teraflop122
New Member
Well, I've been troubleshooting my current robot project for a little while now, and for the life of me I can't find anything wrong.
I'll start from the top, I guess.
Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to get a Compass module from Parallax working. I never did figure out the code, but that's aside the point. About midway through my experimentations, the software stopped connecting to my 40X1 as if it was off... but it was on, and the program was still running. I know this because the USB to Serial adapter's activity light was still going. I unplugged the USB from my computer, plugged it back in, and for the oddest reason Vista thought it was input from my USB mouse. I unplugged and plugged back in a second and third time. Finally, the editor software froze for a minute, and then proceeded to work correctly. I found that I could once again download programs to the chip.
About thirty minutes later I selected "clear hardware memory" and a few minutes later, when I tried loading a new program, the software once again couldn't connect. I had assumed "clear hardware memory" just meant it would erase the current program. Did I make a bad mistake, there? This time the issue seemed terminal: it still doesn't work today. Reseting the chip per instructions did nothing. I changed out batteries and took a few readings with a multimeter. I'm getting 5.6 volts from four new AA's, and then almost exactly 4 volts from an L7805 regulator. Aside from the 40X1, the logic supply from the L7805 is also running six IR rangefinders, a compass module, and the logic portion of a dual micro serial motor controller from Pololu.
I'll draw up a wiring diagram if need be.
Any help at all would be appreciated.
I'll start from the top, I guess.
Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to get a Compass module from Parallax working. I never did figure out the code, but that's aside the point. About midway through my experimentations, the software stopped connecting to my 40X1 as if it was off... but it was on, and the program was still running. I know this because the USB to Serial adapter's activity light was still going. I unplugged the USB from my computer, plugged it back in, and for the oddest reason Vista thought it was input from my USB mouse. I unplugged and plugged back in a second and third time. Finally, the editor software froze for a minute, and then proceeded to work correctly. I found that I could once again download programs to the chip.
About thirty minutes later I selected "clear hardware memory" and a few minutes later, when I tried loading a new program, the software once again couldn't connect. I had assumed "clear hardware memory" just meant it would erase the current program. Did I make a bad mistake, there? This time the issue seemed terminal: it still doesn't work today. Reseting the chip per instructions did nothing. I changed out batteries and took a few readings with a multimeter. I'm getting 5.6 volts from four new AA's, and then almost exactly 4 volts from an L7805 regulator. Aside from the 40X1, the logic supply from the L7805 is also running six IR rangefinders, a compass module, and the logic portion of a dual micro serial motor controller from Pololu.
I'll draw up a wiring diagram if need be.
Any help at all would be appreciated.