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No Basic Stamps Found -- Help needed urgently — Parallax Forums

No Basic Stamps Found -- Help needed urgently

dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
edited 2006-10-12 04:14 in BASIC Stamp
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

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 01:50
    How is the Stamp mounted? I'm sure you've described it before, but is it on a custom printed circuit board or a Parallax board of some kind? Make sure all parts are in place, reseat all socketed parts. If there's a breadboard, check the connections. The most common cause of something like this is a loose connection. If soldered, there may be a cold solder joint. Since there was a metal housing fabricated, are there any metal flakes or shavings on the circuit board? Is something touching the housing that shouldn't? Check the programming cable.
  • dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
    edited 2006-10-12 02:04
    Thanks, Mike.

    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.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 02:24
    It's hard to tell from just a verbal description what it means for the digits to be lit and the LEDs on other than they have power. It's hard to wipe out the Stamp's memory. That's in an EEPROM on the Stamp board and there are really no connections to that from the Stamp's pins. The Stamp's microprocessor can be damaged in which case the I/O pins would all be set as inputs. Generally, if the Stamp can execute any code (like initialization stuff) it probably works in general. Specific I/O pins can be damaged, but then the others would work. Again, are there any loose connections? Check the programming cable. Look closely at the wirewrap connections. Reseat all socketed parts. If you have a schematic, post it again so we know what's connected to what. Check the power supply voltage to the Stamp.

    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.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 02:27
    I had this happen to a piece after it had arrived at the exhibitor's. It's a matter of taking one part of the circuitry at a time, making sure that it works, then moving on to the next. I had brought extra parts for everything including a spare Stamp (of a different model, but I changed the program for that).
  • dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
    edited 2006-10-12 02:52
    Mike-- I've attached the circuit schematic. All of the connections look okay. The programming cable is fine, as it is able to send a program to another Stamp which I have on a Homework Board. (Unfortunately, this is the only other board I have, and I can't use it to test the Stamp I'm concerned about.)

    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.
    pdf
    pdf
    CircuitSchematic.pdf
    1M
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2006-10-12 03:02
    Here's my 2p -- wondering if this is in/on the stainless steel enclosure you mentioned; if so, something·could be·shorted to something else via the conductive stainless steel, whereas these points were isolated when they were in the "prototype" stage.
    (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
  • dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
    edited 2006-10-12 03:14
    The Carrier Board is inside the stainless steel enclosure, but it is mounted (with screws through two of the board's mounting holes) onto standoffs. There doesn't seem to be any possibility of a short. To make sure, I've disattached the Carrier Board from these standoffs and, aside from a few wires leading from it down to the perf board containing the digits, it is separated for the moment from everything else. And so I'm wondering if I've definitely done some permanent damage to the Stamp. But what do the YESes in the Run-->Identify Port columns mean? Is this good news?
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 03:18
    The fact that the display is lit just says that the MAX7219 is working. It may not be receiving any data from the Stamp. I would remove the 7219 and the 4060 and see if the Stamp works when it's only connected to the programming cable.

    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.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 03:25
    The No Stamps Found message means that the Stamp Editor got no response when it tried to communicate with the Stamp.
  • dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
    edited 2006-10-12 03:38
    I found it! There were a few socket posts for the 7219 which somehow got twisted and shorted together, probably in maneuvering the board into the enclosure. I had missed them ealier because they were hidden beneath one of the standoffs.

    Thanks, Mike and PJ, for your help.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 03:42
    Have a great show! (where is it by the way?)
  • dtalvacchiodtalvacchio Posts: 36
    edited 2006-10-12 04:02
    The exhibition is part of a Visual Studies conference at the U. of Wisconsin--Madison:

    www.visualculture.wisc.edu/Conference/Concurrent/ironworks.htm
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2006-10-12 04:14
    Sounds like a great conference.
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