Picaxe 8M2 Hardware Not Found HELP

Hippy,
Currently hooked up is my breadboarded circuit to my WinXP machine with wires running to a serial port (I had no serial cable to hack).

Voltages across 0v and Serial In while running 'Port Test'. LED off: -.59volts LED on: 5.25volts Both voltages hold steady.

Voltages direct from 0v and Serial in wires while running 'Port Test': LED off: -11.6volts LED on: 11.36volts Voltages hold steady

Nativecorn said:

OR... instead of sockets and making up a cable I could just use some wires and heat shrink tubing over the appropriate serial connection pins. I don't have a heat gun so a creme brulee torch will do without too too much charring of my computer! (I watched a lot of MacGyver as a kid.)

Success! Thanks to everyone who stuck with me! Grogster, I was losing my mind and a bit of patience but you're right, no point in freaking out in a forum.View attachment 9972

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EXCELLENT - Progress - that's what we all like to see.

I was certainly NOT suggesting that you were freaking out on the forum or that you even would - it's just that SOME newcomers do, and I only wanted to encourage your approach.

Hi Nativecorn, A lot of people, not all new and not all young do tend to have a rant and throw the dummy from the pram rather than sticking with it and bottoming the problem.

It sometimes seems a long hike but eventually, one way or another, the problem will be bottomed and a reason found. Even if it turns out to be what you first thought of.
The whole journey will be well worthwhile if it either uncovers an obscure problem that subsequently is either fixed or helps others to avoid or diagnose it quickly.

More strength to your elbow. Determination wins the day.

Hi Nativecorn, A lot of people, not all new and not all young do tend to have a rant and throw the dummy from the pram rather than sticking with it and bottoming the problem.

It sometimes seems a long hike but eventually, one way or another, the problem will be bottomed and a reason found. Even if it turns out to be what you first thought of.
The whole journey will be well worthwhile if it either uncovers an obscure problem that subsequently is either fixed or helps others to avoid or diagnose it quickly.

More strength to your elbow. Determination wins the day.

Nativecorn said:

Hippy, Currently hooked up is my breadboarded circuit to my WinXP machine with wires running to a serial port

Click to expand...

Sorry; I was meaning measure tip to ring on the AXE027 as that will help determine whether the cable is working as expected or not.

Nativecorn said:

I hooked up a breadboard with the minimum circuit (and a new 08M2, I bought 12). The circuit looks like a bit of a monster but it says 'Hello' in the terminal. However I still cannot check the firmware or download a program on my WinVista machine. And the voltage reading on the 'Test Port' utility reads the same (-.18v LED off and 2.3v LED on).

I hooked up my older WinXP machine and got the exact same results with this breadboarded version of the circuit. Am I wrong in thinking that this almost certainly eliminates every possibility other than a bad cable or a bad batch of chips?

Click to expand...

I still think it ALWAYS a good idea to have a decoupling cap on the board. Won't hurt, and does cure a fair number of problems. The manual schematic should have one - IMO.

View attachment 9981

Check the diagram below. This is a very common mistake.

Goeytex said:

Check the diagram below. This is a very common mistake.

Click to expand...

True, but you'd have to go the extra mile / kilometre / parsec to achieve that on a Rev-Ed project board

Hi Hippy, 0 Volts LED on, 0 Volts LED off from tip to ring using the 'Test Port' dialogue on both my WinXP(USB1) and WinVista(USB2) machines.

Currently hooked up is my breadboarded circuit to my WinXP machine with wires running to a serial port (I had no serial cable to hack).

Click to expand...

I guess I misunderstood the meaning of breadboarded...

I believe I have the resistors the correct way around on my solderless breadboard?... I have the circuit making two way conversations with my older XP computer through the tenuous connection to its serial port via three wire and bits of heat shrink tubing so, it works.

As mentioned above I am getting 0v LED on or off from tip to ring on the AXE027 on both my WinXP and WinVista machines. So, bad cable?

...bad cable?

Click to expand...

From where I'm sat to Boston (3191.1 miles according to t'Internet) it looks like it - and if cross-wiring tip/ring/sleeve to Gnd/serin/serout as appropriate doesn't work either, then it looks like a weird failure mode.

Hi Martin, I cross wired the sleeve and tip, no dice. And then for good measure I tried every other possible combination of three wires. Perhaps not the smartest idea but hey, the chips are cheap enough. No luck with any combination. And of course there's the 2.3 v on LED on I'm getting so I think it's time to contact PICAXE. Thanks everyone. Happy New Year.

Yep,

You pretty much had your answer on post # 8. The tip and sleeve could not have been reversed because serial out from the Picaxe (sleeve) was working giving the hello message.

The Axe027 is so reliable that most of us tend to go down the road of "user error" when a download problem arises. And that is because the vast majority of the time the problem is related to either bad/ wrong connections or a weedy power supply.

Nativecorn said:

As mentioned above I am getting 0v LED on or off from tip to ring on the AXE027 on both my WinXP and WinVista machines.

Click to expand...

Nativecorn said:

And of course there's the 2.3 v on LED on

Click to expand...

This is what's confusing me as it can't be both, 0V on tip-ring and 2.3V tip-ring ! Unless something has altered in the process of moving things around.

I understood that the 2.3v Tip-Ring was with the AXE027 plugged in to the DEV Board and 0v Tip-Ring with it not plugged in to the DEV board.
And in Post 33 there are the correct readings with the serial test reading between ring - sleeve.
And the loop back test using a paperclip across ring - sleeve passes.

Does all this add up ?

One last suggestion for you, Nativecorn, and that would be to install the drivers for the 27 USB cable ON THE XP BOX YOU ARE USING NOW, then see if you can talk to the board using the XP box and the original proto board and 27 USB cable.

I would not be entirely surprised if it actually works fine on the XP box - a big statement at this point!
...but I could always be wrong...

I'm starting to think it is a Vista problem not letting things happen - Windoze does these kinds of things from time to time...

Hi Grogster,

Nope, I tried the AXE027 on my XP machine earlier. Does not work on either system. The same solderless breadboard circuit works just fine using the outputs from a serial port on my XP machine.

Bloody weird...

I can't really work that one out then.
I will remain an observer on this thread from this point on.

It looks like you have covered all the bases in all you have done to fault-find, so I'm totally at a loss at this point as to why it won't co-operate.

I'll be watching...(this thread for any more posts)

Any resolution to this - or has the OP given up?

The final judgement: bad cable.
I finally received a replacement cable from Tech Supplies and it works just fine on my Vista machine. I made no changes to the proto board, drivers, etc. Thanks for everyone's help

With the larger than usual requests for help with download problems of late, i had wondered if a bad batch of cables had entered the system?

Not sure whether adding to this thread is correct or not but a new thread would have the same title ...

I have a 14M2 being successfully programmed on a AXE117 prototype board. No problems there!

Also I have just purchased 3 off 8M2+ chips and have them mounted on a general purpose plug board. In this case the serial connection is made via an AXE029 breadboard adaptor.

Using exactly the same cable (an 027), power pack and PC (as used with my 14M2) I get a Hardware Not Found message, no matter which of my three 08M2+ chips I use.

Using my primitive scope it looks as though the serial-in signal is loaded down when actually connected to the 08M2 chip (pin 2). Meaning that I can see the serial-in when it is loaded only by the scope but that it drops to nothing on my scope when actually connected to the pin on the chip.

I have checked the value and location of the 22/10k resistors along with soldering and wiring as best as I can see. Reluctantly I am concluding that it must be the 08M2 chips themselves?

Welcome to the forum, if the cable works fine with the 14M2 it should work fine with the 08M2. Check the jumper position on the AXE029 and triple check each of the connections to the breadboard, there must be a dodgy connection somewhere. You won't have 3 separate new faulty chips, far more likely to be a bad connection.

To test - does the 08M2 work in the 14M2 board - just take the 14M2 out and put 08M2 in at the top.

Have done as you suggest. Put an 08M2 into the 14M2 board and it programs fine and runs the little led dimming program to output on pin 5.

Put that same programmed chip back onto my gen purpose board and it runs with the embedded code but still will not program.

I have the 08M2 in a socket to ensure deep pin connection.

pin 1 = +4.5
pin 2 = serin (connected to the 3rd pin from the left when the AXE029 is viewed from the top with the serial jack to the south)
pin 7 = serout (connected to the second and 4th pin on the AXE029)
pin 8 = 0v

On my scope I can see the serin when it is not connected onto pin 2. When it is connected I cannot see it.

Strange. I will have to think of some other things to try.

0V is also connected to the AXE029?

Of course, yes. To the left-most pin. Sorry I forgot to say that.

I would suggest using a bread board rather than a board that requires soldering ( plug board) to sort out the connections. The AXE 029 is rather odd in that the pin labeled "IN" or RXD is actually the serial OUT of the AXE029 and connects to the Picaxe Serial In Pin.

Make sure that the Picaxe 0V pin is tied to the AXE029 0V Pin.

Also make sure that you don't have the RX and TX reversed, If you do, then the Picaxe Serout Pin will be a low output and when
the serial signal from the Adapter is connected it will be shorted to ground ( kinda like what you are seeing)

Attached is something I did with Pebble that may be helpful.

I just checked again - I assembled the on the AXE029 components onto the side that was not silk screened. Stupid!