Hardware Communication Failure - BS1 project board - Parallels Windows XP on an

elive

Hello,

I'm new to microcontroller programming and recently purchased the BS1 Project Board.

The Basic Stamp IDE recognizes and identifies the BS1 on COM3. However when trying to run the simple test program DEBUG "Hello World" it fails 98% of the time (it actually worked twice). I'm getting a "Hardware Communication Failure" when I try to run the program.

When I run the program the IDE scans the ports, finds the BS1 and starts to download to the BS1. As the progress bar moves across the window is when the error occurs. And it's never consistent. Sometimes the error is right away, sometimes it gets to 50% and other times it goes all the way to 90%.

The 9 volt battery is new, I'm using the USBto232 adapter (just received it today) and I'm using Parallels on an Intel iMac running Windows XP. The FTDI drivers are NOT installed on the Mac, but they are installed in Windows XP and seem to be working fine.

I've tried moving the cable to a different USB port, changed the battery and changed the cable.

Any thoughts?

Sincerely,

Frustrated in Florida (aka Eric)

Post Edited (elive) : 5/15/2007 2:07:30 AM GMT

elive

FWIW...

I called tech support and, while they do not support any kind of virtual machine running the basic stamp IDE, the tech suggested reading the tech doc regarding troubleshooting USB drivers:

www.parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/ftdi/USBDriverTroubleshooting-V1.0.pdf

and to set the Latency Timer Setting of the USB serial port to '1'.

I did that. And though I still get Hardware Communication Failure errors they seem to be happening less frequently.

Are there any other Parallels VM users running into this same problem? Could there be a magic setting that will end these errors?

Mac users please speak up and let me know.

Thanks,

Eric

Post Edited (elive) : 5/17/2007 12:39:36 AM GMT

Mike Green

I run Parallels Desktop on a MacBook with the Core 2 Intel chip and Windows XP Home version. I've not had any problems with either the Propeller Tool or the Stamp Editor. I happen to have the FTDI drivers loaded both on the Mac OS and under Windows XP even though there were some problems early on with that (I haven't seen any problem). Under Parallels, I select the FT232 device under the Devices/USB submenu and my programs see it. My experience with the Stamp Editor has been with the Keyspan High Speed USB-serial adapter (and I have those drivers installed), but it broke recently and I just got Parallax's USB-serial adapter. I have been using Parallax's USB2SER, PropPlug, and PropClip adapters with the Propeller Tool and HyperTerm and they all work fine singly or simultaneously.

The Mac doesn't have a latency setting for the USB to serial adapters. Windows XP does have it, but I've never fooled with it.

elive

Mike, thanks for the reply. It's good to hear from another Mac user.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I had neglected to make sure that Parallels was up-to-date (it's not my machine.) After I updated it to the latest version, downloading to the BS1 was flawless. I also reset the Windows Latency Timer Setting to the default and it still works perfectly.

Lesson learned: Always make sure your software is updated before assuming hardware problems.

Eric