EEPROM Verify Error

shanghai_fool

Does anyone know why I should get an EEPROM verify error sometimes?
I can download and run to RAM but sometimes get an error when loading to EEPROM.
Not all the time, just after some edits. But I can't figured what I typed wrong. I don't get compile errors, just verify errors.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

You need to tell us more about your setup. Which Propeller board are you using? How is it powered? Are you using a Prop Plug?

-Phil

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shanghai_fool

I'm using the standard Propeller USB Protoboard.

Most of the time it works OK but then I do some editing to the program and it won't verify the eeprom. Sometimes after I do more editing or just load another program, It will be OK.

Forrest

If you're using a retractable USB cable, then try a standard mini USB cable.

ElectricAye

I'm using the Educational Kit version of the Propeller and have long endured this EEPROM verification problem, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone mention the retractable cable as being a potential culprit. Just curious, why would the retractable USB cable cause that problem? And does that cable have the potential for other problems?

thanks,
Mark

CannibalRobotics

I've seen this too.
Exit out of the Propellor Tool, power down your device, unplug the USB cable. Start everything back up and it usually works.
I think the problem lives in the USB world.
Are you using a hub?
J-

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shanghai_fool

It is not hardware problem. I loaded another program and downloaded with no errors, then loaded original program and it downloaded OK. There are some problems with prop tool 1.2. For instance, if you use it once, it no longer recognizes the port. But, if I restore the prop terminal then minimize it, the port is ok again. I just wasn't sure if this was part of the same problem. I guess it is. I'm not sure whose comm program the prop tool is compiled with, but it has problems.
It just seems to happen after I have done some editing and I thought maybe there was some characters it doesn't like.

It also does the same thing with prop-plug on another board.

Thanks anyway.

ElectricAye

I've never noticed any pattern to this EEPROM verification problem at all: for the most part it seems fairly random, happening over and over in fits, then mysteriously going away (for a while). The only time I'm sure it will happen is when my HP laptop starts doing some kind of background operation and I hear the hard drive(?) whirring up a little faster. Then it's time to just walk away and come back when it has stopped goofing around. For me, loading a long program into the EEPROM is just a matter of hitting the F11 key over and over until the problem yields to my sheer persistence.

Mark

Mike Green

Windows background operations are well known to interfere with downloading to a Propeller, particularly with laptops. The worst offender is Windows Update. If you can't afford to have to keep trying to download, disable automatic updating while you're working with a Propeller.

What happens is that the download process involves several very time critical operations and background operations can cause enough delay to make the Propeller or the Propeller Tool time out. This is particularly a problem with laptops since they're often somewhat underpowered.

This is not necessarily fixable since some of the timeouts are part of the Propeller ROM bootstrap loader. There's been some work on the Propeller Tool in the last few versions to improve download reliability. Make sure you're using the lastest version.

Post Edited (Mike Green) : 12/1/2008 4:18:01 AM GMT

shanghai_fool

The computer is not doing anything else particularly and its the same no matter if I hit F11 5 or 6 times.
I just keep another spin program on the editor, compile it first with F11 then go back to the original file and then F11 works ok. If I hit F11 twice, the second time gives error.

F10 works everytime.

Weird.