First time user support please

M

Matt83

Member
I have a 16 year old son who is currently doing engineering at school and has bought home a Picaxe-18 Project board. he has to program bits on it to become a car style board, lighting, motors etc.

both the school and himself are struggling to connect to the board via the software... so in my infinite wisdom i said i would have a look. i noticed the unit didnt have 3* AA batteries and they were running off 2 so i thought this is why i cant connect. i got a new battery holder that now is giving 4.5v to the unit.

The issue i am having is "NO HARDWARE FOUND ON COM 3" i have done the testing of the lead and passed all tests inc power so i assuming the lead and settings are ok.. i am now wondering if the school has done anything to damage the chip to stop it connecting.

IS there anything else that can be done to test this or do i need to provide a new board? Thank you
 
lbenson

lbenson

Senior Member
How sure are you that COM3 is the right port? My Lenovo laptop has a built in COM3 labelled "Intel Active Management Technology". I have no idea what that is or how to hook up to it (and have had no need to find out). Does Device Manager show any other COM ports?
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
Matt83 said:
The issue i am having is "NO HARDWARE FOUND ON COM 3" i have done the testing of the lead and passed all tests inc power so i assuming the lead and settings are ok.. i am now wondering if the school has done anything to damage the chip to stop it connecting.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the PICAXE forum.

"Hardware not found" usually indicates that the PICAXE is not responding to a download initiation rather than being dameged. That is often the result of the program previously loaded into the PICAXE and is usually resolved by following the Hard Reset procedure -

Disconnect the battery box from the PICAXE to turn off power, wait a couple of seconds, click download, wait a second, turn on power by reconnecting the batteries..

You often don't need to wait after turning power off but that allows the power rails to collapse if they have reservoir caps, ensures the PICAXE definitely has reset.

It's the timing between clicking download and turning the power back on which can take a bit of practice. Too soon and the PICAXE may be running its program and ignore the download. Too late and PE6 will think the PICAXE isn't connected.
 
M

Matt83

Member
lbenson said:
How sure are you that COM3 is the right port? My Lenovo laptop has a built in COM3 labelled "Intel Active Management Technology". I have no idea what that is or how to hook up to it (and have had no need to find out). Does Device Manager show any other COM ports?
Click to expand...
I would like to think I’m 100% sure as com port 3 was selected when doing tests and checks on the cable..
 
M

Matt83

Member
hippy said:
Welcome to the PICAXE forum.

"Hardware not found" usually indicates that the PICAXE is not responding to a download initiation rather than being dameged. That is often the result of the program previously loaded into the PICAXE and is usually resolved by following the Hard Reset procedure -

Disconnect the battery box from the PICAXE to turn off power, wait a couple of seconds, click download, wait a second, turn on power by reconnecting the batteries..

You often don't need to wait after turning power off but that allows the power rails to collapse if they have reservoir caps, ensures the PICAXE definitely has reset.

It's the timing between clicking download and turning the power back on which can take a bit of practice. Too soon and the PICAXE may be running its program and ignore the download. Too late and PE6 will think the PICAXE isn't connected.
Click to expand...
Is there anyway to confirm the unit has reset? I can see a couple of LED units in the board but they dont seem to turn on, is there any indication on these units to show they are on?
 
M

Matt83

Member
Matt83 said:
Is there anyway to confirm the unit has reset? I can see a couple of LED units in the board but they dont seem to turn on, is there any indication on these units to show they are on?
Click to expand...
hippy said:
Welcome to the PICAXE forum.

"Hardware not found" usually indicates that the PICAXE is not responding to a download initiation rather than being dameged. That is often the result of the program previously loaded into the PICAXE and is usually resolved by following the Hard Reset procedure -

Disconnect the battery box from the PICAXE to turn off power, wait a couple of seconds, click download, wait a second, turn on power by reconnecting the batteries..

You often don't need to wait after turning power off but that allows the power rails to collapse if they have reservoir caps, ensures the PICAXE definitely has reset.

It's the timing between clicking download and turning the power back on which can take a bit of practice. Too soon and the PICAXE may be running its program and ignore the download. Too late and PE6 will think the PICAXE isn't connected.
Click to expand...
So i have spent hours this evening trying to time things right.. this cant be the only way to connect to this device... if it is this pot luck to get it to connect im sure the school wouldnt use these as the lessons are only an hour long.
 
erco

erco

Senior Member
Matt83 said:
if it is this pot luck to get it to connect im sure the school wouldnt use these as the lessons are only an hour long.
Click to expand...
I have experienced your frustration while teaching classes in Picaxe programming several years ago. I thought it would be a simple matter to run PE5 on each student's personal laptop but we spent more than a whole class just troubleshooting USB adapters, drivers and connections. And many have Macs... I finally gave up and bought 20+ cheap laptops to bring to class, preloaded and ready to go. I have become a master of fixing and frankensteining Toshiba CL45s, which I get off Ebay for $20-40 each.
 
I

inglewoodpete

Senior Member
Matt83 said:
So i have spent hours this evening trying to time things right.. this cant be the only way to connect to this device...
Click to expand...
I have been using AXE027s for around 15 years. If you read and understand the instalation document first, you can ease the pain considerably. For Windows 10 and 11 systems, use the Win 7/8 process.
 
PhilHornby

PhilHornby

Senior Member
Matt83 said:
I have a 16 year old son who is currently doing engineering at school and has bought home a Picaxe-18 Project board.
Click to expand...
Is it this board ❓(CHI030A - Datasheet here)

What IC is in the left-hand socket (with programming jack at the top) ❓

(You don't actually say that it has a Picaxe 18M2 installed - we're all probably assuming it has. Maybe it's not present (the shop photo shows an installed IC in the right-hand socket, that might be 'assumed' to be the 18M2. Or maybe someone installed a much older Picaxe and didn't add the requisite links?)

I've not used this board - and have only used an 18M2 once (which didn't end well, due to its 'unusual' pinouts :().

Otherwise ...

You could remove the the Picaxe and add a shorting link between pins 2+3 of its socket. Then using any terminal emulator, see if you can get some 'echoes' back from the AXE027 (that disappear when the shorting link is removed!). Check for +5v (ish) on pins 5 & 14 while you're there.

Failing that - try re-plugging the AXE027 at the USB end. I've been having "Hardware not found errors" quite a bit recently- though in my case, I'm pretty sure it's down to the drivers I use...
 
erco

erco

Senior Member
Good call, Phil. @Matt83 can you attach photos of the board and setup? Front and back please. If this board was soldered by your son or the school, there may be a soldering error.
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
Matt83 said:
So i have spent hours this evening trying to time things right.. this cant be the only way to connect to this device... if it is this pot luck to get it to connect im sure the school wouldnt use these as the lessons are only an hour long.
Click to expand...
Normally a download will just work and there are no problems at all. A Hard Reset will work first time most times.

It could of course be that the board has been damaged, doesn't and won't ever work, or it could be something else.

The usual approach would be to try programming a known good board; if that works then you can be pretty certain the software, drivers and everything else is working as it should, that the problem lies with the board, power supply or cable connection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top