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Problem with USB BOE-Bot — Parallax Forums

Problem with USB BOE-Bot

vectorxvectorx Posts: 2
edited 2005-03-23 15:34 in BASIC Stamp
I received my new USB Boe-Bot with the crawler kit today, left work early to put it together and play with it, went to upload a test program and it won't recognise the stamp (it does see the new com port).

Here's what's happening/happened:

First, I searched the forums and found info on installing the drivers for the onboard USB->Serial chip. Installed the drivers, tried reducing the setting in the control panel to 1 and still can't upload. I don't have an option for FIFO buffers.

Second, I tried uninstalling all installed drivers and started over. Still didn't see the chip.

Third, I tried removing and reinserting the BS2.

Fourth, Tried the driver thing again and rebooted a few times (This is XP, rebooting is good for it...)

I've tried drivers from Microsoft's windows update, from the Install CD, and from the chip manufacturer (Which appears to be what Microsoft has) in that order.

Does anyone have suggestions on what may be causing this?

Also, I noticed in the manual that it says the green light will not come on unless a program is running... When I set the switch to 1 the green light does come on. I don't know if this is useful info or not.

-Eric

Comments

  • vectorxvectorx Posts: 2
    edited 2005-02-26 19:20
    I decided to try this on another computer.

    I used a Linux box (I know this isn't supported, but it's the only other computer I have), loaded the modules for the USB->Serial chip (worked very well), downloaded the basic stamp software for linux, recompiled it using the correct device (/dev/ttyUSB0), and the linux box cannot see the stamp but it DOES see the serial port. The same problem as the windows box.

    I'm wondering if there is a chance that it is a hardware problem with the BOE board or the BS2 itself. Is there any way I can check?

    I've already tried replacing the batteries (all batteries were fresh out of the pack. I am measuring 6V on the battery pack.

    Any ideas?
  • dandreaedandreae Posts: 1,375
    edited 2005-02-26 19:42
    Hello,

    Is your green LED on?· If not, this means your switch is in the off position or your power supply is not working properly.· A sure way to make sure that your drivers are working is to make a folder on your desktop and label it FTDI drivers.· Then download the drivers into the FTDI folder making sure that you have extracted them from the zip folder.· Then go to your device manager on your PC look for the unknow USB device and then click on it.· Then click on update drivers and choose a specific location to locate them.· You 'll need to click on browse and find the FTDI folder on your desktop and click okay.· You should then be able to see a USB serial com port listed.· Click on it and then click on "Port Settings" and then click on the "Advance" button and then set the latency to one and click okay on the way out.··If you still are unable to connect to it, please contact Parallax tech support at support@parallax.com or 1-888-997-8267.

    Dave



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    Dave Andreae

    Tech Support
    dandreae@parallax.com
    www.parallax.com

    ·
  • Tom WalkerTom Walker Posts: 509
    edited 2005-02-28 15:46
    FWIW...

    I set up a new USB BOE-BOT (now a fleet of 3...yippeeee!) on a '98 box last night and, while the computer immediately saw that there was a USB "thing" to be configured, it took a couple of minutes (literally) to make the software "arrangements" (as it happens, from an "FTDI Driver" directory, Dave <g>)...so, patience is in order...

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    XYZZY...PLUGH...*poof*
  • cybersapiencybersapien Posts: 13
    edited 2005-03-22 00:00
    I'm experiencing the same problem and went thru all the same steps, including updating the driver from my local disk (instead of going out to the net).

    I also have the green light.

    Was there ever a resolution to the problem?
  • java_programmablejava_programmable Posts: 7
    edited 2005-03-22 06:12
    I had that problem at one point, it turned out that I had inserted the BS2 upside-down and turned it on. Fried the Stamp, so I had to get another one [noparse]:([/noparse] This could explain why it didn't work even if you were more careful about reinserting the Stamp correctly the second time...hope thats not the problem tho. Cant say "hope this helps" because the "help" would cost you.
  • cybersapiencybersapien Posts: 13
    edited 2005-03-23 15:34
    My problem appears to be solved. I found a post in another topic which suggests increasing the default 'Minimum Read Timeout' in the Advance Settings for the USB to Serial driver from 0 to 100ms. I'm up and running now.

    Since that helped at least 2 of us, may I suggest Parallax add this recommendation to the troubleshooting guide?
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