don't even get an error message, or the option to choose what to send it to. When I try to go into download from the menu, it says that it can't locate anything. I've tried everything I can, doing things in a different order, different USB ports, refreshing, but nothing.

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    Details are important. What battery? How is it hooked to the Stamp (what pins?) How is the USB cable connected … normally a USB to serial adapter is needed. Some boards (like the USB Homework Board) have a built-in adapter. What software are you running? If you're using the Stamp Editor, what version? What operating system?

    For the Stamp Editor to find a Stamp, you have to have a functioning serial connection between the PC and the Stamp. The Stamp has to have power available because a built-in program in the Stamp has to respond to information requests coming from the Stamp Editor on the PC.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2020-06-17 21:51
    JosiahG28 wrote: »
    I don't have anything plugged in other than the BASIC stamp, a battery, and the USB cable. Both the Board and my laptop (a mac) are turned on, but nothing happens. I don't even get an error message, or the option to choose what to send it to. When I try to go into download from the menu, it says that it can't locate anything. I've tried everything I can, doing things in a different order, different USB ports, refreshing, but nothing.

    Welcome to the forum!

    You say you are using a MAC. You need to download some software:

    https://www.parallax.com/downloads/macbs2-software

    A picture of your setup would help.
  • JosiahG28JosiahG28 Posts: 3
    Mike Green wrote: »
    Details are important. What battery? How is it hooked to the Stamp (what pins?) How is the USB cable connected … normally a USB to serial adapter is needed. Some boards (like the USB Homework Board) have a built-in adapter. What software are you running? If you're using the Stamp Editor, what version? What operating system?

    For the Stamp Editor to find a Stamp, you have to have a functioning serial connection between the PC and the Stamp. The Stamp has to have power available because a built-in program in the Stamp has to respond to information requests coming from the Stamp Editor on the PC.

    I'm using a 9-volt, PBASIC 24 pin, and a USB homework board. The software is Parallax IDE which is also my stamp editor, and my OS is mojave.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    The Stamp is soldered onto the Homework Board, so socketing is not an issue. Do check that the 9V battery is good (they have only limited capacity). It may seem unlikely, but USB cables do fail. Try one that's known to work at present.

    Unfortunately, I use Catalina, so I can't try the same setup that you're using (Mac OS Mojave). I'll see if I can find my Homework Board tomorrow and see if I can get the IDE to work. It's worked fine before.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2020-06-18 00:31
    Did you load the FTDI driver before you plugged in the board?

    https://www.parallax.com/downloads/mac-ftdi-usb-driver


    https://www.parallax.com/downloads/parallax-ide-chrome


  • DigitalBobDigitalBob Posts: 1,486
    Just wondering do you have a windows PC you can try it out on.
  • JosiahG28JosiahG28 Posts: 3
    DigitalBob wrote: »
    Just wondering do you have a windows PC you can try it out on.

    no
  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,278
    Publison wrote: »
    Did you load the FTDI driver before you plugged in the board?

    https://www.parallax.com/downloads/mac-ftdi-usb-driver


    https://www.parallax.com/downloads/parallax-ide-chrome


    Hi @JosiahG28

    Just to pick up on Publison's suggestion, you may need the latest FTDI USB drivers.

    You can download them from here: https://www.parallax.com/sites/default/files/downloads/Mac-10.9+FTDI-USB-Serial-Driver_v2_4_2.dmg

    These are the steps to follow- even if you have the drivers installed it might help to work over these steps in case an issue comes up that you can solve:

    1. Run the installer and note what messages it gives you.
    2. It may install without error/warning, or it might report that the driver was blocked due to system policy (or something like that).
    3. If it was blocked, you can approve it by going to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General tab and down in the "Allow apps downloaded from:" section you may find a "... was blocked ..." message. Click the Open Anyway button.
    4. You probably need to reboot before the FTDI driver will start working.
    5. After reboot, check again the System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General tab for a message about the FTDI driver being blocked from loading. After you click Open Anyway, it should continue to work properly from then on.
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