There's a factory reset/restore program somewhere that has many programs to test all Scribbler I/Os. Shockingly, I can no longer find any Scribbler support at Parallax.com. Ken?
It's available from the GUI and may also be on the Scribbler CD if you have that.
In the time before the Internet (?), I found a Battlezone arcade game (yep, full size) in the local classified ads, price was $150. When I went to see it, the owner had moved the game out to his garage, and half the screen was dead, nothing on the left side. Right side was perfect. We agreed on half price for half a game, $75. I took the game home and found a hairline crack on one of the fiberglass PCBs, one trace was broken. One blob of solder cured the problem and I had a perfect game for $75.
Per Publison, you should be able to spot a PCB crack pretty easily. Finding & repairing the broken trace(s) might be a bit more involved. Good experience, though!
I just output the value of the three front sensors of the scribbler. I assume they are working. I included two pics. One is the output while my fingers are covering the three lights. The second output is made whilei have the Scribbler pointing to the ceiling. So that's a little wierd that though the LED's and motors wont run but the IR sensors do ! Ive included the pictures as some of you might be able to better understand if the outputs are normal ?
edit; the middle picture was a mistake, but you can see i have speech recognition turned on, im practacing using my headset to write code. its going ok but it does need a lot of training for my voice still. (i was always a terrible typist and noe my hands are a little damaged from accident im even a bit worse. Im not at all sure this is going to work
Well i have looked at the electronics using a magnifying glass and I can't see any crack or anything that stands out ! I might try and canabalise whatever i can get out of it.
Give all the connectors a light tug to see if a wire is loose. Also press each connector to make sure it's firmly inserted.
You can even remove the connectors one a time, taking a quick look at it before reinserting it.
If that doesn't work try separating the wires from each other to see if these is a short.
Also look down each for cuts or other marks. It's very easy to pinch a wire between the top and bottom case.
Sometimes just wiggling wires makes it work.
You did say that it worked for a while after you stepped on it, right? Load a program to drive the motors and beep the speaker and have that running while you wiggle, flex, squeeze and press on the PCB & connectors, watching for signs of life.
You did say that it worked for a while after you stepped on it, right? Load a program to drive the motors and beep the speaker and have that running while you wiggle, flex, squeeze and press on the PCB & connectors, watching for signs of life.
good idea. I think it has to be something i did while ptting the halves back together.
heee hee, its 11am so too early for a glass of champagne .. The solution was simple but baffling to some degree. I had it appart while running the avoid program from the GUI editor and was checking all connections, giving things a tap etc all the suggestions and NOthing was happening.
But remember when I used the basic Stamp Editor to get the output of the three IR readings and that worked. Well every code that is downloaded to the scribbler works if I use the basic stamp editor.
It seems there is some weird problem with the GUI editor and that has been the whole problem. How could i know when i would always get the message DOWNLOAD Successful "
So there we go, and don't i feel a bit silly. Im going to uninstall the GUI and then reinstall it. But yea.. I feel the Woo Hoo
When you upload code to the Scribbler, make sure there are no other BASIC Stamp boards plugged into your computer and powered up. Otherwise, the program might go there instead of to your Scribbler.
yeah Phil I only ever have one device plugged in at a time. You know what i think may have gone wrong. I dragged the basic stamp icon .exe to the desktop so i didn't have to go into folders to operate it. I think that's where the problem started ? but i dunno.
What an experience this was and a big thanks to all those that kept trying to help me !!!!
Congrats on getting It working again.
It could be an OS issue. You have Windows 7 correct?
Make sure only one windows program uses the COM port a time. Windows will assign your USB device a virtual COM port.
I don't have a Scribbler so I can't help you but it's good to see it's a software issue.
Ok, sorry for this basic question but i cant find the Scribbler GUI or basic stamp programs to uninstall in the control panel or in the start menu, how can i uninstall them ? please !
Comments
+1
You just need to visually inspect the board for cracks. They should be apparent. No need to pay someone to do that.
Per Publison, you should be able to spot a PCB crack pretty easily. Finding & repairing the broken trace(s) might be a bit more involved. Good experience, though!
I just output the value of the three front sensors of the scribbler. I assume they are working. I included two pics. One is the output while my fingers are covering the three lights. The second output is made whilei have the Scribbler pointing to the ceiling. So that's a little wierd that though the LED's and motors wont run but the IR sensors do ! Ive included the pictures as some of you might be able to better understand if the outputs are normal ?
edit; the middle picture was a mistake, but you can see i have speech recognition turned on, im practacing using my headset to write code. its going ok but it does need a lot of training for my voice still. (i was always a terrible typist and noe my hands are a little damaged from accident im even a bit worse. Im not at all sure this is going to work
You can even remove the connectors one a time, taking a quick look at it before reinserting it.
If that doesn't work try separating the wires from each other to see if these is a short.
Also look down each for cuts or other marks. It's very easy to pinch a wire between the top and bottom case.
Sometimes just wiggling wires makes it work.
I have seen this solution for a similar problem somewhere in the forum....
Yes i did try that ;(
Nikos showed the S2 GUI. You have the GUI for the Blue , correct?
A few useful links I've found:
http://www.andybrain.com/extras/scribbler-robot-review.htm
http://info.hobbyengineering.com/specs/PX-ScribblerHackHint.pdf
http://www.rambal.com/descargas/Documentos/guia_scribbler.pdf
http://www.cwu.edu/~cs112/docs/labs/Lab11Robots.pdf
http://exploringrobotics.com/demo/scribbler/lessons/activities/tips/scribblertips.htm
Looks like everything is here, but it's a Chinese site. Do you trust it? http://www.playrobot.com/scribbler_download.htm Oops, never mind, everything there is a link to S2.
HackersHintsWithCode-v1.zip
But remember when I used the basic Stamp Editor to get the output of the three IR readings and that worked. Well every code that is downloaded to the scribbler works if I use the basic stamp editor.
It seems there is some weird problem with the GUI editor and that has been the whole problem. How could i know when i would always get the message DOWNLOAD Successful "
So there we go, and don't i feel a bit silly. Im going to uninstall the GUI and then reinstall it. But yea.. I feel the Woo Hoo
-Phil
What an experience this was and a big thanks to all those that kept trying to help me !!!!
It could be an OS issue. You have Windows 7 correct?
Make sure only one windows program uses the COM port a time. Windows will assign your USB device a virtual COM port.
I don't have a Scribbler so I can't help you but it's good to see it's a software issue.
ps. im waiting for motor controllers to use on my robot build. I am actually happy that i can now use c to program the prop.
and the arduino. This will be easier than spin even if i miss out on the obex.