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eeprom lost program... — Parallax Forums

eeprom lost program...

RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
edited 2008-01-10 02:59 in Propeller 1
This seems strange to me...· I just took a protoboard over to my soldering station to add in a new chip and when I was done, turned it on and got nothing on VGA output...· Troubleshot and found that the eeprom just "forgot" it's program.· But, I was able to just reprogram it and now it works again...

Isn't this strange?· I wonder how the eeprom got erased with no power applied?· Anybody else lost their eeprom data like this?

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2008-01-09 20:19
    Are you sure you hadn't used F10 to upload the "missing" program instead of F11? That has happened to me more than once.

    -Phil
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
    edited 2008-01-09 21:06
    That must be it...
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
    edited 2008-01-09 21:21
    No, actually I'm sure it had a valid program before I started.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2008-01-09 22:02
    There really is no "erase the whole EEPROM" function. You have to do it one location at a time (or a page at a time if you do it properly). You certainly can't erase it if you have no power applied. You might be able to do it with an external particle beam, but you normally need electrical energy to erase it ... and just applying power won't do it.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
    edited 2008-01-09 23:00
    Well, I don't know if the entire thing was erased, but something must have been lost because it was working before I took the soldering iron to it and didn't work after...

    Maybe some sort of ESD got it and flipped some bits...
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
    edited 2008-01-09 23:00
    Of course, there may have been some loose, high-energy neutrons around too...· (and perhaps a couple gamma rays...)

    Post Edited (Rayman) : 1/9/2008 11:05:03 PM GMT
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2008-01-09 23:24
    I've had CPLDs lose their configuration memory when I've switched the PC on and off whilst it's connected via a parallel port programming cable. The port pins can do funny things whilst the PC is booting and just happened to erase the memory. I don't see how this sort of thing could happen with an EEPROM connected to the Prop chip, though.

    Leon

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  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,801
    edited 2008-01-10 00:10
    Perhaps that's it... I did have the Prop Clip attached when I powered it up... PropTerminal and Prop Tool were both running... Maybe somehow it decided to write to eeprom...
  • OzStampOzStamp Posts: 377
    edited 2008-01-10 00:31
    Hi Rayman.

    The issue that got me a few times..

    Let's say you have a project open.. and you have all the objects visible on the menu bar.
    But you have wrong object hi-lited and you do a recompile.... suddenly a perfectly working "Project" okay does not work.
    As the top objects is no longer the top object...

    Hope you understand what I am trying to say..

    cheers ron mel oz
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2008-01-10 00:48
    Ron,

    That one's gotten me, too. In fact, once I hit "compile", and the program compiled when it was clear that it contained multiple errors. I even wrote a "what's up with this?" post, complete with circles and arrows, and posted it on the forum. Fortunately for my dignity, I discovered that what was actually being compiled was a hidden top-level program and not the one I was looking at in the IDE; and I was able to delete my post before anyone saw it.

    -Phil
  • James LongJames Long Posts: 1,181
    edited 2008-01-10 01:01
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) said...
    Ron,

    That one's gotten me, too. In fact, once I hit "compile", and the program compiled when it was clear that it contained multiple errors. I even wrote a "what's up with this?" post, complete with circles and arrows, and posted it on the forum. Fortunately for my dignity, I discovered that what was actually being compiled was a hidden top-level program and not the one I was looking at in the IDE; and I was able to delete my post before anyone saw it.

    -Phil
    Phil,

    That's cheating.....I think I have done that myself....a few times.

    But now I think a little lesser of you (not much) but you shouldn't share those moments. You may loose your god status. :-)

    James L

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    James L

    Partner/Designer
    Lil Brother LLC (SMT Assembly Services)
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-01-10 01:11
    Ditto to compiling the wrong top level object. I use ctrl+F10 or ctrl+F11 often. Sometimes when I am just whipping up code I default to pressing ctrl+F10 and it compiles the top file object - not the program I am working on. I think there needs to be some rework in the Propeller Tool IDE to better use Top Level Object compiling. Just my opinion but no real suggestion on how to solve it.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Timothy D. Swieter
    tdswieter.com
    One little spark of imagination is all it takes for an idea to explode
  • OzStampOzStamp Posts: 377
    edited 2008-01-10 01:38
    Woow that makes me feel good..
    thought i was the only idiot below the equator to make that mistake..
    (compiling the wrong object as the top LEVEL)
    Thought the heat was getting to me when that was happening a few weeks ago..

    cheers ron mel oz..
  • hippyhippy Posts: 1,981
    edited 2008-01-10 02:59
    OzStamp said...
    The issue that got me a few times..

    Let's say you have a project open.. and you have all the objects visible on the menu bar.
    But you have wrong object hi-lited and you do a recompile.... suddenly a perfectly working "Project" okay does not work.
    As the top objects is no longer the top object...

    Hope you understand what I am trying to say..

    That's bitten me too more times than I care to mention. I usually download, wander across the room to see what the TV is showing, stand there confused while it stays blank, then wander back to the PC.

    What might be a good idea is to allow F9 ( syntax check ) but not F10 / F11 unless there's a _CLKMODE in the selected source.

    I cannot believe there are that many people who need to actually download code which doesn't use a _CLKMODE and for the few that do having to add_CLKMODE RCFAST isn't that hard or onerous. It won't catch all download mistakes but would catch a lot of them.
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