Basic Stamp Won't ID
T-town
Posts: 17
Right out of the box, I can't ID the stamp (Homework Board - USB). Following the help screens it looks like (of course) I have the worse case going on here. The Loopback: Yes, Echo: Yes; but no Device Type or Version is showing up. It only shows COM4 no matter what USB I'm plugged into. Is that normal? It says it may be dead and I am suppose to call Tech support. Any sugestions while I wait for morning???
Comments
Hi Mike. Batter is new and tested such. The software seemed to install properly and I was not plugged in at the time. The only problem was the USB drivers didn't install correctly when the original software installed. I dowloaded and installed it separately and it seemed to go in okay. When I run the ID the LEDs flash on the stamp side and it seems to be communicating. Any other thoughts?
Joe
And welcome to the forums!
My next move is going to be moving to my desk top PC and start over.
If yes, try downloading the drivers directly from FTDI (the maker of the USB chip on the HomeWork Board) http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
Hello!
Joe Parallax is an FTDI shop, and they actually sell a perfect adapter for talking to the stamps. I have one here after I discovered that the other ones I do have ignored the features of how the stamps do communicate.
Yes if you need to send back the poor defective one. I certainly hope its not as bad as you might think. But do look into the widget in question. That one is found at http://www.parallax.com/product/28030
And I bought mine directly from Parallax. But it is available from Microcenter. There should be one reasonably near where you live.
The 28030 is on my radar but won't help me this weekend. I found a couple of Microcenter's that have it, but the are both too far away. I'm thinking a 7 hour round trip won't go over well with the Mrs.! Unless I can get the one that was shipped to me working, it's looking like I'm going to have to patients.
The problem I had was that the drivers were installed but they weren't signed.
Windows decided to "protect" me...
I had to go to the FTDI site and get a signed driver.
http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2xx.htm
I got version "2.08.30".
Jim
Hi Jim. Woke up this morning excited about your fix. Short story is, no-go. I downloaded the 2.08.30 driver and uninstalled the Parallax driver, but it didn't work. Just to be double sure that the PC wasn't using the wrong driver, I even started fresh on PC #3 (my work laptop) and "unchecked" the driver download option when the Stamp Editor unpacked. I then went to the ftdi site and downloaded the certifited driver. Ugg... no change. Loopback: yes, Echo: yes but not type or version is coming up. I'm still hoping to run over to my friends house today to see if he has the majical touch but I'm not holding my breath. My RMA envelope is addressed and ready to go.
Joe
As far as I know I do but I can chack. I got over to my friends house today and was not able to talk to the USB board with his PC either. He took a good look at the board and thinks the problem is most likely the chip by the USB port. He was able to talk to the serial board Parallax sent me. That's the good news. He borrowed me a Aten USB to serial board he used when he got his first Stamp board. He said it worked fine for downloading but he hit some problems down the road, so he got a Parallax converter. At this point everything is indicating that the USB board was DOA. The good news is that I have a board to start playing with, the bad news is the USB board will be on its way back to Parallax come Monday.
I want to thank everyone for your help with this. I'm sure I will have a 1000 more questions for this forum, but for now I'm looking forward to Chapter 1!
Joe