hardware not connected.

barneydog

Member
Hi,

im new to picaxe. I downloaded the program editor software and the flow charting one.

I purchased the USB and serial cable with some 08 picaxes.

I also thought i would get my first board from rkeducation as they where cheap just incase i hated it....RKP08LP

My problem is the computer picks up the usb cable and installs the drivers, but when i use any of the software to connect to the picaxe, it says hardware not connected.

i have tried multiple ports, different cable, reduced down to 3AA batteries instead of 4AA, check the board over and over again for any solder jumpers... but nothing...

im at a complete lose at what to do next. any help would be amazing..

thanks james
 

premelec

Senior Member
Could you post a picture of your setup? We're working blind here... are you plugging in the PICAXE right way around? Have you checked the voltage at the PICAXE pins while it is socketed to make sure power is getting to the chip? These PICAXE chips work really well - once you get going! Please show us a picture...
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
With the risk of doing eclectic out of a job, I found this.

It looks as if it is PICAXE 08M compatable but have you linked "PIN7" to "PROG" on the board? Without that link, you will get the problem you are experiencing.
 
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barneydog

Member
heres some pictures of the board, with the 3AA battery pack on it. its connected to a axe027 usb cable.

There are also some pictures of the screen during trying to check firware version and the errors.

I do get an error on the connection box that says code (something) line #

Hardware (something) flies past to quickly to read it all.






thanks
 

barneydog

Member
metal pipe is part of the desk and underneath some glass no where near board.

have tried all different picaxe types and still get the same error...
 

Janne

Senior Member
On a quick glance at the pcb, it seems you need 2 jumpers to make it work. One for powering the chip, and another for programming enable.
It's hard to see if you have eiher of these in place, since the camera has nicely focused on the background :)

Also, make sure the switch in the battery bank is on.
 

barneydog

Member
there are 2 switches on the board..

one for battery power, next to the battery wires... and the other one for programming and then testing...

have power switched on, and also in programming mode
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
It all looks okay which points to two things; battery voltage not high enough or not reaching the board or needs a Hard Reset.

Power-off, remove the PICAXE-08. Power-on and measure the voltage across leg 1 and leg 8 of the PICAXE socket ( left, two legs closest to the notch ).

Power-off, insert PICAXE-08, keep powered-off. Attempt a download and when "Searching for hardware..." appears, turn the power on.
 

barneydog

Member
ok heres what i have...

Pin 1 - Pin 8 the voltage starts at 3.9v and drops to 0.0v

if i take the voltage from the negative terminal on board to pin 1 i get 4.49v steady.

if i take the voltage from the positive terminal on board to pin 8 i get 0.01v

Input voltage from battery is 4.83V

im going to try the hard reset now.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Something very odd if the voltage is dropping ( looks like C1 discharging ). 'Negative' (0V) to leg 1 (+V) is as would be expected. 'Negative' (0V) should also connect to leg 8 (0V) so should be no difference, and that coincides with something I have spent a while struggling over ...

http://www.rapidonline.com/netalogue/specs/70-6005.pdf

I'm having a real problem, looking at the PCB trace diagram on page 1, in seeing how the 'negative' (0V) on the battery connection gets to leg 8 (0V) of the PICAXE. I've coloured the 0V traces green but cannot see any link from those on the left to those on the right. Maybe I'm just not seeing it but is there some link missing from the board ?

Do a continunity check to see if 'negative' actually goes to leg 8 of the PICAXE socket.
 

Attachments

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barneydog

Member
looking at the diagram and also looking at the board...

positive runs from the switch to pin 1, then into C1 just above the IC socket, Pin 8 also connects to C1 but opposite side, then runs down to the input pins.

at no point can i see it going to the negative... the negative from battery seems to drop down feed the programming plug before going to led section.

so maybe C1 is at fault...would you agree ?
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
No C1 is correct as a decoupling capacitor, it's the lack of connection of the 0V. Only a continuity check or visual check of tracks will determine if the two 0V's connect.
 
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barneydog

Member
well on your feelings i took a jump wire from pin 8 straight to terminal negative connector....

and what do you know, it read picaxe instantly, and then wrote a program to it.


amazing !!!!!!!

thanks fro your help hippy :p
 

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
barneydog: Some bedtime reading for tonight. Read the documentation that came with the board from cover to cover. Surely that sort or problem (feature?) must be covered somewhere in the documentation.

If not send them an email: they need to know about it.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Glad it's working and it does seem that it's a board tracking error. If so the easiest fix would probably be to join the two sides of 0V as in the attachment, which is where I'd guess the missing track ought to be.

It may be worthwhile contacting the manufacturer to clarify the situation / let them know if there is a problem.
 

Attachments

barneydog

Member
documentation is a pdf that tells you nothing at all...

not even a sniff of how to build it... but if you look at the components and how they number them it makes sense on where to place it.. someon did place a link on the top of this thread to the documentation...

I will be emailing them regarding it...

Fact i emailed them last nigth and still heard nothing from them, is quite annoying....but i will try again

nice fix hippy...better than my jumper wire haha...will email them straight away and let them know

thanks
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Caveat Emptor and all that. Nothing's guaranteed 100% perfect no matter how anyone would like it to be and, though it's not good etiquette to criticise competitors, as someone new to PICAXE, if using this board, and taking the photo as guidance I'd guess you would have been hard-pushed to spot the 22K and 10K were swapped over ...

http://www.rapidonline.com/netalogue/resources/docs/70-6008_RKP14Ip.pdf
 
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barneydog

Member
No i agree nothing is 100% perfect, and my email to them asked them if it had been reported before, if not i was making them aware of the fault i found. It may be a case i built it incorrectly, im now waiting to hear back.

link for product is the incorrect one. below is correct

http://www.rkeducation.co.uk/documents/RKP08lp.pdf

According to this one the resistors are in the correct place.

I was asked to display pictures of the setup to help people. Right at the start of the post. Which i did to aid assistance.

Caveat Emptor, is null and void in the UK has been for many years moved away from to use the Consumer Rights and The Sales of Goods Act :D so "Let the Buyer Beware!"

I cant see any where in this post i bad mouthed any competitor, i did how ever comment i selected the cheaper end boards to start with incase this wasnt for me, or any reason i decided not to continue. On the other hand if i find i enjoy it and find it very useful for what i need then the more expensive boards will get purchased.

Not that i can see this has any bearing on the origin of this post which was to ask assistance with a problem which you did..

Thank you for your help and good day. :cool:
 
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