No Basic Stamps Found -- Help needed urgently
Dear Forum--
Some time ago I made several posts about a digital clock I've been building as an art piece, and many of you were of great help. A few days ago I finished the clock and had it running smoothly. On Saturday, I brought it to a shop to have a housing built for it. I picked it up today, and when I plugged it in, all of the digits were fully lit, but the program was not running. I hooked it back up to the PC and tried to run the program back down the wire, but got the message "No Basic Stamps Found". What could be going on?
The fabricator at the shop told me that he didn't bring the Stamp or any of the circuitry anywhere near any heat while building the stainless steel housing. I've worked with him before and trust him.
I tried the "Run --> Identify" test, and no Stamps are showing up on the ports. However, COM2 is showing a "YES" in both columns. I followed the suggestion in the troubleshooting guide and changed the setting on the FIFO Buffers. This didn't help.
The piece was selected for a major exhibition opening next weekend, and I was hoping to ship it tomorrow. You can imagine my distress. Any thoughts? Please respond as soon as possible if you have any ideas or suggestions.
Thanks--
Dominick Talvacchio
Some time ago I made several posts about a digital clock I've been building as an art piece, and many of you were of great help. A few days ago I finished the clock and had it running smoothly. On Saturday, I brought it to a shop to have a housing built for it. I picked it up today, and when I plugged it in, all of the digits were fully lit, but the program was not running. I hooked it back up to the PC and tried to run the program back down the wire, but got the message "No Basic Stamps Found". What could be going on?
The fabricator at the shop told me that he didn't bring the Stamp or any of the circuitry anywhere near any heat while building the stainless steel housing. I've worked with him before and trust him.
I tried the "Run --> Identify" test, and no Stamps are showing up on the ports. However, COM2 is showing a "YES" in both columns. I followed the suggestion in the troubleshooting guide and changed the setting on the FIFO Buffers. This didn't help.
The piece was selected for a major exhibition opening next weekend, and I was hoping to ship it tomorrow. You can imagine my distress. Any thoughts? Please respond as soon as possible if you have any ideas or suggestions.
Thanks--
Dominick Talvacchio
Comments
The Stamp is on a Carrier Board, as are most of the other components. The digits are on a separate piece of perf board. Everything is wirewrapped. Each board is mounted to standoffs inside the steel box. Nothing on either board is touching any metal, and it all looks very clean regarding shavings etc.
Am I right to assume that since all the segments of all the digits are lit (as well as the LEDs for colons), then most of the circuitry must be intact? Seems to be a problem with the Stamp itself. I'm wondering (fearing) if maybe the Stamp had contact with some metal along the way, and that this did something to wipe it out. Is this possible? I just don't know enough about what really give the Stamp trouble.
If you have a BOE or other Stamp board, you could remove the Stamp chip from your Carrier Board and try it in the BOE to see if it programs there.
I'm still a little confused as to exactly what this "No Basic Stamps Found" message really means. Doesn't this necessarily signal something about the Stamp itself, and not about any of the circuity connected to the I/O pins? What I mean is: shouldn't the Stamp at least be able to download a program, even if there are loose connections coming off the I/O pins?
Thanks so much for your time and help.
(I see that it isn't now, but did you fire it up when it was?)
Post Edited (PJ Allen) : 10/12/2006 3:11:29 AM GMT
You may be able to use the Homework Board to debug the clock. If you remove the Stamp and put jumpers between the Homework Board pins and the Stamp socket in the clock, you could test the 4060 (which I assume is a time source) and even test the MAX7219. This assumes that there are no short circuits involving the pins going to those devices.
Thanks, Mike and PJ, for your help.
www.visualculture.wisc.edu/Conference/Concurrent/ironworks.htm