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BS2 programming problem? — Parallax Forums

BS2 programming problem?

DylanDylan Posts: 4
edited 2004-10-03 19:43 in BASIC Stamp
Sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm having problems programming my BS2.

I made a cable and it worked with my old laptop, but my laptop died and it doesn't seem to be working with my desktop.

When I try to program it says loop back ok, echo ok, then No Basic Stamps found.

The program that I previously loaded on the BS2 seems to be running, so I think the BS2 is ok.

I've tried playing with the COM ports FIFO buffer settings, but that didn't help.

Any suggestions?

Dylan

Comments

  • Jonny555Jonny555 Posts: 46
    edited 2004-10-03 04:17
    Did you check the power source?
  • DylanDylan Posts: 4
    edited 2004-10-03 04:36
    Yes. Like I said, the program that had previously been loaded still works fine. I just can't upload another one.

    Well... it was working fine when I made that first post. Since then, I've continued to fiddle with it and I now I've really broke it.

    After trying a few things, I plugged the battery pack back in (it is a polarized plug) and there was a small flash and pop from what I'm pretty sure is the voltage regulator. I removed the BS2 from the breadboard and it looks like the trace that connects pin 23 and pin 4 has burnt in half.

    I'm not sure exactly what went wrong. Because pin 4 is the ground that is hooked up to the serial port I would think that it was someing wrong with the cable, but I've triple checked the pinouts and this cable worked before on my laptop. Maybe I induced a short on my bread board while playing with it and I'm just not seeing it, or maybe there is a short in my computers serial port.

    Oh well.

    Dylan
  • K de JongK de Jong Posts: 154
    edited 2004-10-03 11:18
    Hi Dylan,

    Do you use one of the Standard Parallax boards? If so, why don't you use a standard female to male serial cable? It would be much more easy and more SAFE !!!

    And by the way, which connectio between pins 23 and 4 do you mean?, the one on the top side of the chip?. They are both VSS (=ground). Is there something wrong with your power supply???

    Regards and I'll pray for your chip,

    Klaus
  • DylanDylan Posts: 4
    edited 2004-10-03 18:27
    I don't use the Parallax board for a variety of reasons, though I'm sure that it would be safer. The cable is one that I made my self and have used suscessfully in the past.

    My power supply is a 2 cell Li-Ion battery pack. It has a connector that only plugs in one way so I know I didn't plug the battery in backwards.

    I still don't know what I did, but I'm pretty sure that the chip is dead now.

    Dylan
  • K de JongK de Jong Posts: 154
    edited 2004-10-03 18:43
    Well Dylan,

    If you only damaged the ground track of the BS2, which is possible depending on how your grounding wires go in your circuit, then there is a (small) chance that the BS2 still works when you connect pin 23 and pin 4 externally.

    Give it a try before you give up wink.gif.

    Succes,

    Klaus
  • DylanDylan Posts: 4
    edited 2004-10-03 19:43
    Yep, you are right. Playing with it more, I damaged that ground trace and the voltage regulator.

    After hooking up an external regulator the program that was loaded on the stamp works again.

    I looked at the DTR signal on the serial connector and it had 0V and according to the stamp manual it is supposed to have -12V. I hooked the stamp up to a different computer and it programs fine.

    I guess the serial port on my other computer is broken. It is my beater computer in the garage and I have done a lot of stupid things on it, so it isn't that surprising.

    Thanks for the suggestions.
    Dylan
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