Comms issues with BST - works with PropTool

gianallen

Hi,

Recently I've been having some issues with communications between Brad's Spin Tool and Propellers. The typical symptom is that I get a "No Propeller Found" message when trying to load a program. Testing all available ports returns "No Propeller Found" as well. If I close BST and open Br@y terminal to try to communicate with the Propeller, Br@y terminal won't open the port, saying "port not available". Finally, I try loading the program to the Propeller using the Parallax Propeller Tool. It works! I open Parallax Serial Terminal and, viola! It works to see data coming from the Prop program I just loaded into EEPROM (or RAM - both work). I close PST and the PropTool and try to load the program again in BST - no go. I close BST and try to view data coming from the Propeller in Br@y Terminal - no go.

Does anybody have any ideas here? I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the FTDI drivers, and get the same result. Tried restarting the computer multiple times and same result. I have the same issue whether the PropPlug I'm using is registered on the USB bus as "Port 4", "Port 24",or "Port 25". I have tested and received the same results on two Prop QuickStart boards and one custom Propeller board.

I would be happy to use the PropTool rather than BST, except for the fact that my full-fledged Prop programs (not the ones I'm testing with) rely on BST's "don't compile unused methods" feature. These programs are too large and won't compile using the PropTool unless I diligently go through all the many objects associated with my programs and delete all unused methods.

Thanks in advance for your help.

SRLM

I'm on Ubuntu 12.04, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I've noticed that BST has a hard time finding some Propeller boards, in some situations. To get around that, I've found that the PropGCC loader (propeller-load) is rock solid and very reliable. It always gets through to the Propeller.

As for your comm port problem, BST might be holding on a lock to the port even after it's been killed.

For a solution, I would write a simple script that uses BSTC (the command line compiler) to compile the code into a binary, and use propeller-load to load the binary and open a terminal if you want that too. You won't get the single click download (it's now 2 or so), but it should work.

gianallen

Thanks SRLM - good idea using BST to compile and the propeller loader to download. We did previously build a little app using the Propellent library (basically the Wingman loader). I'll also try compiling the program using BST and then try download using that little custom app. I've never used BSTC, but this could warrant getting familiar. BTW, I did not mention previously I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Tracy Allen

When that happens to me on a Mac, it is usually because I have forgotten that another comms program like MacBS2 or Coolterm is also open.

Sometimes bst seemingluy locks up when the Prop has been programmed to send rapidfire data back to the debug serial port. It won't program the chip or is very sluggish to respond to menu actions.

Things may be very different on the PC. I presume it comes back if you shut down and restart?

D.P

Tracy Allen wrote: »

When that happens to me on a Mac, it is usually because I have forgotten that another comms program like MacBS2 or Coolterm is also open.

Sometimes bst seemingluy locks up when the Prop has been programmed to send rapidfire data back to the debug serial port. It won't program the chip or is very sluggish to respond to menu actions.

Things may be very different on the PC. I presume it comes back if you shut down and restart?

As Tracy says, this also happens to me on a Mac when I leave minicomm open and sometimes I must close both BST and minicomm to get BST to recognize the prop again. I have notice that BST will "detect" the prop but can't program it which masks the problem that I have actually left minicomm open!

gianallen

Well...I switched USB cables again and, at least for the moment, BST has no problem downloading programs to the Propeller. I have been using one of the thin, retractable USB cables that came with the original proplugs, so my guess is that is at least part of the problem (although the Prop not found error occurred with another, standard USB cable I had tested with a few times as well). Nevertheless, it seems to work now, so yay!

pmrobert

I seem to recall that BST has an option for fast/optimized/something faster download transfer which I would think would be more prone to error given a non-optimal USB cable. Just a thought....