HELP! PC Propeller Tool stuck in Communications Checking COM4 :(
Baggers
Posts: 3,019
As the·subject says, any pointers on what's gone wrong?
I'm gutted, I can't connect PC to the Prop now [noparse]:([/noparse]
was enjoying looking at the TV stuff, and was getting ready to start coding some of my own stuff...
Cheers in advance,
Baggers.
Says can't find Parallel Chip on COM port [noparse]:([/noparse]
any pointers?
COM4 was cos it searched COM6 then couldn't find it, and went to Bluetooth, that's why it got stuck.
but any ideas on why it's no-longer seeing it?
it's been fine for ages, I've not done anything, it's just died [noparse]:([/noparse]
Parallel is still running last demo uploaded to it, so that's working.
any help is greatly appreciated!
Post Edited (Baggers) : 4/3/2007 7:26:48 PM GMT
I'm gutted, I can't connect PC to the Prop now [noparse]:([/noparse]
was enjoying looking at the TV stuff, and was getting ready to start coding some of my own stuff...
Cheers in advance,
Baggers.
Says can't find Parallel Chip on COM port [noparse]:([/noparse]
any pointers?
COM4 was cos it searched COM6 then couldn't find it, and went to Bluetooth, that's why it got stuck.
but any ideas on why it's no-longer seeing it?
it's been fine for ages, I've not done anything, it's just died [noparse]:([/noparse]
Parallel is still running last demo uploaded to it, so that's working.
any help is greatly appreciated!
Post Edited (Baggers) : 4/3/2007 7:26:48 PM GMT
Comments
Graham
Thanks for the quick responce,
I've just done a full power down of all of it, and it's seemed to have come back, phew...
Time to go change underwear [noparse]:D[/noparse]
Cheers again.
Baggers.
Panic over [noparse]:)[/noparse]
It happened when I plugged the PropClip into the Propeller board (both the Education Kit and a Proto Board) that wasn't powered up first.
Took a few times to figure out what to do. The last time (ever, I hope), I was able to get communication back by just removing the PropClip from the USB cable (I did unplug it from the target first, but I doubt that's necessary). Didn't have to close/open the IDE.
I've been using HyperTerminal as a debug monitor over the same serial port. It works great at 460.8 Kbaud! However, you have to disconnect HyperTerminal when going back to update the Propeller (here it won't find the Propeller, but doesn't seem to hang). Both the IDE and HyperTerminal can be left open, but only one at a time can access the serial port.
Of course, that's just my experience as a fairly new Propeller user.
--
Eric
Definitely needs to be fixed. Scanning the ports could be nice, but I always know it's on COM1 and would like to just SET it and be done with it. It's a bit waste of time when I forget to plug-in or turn-on the Propeller on COM1 and try to program the chip. My entire enviroment must get shut-down and re-started, of course it forgets my project so I have to re-open my directory and files again.
Also, it would be nice to have an option to Auto-SAVE your documents before compiling or programming. I'm in the habit now of needing to go through each tab to make sure they are saved before I try to write to the propeller, just in case it doesn't see COM1 and hangs on COM16, so I don't lose anything.· After a bluetooth update from lenovo, now I have to have the Hotsync app running so COM16 is IN-Use to prevent the Propeller IDE from checking it.· Not sure what order the propeller ide checks the ports in, but now it's checking COM16 before COM1.
I'm surprised there are not more people complaining about this. Very irritating.·
Post Edited (JoeCreate) : 4/27/2007 10:24:18 PM GMT
http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=184124
In my case even end task won't work, only reset button.
Post Edited (KC8DKT) : 4/27/2007 11:07:51 PM GMT
We recently witnessed this with a particular bluetooth device, but were not able to duplicate it.· It locked up the BASIC Stamp Editor but not the Propeller Tool.· What the OS does in response to us opening a bluetooth·port and transmitting data is beyond our control (in this case, it appears to never give CPU time back to our software, so it's unable to do anything except fall endlessly into the "black hole").· It also seems that not all bluetooth devices/drivers cause things to behave this way.
There's a solution on its way, that will allow you to prevent the situation through a preference setting.· I will post that version here as soon as I have it available.
Thanks.
!!!!
[noparse][[/noparse]UPDATE 3/26/2008]
!!!!··
Version 1.1 of the Propeller Tool addresses this issue even better.· We have achieved a significant improvement with a particular device (Lynksys USBBT100 Bluetooth adapter); the Propeller Tool (v1.06 and prior) would be locked-up by the OS when trying to access a bluetooth-based virtual COM port, but version 1.1 does not (it delays noticeable, but moves on and will report that it was unable to open or unable to write to the port).
Download the latest from our website.
!!!!
[noparse][[/noparse]UPDATE]
!!!!
Version 1.06 of the Propeller Tool addresses this issue.· Some bluetooth serial port drivers are confused by the Propeller's download protocol and tend to think a BlueTooth device is trying to connect to the PC.· For some unknown reason, this causes the OS to preempt the Propeller Tool (starve it of CPU cycles)... effectively locking up the Propeller Tool software.· As there is no known way to prevent this situation from happening before "trying" a port, the v1.06 software gives the user the ability to specify port search order as well as the ability to include/exclude ports from the search.· In addition, if the Propeller Tool is hung up while scanning a port, upon the next session (next time it is started by the user) it will prompt user to allow it to automatically exclude that port from future searches.
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--Jeff Martin
· Sr. Software Engineer
· Parallax, Inc.
Post Edited (Jeff Martin (Parallax)) : 3/26/2008 7:19:37 PM GMT
All you'd have to do is have something in the setup saying which port to use, or which to avoid using when searching [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Baggers.
I managed to get the prop tool to enumerate the ports in Wine by replacing various dlls and placing fake registry entries. Unfortunately it crashes when it tries to connect to the serial port using NtConnect or some other NT only api call. The problem is Wine has not implemented these api functions due to the fact that Microsoft did not document them at all. So I believe it would only work if Parallax was nice enough to switch to a non NT only serial port api. Right now, the Prop Tool fails with an invalid handle error when trying to connect to the com ports.