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BS2 download trouble — Parallax Forums

BS2 download trouble

DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
edited 2014-12-29 19:39 in BASIC Stamp
Hi everyone,
I have the Professional development board. I have used it for a long while with the serial port on my PC with no trouble. I recently had to upgrade, and the PC had no serial port, so I got one of the Parallax USB serial ports. The problem is, whenever I try to download [run / run or F9] it will often give me the error communication failure, check power supply message. Sometimes instantly, sometimes part way through the download. It can take anywhere from one to several tries before I get a successful download. I've tried 3 different USB hubs, and also direct to a USB on the PC. What is going on?

Thank you,
Dave

Comments

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-03-27 07:38
    Welcome to the forums!

    I'm assuming you have the USB-to-Serial Adapter?

    http://www.parallax.com/product/28030

    I know there has been some problems programming a Propeller through a USB 3.0 interface. Does your new PC have blue colored USB connectors? If it does, check to see if it has USB 2.0 connectors and try them.
  • Jeff MartinJeff Martin Posts: 760
    edited 2014-03-27 09:53
    What BASIC Stamp are you trying to download to?

    Is your USB cable one of the thin retractable kind?
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-27 10:07
    It is directly into one of the USB 2 ports. It may have been in a 3 at one of the times during my trying to find out what's wrong.

    It is really being stubborn today. I just tried 10 or 20 times, and never got further than 1/8 of the download done before the error came.
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-27 10:09
    The USB cable is the one that came with the USB -> serial adapter.

    The stamp is a BS2P The big one with 2 banks of 16 I/O lines
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-03-27 10:42
    At the bottom of the following page is a troubleshooting guide for the USB driver. I would try what is recommended in that and see if you still have issues.

    http://www.parallax.com/downloads/parallax-usb-driver-installer
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-27 11:20
    The driver did not have an advanced tab, so I went to the FTDI sire, and downloaded the driver. It seemed to install, but then I saw an error massage - that disappeared before I could read it. The Properties box now has an advanced tab, with the local vcp checked. But no Port tab to change the settings!

    I have also now uninstalled and re installed the driver from FDTI. No change.

    OS is Win 7 64 bit
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-03-27 14:55
    There wouldn't be an Advanced Tab, just a Port Settings Tab with an Advanced Button. If that is not showing up then it doesn't sound like the driver is installed correctly. The entry in your Device Manager should read: USB Serial Port (COMxx), where xx is the assigned COM port number.
  • RNeilRNeil Posts: 4
    edited 2014-03-28 07:29
    We have had some similar trouble with the Board of Education. We fixed it by resoldering the USB connector.
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-28 08:38
    Chris Savage wrote: »
    --- The entry in your Device Manager should read: USB Serial Port (COMxx), where xx is the assigned COM port number.

    That's a clue - the listing does not show the COM# It shows up as : USB Serial Converter.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-03-28 10:21
    That doesn't sound like our adapter. An FTDI based adapter should show up in the device manager as I mentioned. Are you sure you're using our #28031?
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-28 10:53
    I used that one that I bought for my home use the first day. I bought it from Parallax when I bought the BOE BOT. And ordered another one for work [here] when I realized I didn't have a serial port on this new PC. When it came from Parallax, I swapped out mine for the new one. I don't remember having any trouble with mine either at home or here, come to think of it...

    I did just a bit ago re touch the solder on the USB connector pins. It has downloaded 3 times successfully since I did that, one time it did the fail check power thing. I'll see as I continue working on the program... Yesterday, it would not work. I ended up going to another PC with a real serial port, and downloading with it, but that's a big pain to have to do.
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-03-28 12:08
    Well of course the fact that the entry in the device manager doesn't appear consistent with our adapters concerns me. But having added solder to the USB connections makes me wonder if there is a bad connection somewhere. So again, on the assumption that this is our part number 28031 since you have two are you getting the same results from the other one?
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-31 08:14
    [QUOTE=Davetief;1253770
    I did just a bit ago re touch the solder on the USB connector pins. It has downloaded 3 times successfully since I did that, one time it did the fail check power thing. I'll see as I continue working on the program... Yesterday, it would not work. I ended up going to another PC with a real serial port, and downloading with it, but that's a big pain to have to do.[/QUOTE]


    Today, it is back to not working. I just tried it a buinch of times.

    So back to the driver problem....
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-03-31 10:35
    Yes, it is the 28031.

    It's been working about 1 out of 6 attempts today..

    I'll have to bring my copy in tomorrow to try it.

    Thank you,
    Dave
  • Jeff SteenckenJeff Steencken Posts: 32
    edited 2014-04-05 16:01
    I have the same problem, same error message downloading wireless to a BS2p-40 using the Xbee. It get frustrating, sometime it will work okay other time I'm try 10/12 times before I get a successful download. It use to work first time every time,but now I have the issue described. Same computer, same BS2p project.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-04-05 16:39
    Jeff Steencken wrote: »
    I have the same problem, same error message downloading wireless to a BS2p-40 using the Xbee. It get frustrating, sometime it will work okay other time I'm try 10/12 times before I get a successful download. It use to work first time every time,but now I have the issue described. Same computer, same BS2p project.

    Jeff,

    Are you trying to program the BS2 via XBEE? If so, this is not supposed to work. Even if you had DTR your timing would not be tight enough to program the chip.

    There is a product that has been developed for just this purpose:

    http://www.parallax.com/product/28183
  • Jeff SteenckenJeff Steencken Posts: 32
    edited 2014-04-06 11:53
    I purchased from bluewolfinc.com , a couple of years ago,what looks to be the same as the product in the link you provided. They also called it a "flashfly" It plugs into the serial port of my bs2p project and into the USB of my computer. It has always worked every time but lately I have been having issues just as describe in the original post. In my case it's probably some Windows update, because nothing else has changed.

    Jeff
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-04-07 11:28
    Dave did you ever bring your other adapter in to see if that one worked properly?
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-04-14 13:25
    Chris Savage wrote: »
    Dave did you ever bring your other adapter in to see if that one worked properly?

    I just tried it now. [A bunch of other stuff kept interrupting me]

    It initially downloaded a few times. Then began the random hangs at various completion levels, just like the other adapter.

    Dave
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-04-15 08:10
    Dave,

    How does this alternate adapter show up in the device manager?
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-04-15 08:12
    Jeff Steencken wrote: »
    I purchased from bluewolfinc.com , a couple of years ago,what looks to be the same as the product in the link you provided. They also called it a "flashfly" It plugs into the serial port of my bs2p project and into the USB of my computer. It has always worked every time but lately I have been having issues just as describe in the original post. In my case it's probably some Windows update, because nothing else has changed.

    Jeff

    You're using a different programming interface entirely. In your case I would update the drivers associated with your device to see if that fixes the issue. If you continue to have issue you may want to start your own thread since these issues aren't related to what is in this thread.
  • Jeff SteenckenJeff Steencken Posts: 32
    edited 2014-04-15 13:43
    Thank You Chris, I will give that a try.
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-12-24 12:03
    Hi Chris,

    The project that started this thread was interrupted several times. Then finished.
    The problem still exists.

    I am now working on a project of my own. Initially, I was having only rare download failures. As the program has grown, I now only rarely get a successful download.

    I just updated the driver, and still fail.

    Driver - FTDI
    7/12/13
    2.8.30.0

    This system is win XP. The USB port shows as USB Serial Port (COM3) in the device manager.

    I have a number of BS2 stamp boards, and which one I am working with seems to make no difference.
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-12-24 12:09
    I found the BM setting, and changed it as advised in the troubleshooting guide, to 1.

    It's worked for 2 downloads so far, I'll update after some more....
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2014-12-29 09:08
    You're referring to the Latency Timer setting, yes?
  • DavetiefDavetief Posts: 16
    edited 2014-12-29 19:39
    Yes, the latency timer.

    It has been working well since.

    Thank you.
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