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Basic Stamp Problems... — Parallax Forums

Basic Stamp Problems...

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2000-05-01 20:39 in General Discussion
Hi. I'm realativley new to the Basic Stamp, and I'm having some
problems.

I have 2 basic stamps, both of which I used on a robot. Now the
problem. After a few months of them working great, they stopped
working! At first I thought it was because the 5v power converter
(it's not the one on the stamp.. I'm using a separate one) had
somehow burnt out. But after replacing it, they still didn't work.

When I tried to re-program them, one of them says that the stamp is
connected, but is not responding, and that I should check my power
supply. but there is nothing wrong with the power supply. The other
says: hardware communication failure. Check serial cable and power
supply. Unfortunatley, there is nothing wrong with the power supply
or the cable!

Does anyone have an idea what may be wrong? Are they both broken, and
if so, are they easily fixable? (It would really really suck if
they're burnt out, 'cause they're not cheap [noparse]:([/noparse] )

thanks in advance,

~Roger~
TenFour

p.s. Could you please send replies to: roger@k... ?
thanks.

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-05-01 20:14
    Hi Roger,

    A few things you might try:

    1) Make sure your cable has all the pins in it. The Stamp only uses 2 and 3,
    but it also depends on 6 and 7 being shorted to ID the Stamp.

    2) Could you have a Windows-related problem? I'd try getting the DOS version
    of the programming software and booting to DOS (not a DOS window but DOS as
    in Exit to Dos or using F8 during boot) and see if that worked.

    3) Did they stop working in situ, or did they just fail to program?

    Regards,

    Al Williams
    AWC
    * Microcontroller Projects with Basic Stamps:
    http://www.al-williams.com/awce/sbook.htm



    >
    Original Message
    > From: Roger Korus [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=fp1zNirTYxCdu4edQD1-Z5KYKGcdh5UP9buG6_LY3v65BvWLBe0SQ79roC24HfgDzHygsuYfKiM]korus@e...[/url
    > Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 1:45 PM
    > To: basicstamps@egroups.com
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Basic Stamp Problems...
    >
    >
    > Hi. I'm realativley new to the Basic Stamp, and I'm having some
    > problems.
    >
    > I have 2 basic stamps, both of which I used on a robot. Now the
    > problem. After a few months of them working great, they stopped
    > working! At first I thought it was because the 5v power converter
    > (it's not the one on the stamp.. I'm using a separate one) had
    > somehow burnt out. But after replacing it, they still didn't work.
    >
    > When I tried to re-program them, one of them says that the stamp is
    > connected, but is not responding, and that I should check my power
    > supply. but there is nothing wrong with the power supply. The other
    > says: hardware communication failure. Check serial cable and power
    > supply. Unfortunatley, there is nothing wrong with the power supply
    > or the cable!
    >
    > Does anyone have an idea what may be wrong? Are they both broken, and
    > if so, are they easily fixable? (It would really really suck if
    > they're burnt out, 'cause they're not cheap [noparse]:([/noparse] )
    >
    > thanks in advance,
    >
    > ~Roger~
    > TenFour
    >
    > p.s. Could you please send replies to: roger@k... ?
    > thanks.
    >
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2000-05-01 20:39
    --- In basicstamps@egroups.com, "Al Williams" <alw@a...> wrote:
    > 1) Make sure your cable has all the pins in it. The Stamp only uses
    2 and 3,
    > but it also depends on 6 and 7 being shorted to ID the Stamp.

    <SNIP>
    I've checked the cable over, and everything works fine. All pins are
    there, and they all work.

    > 2) Could you have a Windows-related problem? I'd try getting the
    DOS version
    > of the programming software and booting to DOS (not a DOS window
    but DOS as
    > in Exit to Dos or using F8 during boot) and see if that worked.

    <SNIP> I'm using the windows version, and it's worked before, both on
    my PC and on my laptop. I'll give DOS a try, and see if that works...

    > 3) Did they stop working in situ, or did they just fail to program?

    <SNIP> It just stopped working. I think it may have something to do
    with the 5volt regulator burning out (It's a 7805 from radioshack not
    the one on the stamp. It's stepping 24 volts down to 5). Maybe it got
    a spike of electricity, before the 7805 died completley?

    ~Roger~
    TenFour
    http://korus.iwarp.com/
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