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"No Propeller chip found on any serial port" Recovery idea? — Parallax Forums

"No Propeller chip found on any serial port" Recovery idea?

coryco2coryco2 Posts: 107
edited 2012-03-10 08:13 in Propeller 1
I have been experimenting with four USB Protoboards, constructing identical circuits on them, and have had an odd issue come up with a two of them at the very same time: the Propeller Tool no longer can see the Prop. The USB lights blink (and show up in the PC's system info as working USB devices), and the last code I uploaded to the boards boots and runs on powerup: it utilizes input switches and displays, so I can tell that the Prop chips appearing to be working fine. I just can no longer make the programming connection with two of the boards. But I can with the other two. Nothing was changed on any of them.

I tried the suggestions in another thread on this forum having to do with potential computer/OS related problems, reinstalling drivers and Prop Tools on two different PC's, one WinXP and one 7, and get the same results, so I am confident that this issue has to do with the Protoboards themselves, but I have no idea what caused it. And two at the same time? It doesn't make sense.

Is anyone aware of such an issue with the Protoboards? I have written to the EEPROMS of each an identical number of times--no more than several dozen times, or a hundred at the very most. How does the Prop Tool determine if a Propeller chip is present on the USB interface? Is there some way to work around the on-board interface for programming the Prop (i.e. connecting a Prop Plug to some other I/O pins, for example?).

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,844
    edited 2012-01-26 16:55
    Well, the only really wierd thing that I've seen is with my 4.3" LCDs that draw a lot of power... Some bad code may turn the backlight on full blast and also do something bad that causes the Prop to draw too much current and reboot as Vdd gets drug down... If the code is in eeprom, it gets stuck in a reboot loop...

    Anyway, you might check that nothing is drawing a lot of power leading to a brown-out.

    Actually, your problem seems different... Does your board reboot when the Prop tool tries to find it?
  • idbruceidbruce Posts: 6,197
    edited 2012-01-26 17:04
    Try reloading the drivers found on this page. You may need to unistall the current drivers.

    http://www.parallax.com/tabid/530/Default.aspx

    Bruce
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2012-01-26 17:17
    Ensure you have the latest PropTool 1.3 with the drivers (as suggested by Bruce).
  • coryco2coryco2 Posts: 107
    edited 2012-01-26 18:05
    Well, I have the latest Prop Tool 1.3, and tried reinstalling the drivers, but still get the same results. I thought Rayman might be onto something, but I disconnected the display backlight entirely and still the Prop can't be seen by the Tool. The Prop does reboot when the Tool tries to find it. Is that indicating normal function, or does it suggest a problem?
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    edited 2012-01-27 00:58
    Please post a pic of your setup and schematic. SOmething is amiss and we are only guessing.
  • desikodesiko Posts: 18
    edited 2012-01-27 05:07
    Hi, coryco2

    I've had this problem a couple of times on hardware I've put together.
    Have a look at the signal chain from the FTDI DTR line through RESn on the
    propeller. If the DTR assert cannot reach RESn the prop will not be properly
    detected by the OS. For me usually a bad joint on coupling cap or reset transistor.

    Are you using a proto board with USB on the board or a prop clip?

    Posting a pic is a good idea.

    Cheers,

    Desiko
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,844
    edited 2012-01-27 06:04
    One other thing to check is anything you may have hooked to P30 and P31.
    If you have something there, try with it disconnected...
  • Bobb FwedBobb Fwed Posts: 1,119
    edited 2012-01-27 13:43
    I've had a problem with my setup that gives me the "no usable serial ports available" error. I have to run through a few windows to get it working (just for the first time programming a board I plugged in). I don't know if it is the same problem you are having, but it worth a try I'd think.
    It started happening when the COM numbers got into the 40s or 50 (notice this one is 67).

    Follow the order of the buttons I hit (in red).
    unusableserial.jpg
    unusableserial.jpg
    1024 x 305 - 45K
  • ratronicratronic Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-01-27 14:29
    coryco2 I have at times 2 to 4 propellers hooked to my system at the same time. What I have found is that when you hook up a board for the first time look at the com# it is assigned. I have had problems before like you probably because of my doing. I had to unplug all chips then plug only one in at a time to find its com# and if any one shows with a duplicate com# you will have to go into device manager to straighten out. At least that was my problem.

    Edit: Also when hooking up new chips for the first time do not unplug the ones already installed while plugging in the new ones.
  • desikodesiko Posts: 18
    edited 2012-02-04 07:34
    Curious if you got it to work. Any luck?
  • coryco2coryco2 Posts: 107
    edited 2012-02-04 10:41
    No, I just haven't gotten back to it yet. Thanks to everyone for the comments, though. I'll try to give you a status update when I find some time to work on it again.
  • Shylark87Shylark87 Posts: 10
    edited 2012-02-26 12:40
    I have something similar happening. I bought Stingray a while back and just started playing with it last week. I uploaded the "Stingray Demo" code everything went fine. Next I wanted to change the RISK_FACTOR variable. I had a little trouble getting it to connect but it worked after unplugging and re-plugging a few times. The third time I wanted to program the board I can't find the board with the prop tool. My other boards work fine using the same power sources. I have also tried three different USB cables and still no success. Board lights up when I plug in the USB. Oh and the Stingray will still run just fine. I thought it might be a power issue so I disconnected the pings and motors but still no change.

    After reading the thread I have uninstalled and re-installed the drivers and updated the Prop Tool to version 1.3

    I'm wondering now if its a physical USP connection issue on the board not sure how to test it though.

    Any suggestions?
  • desikodesiko Posts: 18
    edited 2012-02-27 14:47
    Hi, Shylark87

    A good first step is to check the windows device manager to see if the
    Ftdi part has enumerated properly. It should show up in the device manager
    list as : USB Serial Port (ComX)
    where "X" is number of the com port grabbed.

    What Windows version are you running?
    Do you have an oscilloscope?

    Regards,

    desiko
  • jinzaijinzai Posts: 1
    edited 2012-03-04 21:38
    I am developing an application...by the numbers. I just ran into this same issue and the software, while great for development when things are going well...is not so great when they do not. Its frustrating and reinstalling is not a panacea by any stretch. One thing I had not accounted for when I switched from the Propstick USB to the Quickstart is that the Quickstart uses P23 already and I had used P23 for the GPS in a previous project....which I have managed to lose somehow in all the reinstalling, or somewhere in there. Very frustrating, but probably entirely my fault.. I started with the GPS hooked up and added the Parallax Serial Terminal object running at 115200...no problem. Then, when I added the GPS object and attempted to initialize it, this connection lockup condition occurred. I disconnected the Quickstart and then the GPS, reconnected the Quickstart, restarted the Propeller Tool v1.3, edited the code to remark out the GPS initialization....SAVED the edited source, identified the hardware successfully, then was able to upload the edited code. I think that the original post about the connection of devices is the relevant path to take, but it is not entirely clear how to clear the communications lockup condition. In your case and mine...it was working fine...until.

    Installing other devices that utilize virtual COM ports can and does mess up the FTDI driver at times, but....I think that is not your issue, or mine in this case. While I would rather continue on with my project, I think it might be more beneficial if I wrung this out and tried to document a useful methodology for troubleshooting this particular issue because the tools are not helpful in this regard. (Not that I would expect them to be, just that I am a huge fan of diagnostic capability in development tools.)
  • jrjr.jrjr. Posts: 45
    edited 2012-03-04 22:11
    I've seen this before when using full duplex serial spin and debugging with a second
    active port created on other pins than 30 & 31.
    This was a quickstart board.
    The most simple solution was to comment out the second port, symptom goes away.
    This stopped the problem, and I can create it reliably by enabling the second port.

    Seems like a timing problem, as sometimes it works just fine when enabled.

    Wish I could tell you more.

    jack
  • Shylark87Shylark87 Posts: 10
    edited 2012-03-05 06:03
    @desiko The Device manager shows it as something like "Unknown USB Device" If I plug in another board it shows up as Com1. I am running Windows 7. I do not have an oscilloscope. If I can get access to one what should I be looking for from the Board?

    I'm curious if I can repeat the problem on another board but I'm won't try this until I have a good idea how to fix it the first one. I won't be able to work with on it for about two weeks. I will update the thread when I am able.

    Thanks
  • WurlitzerWurlitzer Posts: 237
    edited 2012-03-05 08:21
    Boy, I fought this for over a week. I have had a Prop running in conjunction with a VB program for well over a year and on occasion once or twice a week, the VB program cannot communicate with the Prop (via the USB PropPlug) and at the same time this happens, my Prop program may or may not send out the MIDI messages it should, indicating to me that the program is not executing.

    Last week nothing I did could get the PC to communicate with the Prop.I tried downloading the program from the same PC but it could not find the chip. I disconnected the PropPlug and connected it to a different board and did an F10 and the program downloaded fine. Went back to the problem board nothing. The Prop Development software could not detect a chip.

    Yesterday, I was in the process of building up a replacement board and while using the Parallax Terminal program to debug I thought, what the heck, and I tried the old board once again using the terminal program via my laptop. Communication was fine. I moved the PropPlug cable back to the original PC and it ran perfectly the rest of the day.

    Now I don't know what is causing this, the Prop, the PropPlug, the PC.
  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,844
    edited 2012-03-05 09:02
    I've had recent occasional troubles with this too... Probably because Windows keeps updating my FTDI drivers...
    Anyway, it sometimes takes me a few tries to get a Quickstart programmed on one computer...
    I'm pretty sure it's a latency issue. I can see the red and green lights of the FTDI chip flashing, so I know the Prop is trying to talk.
    But, the Prop tool is sometimes not waiting long enough and reports it Not Found before giving it enough time...
  • turbosupraturbosupra Posts: 1,088
    edited 2012-03-05 10:15
    On my demo board, the solder joints became weak over time and continual usage, could this be an issue with the protoboard? I had to put pressure on it counter clockwise, and hold, for it to connect.
  • desikodesiko Posts: 18
    edited 2012-03-10 08:13
    @Shylark87 The device is visible to Windows but failing to enumerate properly. You need to figure out if this is a driver issue or something else.
    Here is a link to a great paper on debugging USB enumeration in Windows 7 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463163.
    Do both boards have the same USB interface hardware? Is it FTDI232R?
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