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"failure to communicate", BS1 working but wont program — Parallax Forums

"failure to communicate", BS1 working but wont program

ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
edited 2005-11-13 14:25 in BASIC Stamp
My BS1-on-SuperCarrier board is working happily away, and I want to change the program. It tokenizes, recognizes the BS1 ver 1.4, and has a "hardware failure to communicate". I'm using a desk PC with a serial cable which plugs into the little serial adapter for BS1's.
A brand-new battery (yes, tested good) does not help. When I click on "run", the lights on the board quit blinking, so I assume that the stamp has been reset, but that is as far as it goes before the disappointing message.
What to look at next? Do those little adapters go bad? Can a BS1 work but be unprogrammable? Is there a diagnostic procedure written out someplace? I searched the forum for "hardware failure to communcate" but didn't find anything.
Thanks for any & all ideas!···· -Eric
·

Comments

  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2005-11-05 15:02
    You said, "working happily away..."· Does that mean that you've successfully programmed with your Super Carrier before this?

    I was wondering:
    Do you have "STAMP BS1" and "PBASIC 1.0" Directives at the top of your program?
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-05 18:24
    PJ- yes, sir. Everything was fine yesterday when I repeatedly downloaded the little program, which just blinks some lights whenever the board powers up, like a traffic-light timer...I have the BS1 directive but not the compiler directive, anyway the thing works just fine, but now it wont let me change the program. I thought maybe the battery was low, but both a new battery and now a 12v. supply don't help. It just blinks away, goes dead when I push "run", tells me there is a hardware failure to download, and goes back to blinking.
    The only possibly adverse thing I did was attempt to use a cheap USB-serial converter cable, to allow me to program with my laptop. It didn't work because it isn't a good enough converter to have all the lines needed for stamps included, but I have tried this before and it didn't hurt anything. I just had to go back to the desk PC and its serial port. I wouldn't think it could hurt the little serial-adapter for BS1's, and it didn't on previous attempts. If I had another serial-adapter I would test it by substitution, but it's Saturday and I don't. Any more ideas?

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    thanks for your time,· Eric
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-11-05 18:58
    Eric,

    ·· Are the little arrows lined up on the adapter with the ones on the board?· In other words, is it plugged in correctly.· The symptoms you describe can happen when one of the pins (PCI) isn't connected.

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-05 19:26
    I have checked the orientation, I have wiggled, pulled, inspected and tried all broken-wire / bad connection ·things I can think of....no help.

    Also, I put in a brand-new BS1 and tried it. It tokenizes, recognizes BS1 Ver 1.4, and has a "hardware communication failure" also.

    Replacing the old BS1, it happily starts blinking, blinking, blinking....I am getting mad at little computers, and I have a BIG HAMMER!

    I just ordered 2 more little serial adapters from Parallax, but I hope to solve this sooner than that!

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    thanks for your time,· Eric
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-11-05 20:11
    Eric,

    ·· In the meantime, if you haven't programmed this device from this computer in the past, try disabling the FIFO buffers on the serial port.· You did say you're not using a USB to Serial Adapter on this computer, correct?

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-05 20:36
    I made it too complicated. Yes this is the same computer that workded before...I just was trying to use my laptop and USB converter in the meantime, which I mentioned as a possible cause of the problem. Does the little serial adapter have non-volatile memory? Maybe I messed its settings up when thrashing with the USB adapter.on the laptop. If the little adapter has non-volatile memory, then I should reset it to the proper com settings. Are those listed anywhere? (setting big hammer down...)

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    thanks for your time,· Eric
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-11-05 20:56
    Eric,

    ·· No, there are no settings on the adapter.· In fact, it is nothing more than a few transistors and resistors.· A complete schematic for building one can be found here (Scroll down the page):

    http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/software/software_Stamp1_Windows.asp

    Of course, if you have replacements on the way, you'll know soon whether it is the adapter or the BS1 that was damaged.

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-05 23:22
    Darn. And thank you for your help & support!

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    thanks for your time,· Eric
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-11-06 02:53
    No problem.· Please post back here when you get your adapters to let us know what happened.· We'd like to make sure you're up and running.· Take care!

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-07 05:29
    Well, good news & bad news: just for fun after it ran all day blinking lights, I plugged in the programming cord and hit "run." It downloaded! I fiddled with a few lines of code, it downloaded again, and again, for about an hour....then quit working with a "hardware communication failure," again. I tried rebooting the PC, fiddled with the connections, etc, no help. I guess all I can do is wait for the new serial adapter to come and hope it has gone intermittently bad. This sounds just like Student984's situation (see nearby thread). Have there been other spontaneous mysterious failures to download in otherwise - working stamps?

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    · -Eric
  • Chris SavageChris Savage Parallax Engineering Posts: 14,406
    edited 2005-11-08 19:52
    Eric,

    ·· Have you received your new adapters yet, and has this corrected your problem?· I didn't see anything in the thread about trying these on another computer, unless I missed something.· Have you tried this?

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    Chris Savage
    Parallax Tech Support
    csavage@parallax.com
  • metron9metron9 Posts: 1,100
    edited 2005-11-08 20:14
    "I plugged in the programming cord and hit "run."
    It downloaded!
    I fiddled with a few lines of code,
    it downloaded again,
    and again, for about an hour....
    then quit working with a "hardware communication failure,"


    My 2cents...

    If you mean it was working fine each time you downloaded the program and then after an hour it sotpped working..

    Perhaps you have too much current flowing from a pin, or a short somewhere.
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-08 23:24
    Chris - I wont have new adapters for several days yet, but I will definitely keep the thread going with any new info.· I've looked at the last 2000 threads and found 5 or 6 with about the same problem; maybe there's some way to create a help file for when this happens...

    Metron - The stamp has always done what it was last programmed to do. It continues to do so. What it doesn't do is communicate with the PC and accept new programs, except·when it decides it will. What I can't figure out is what determines when it will and when it wont.·It is a·BS1, supercarrier board, serial adapter, & Dell PC. So far, I've substituted a different BS1, and checked all the stuff people have suggested, and I am working on feeling really stupid when I figure it out [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    · -Eric
  • ejdarlingejdarling Posts: 24
    edited 2005-11-13 14:25
    The new BS1 serial-adapters came yesterday. I plugged one in, and voila! It downloaded. Thanks everyone for all your help & ideas!!

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    · -Eric
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