Inchworm Problem

[mouse9911]

Hi Guys,
Im a real newbie at this, i just recently bought a Inchworm assembled board from a store in Toronto. I have no previous experience with PIC programming or such and i am slightly confused. I downloaded MPLAB IDE 7.50 and (I also tried 7.6) and disabled FIFO on my computer (Windows XP), my Windows COM port settings are set to BAUD 9600, 8 data bits, Parity:NONE, Stop bits 1, Flow control none.
I have a wall adapter that is set to 9 Volts 300mA although it is the changeable kind so i can change it around. The green power LED glows bright when i connect to the power. There are two chips on my board along with what should be all the rest of the stuff. One chip is a MAXIM chip (Although i dont think the magazine company in this case) and the there is a Microchip F877A on the board.

When i try to connect with MPLAB 7.5 with COM1 19200 Baud i get:

Auto-connect not enabled - Not connecting (Try enabling auto-connect on the ICD2 settings pages.)
ICDWarn0034: Please ensure that your system's serial FIFO buffers are disabled.
Connecting to MPLAB ICD 2
ICD0021: Unable to connect with MPLAB ICD 2
MPLAB ICD 2 Ready

MPLAB 7.5 COM1 BAUD 57600:

Auto-connect not enabled - Not connecting (Try enabling auto-connect on the ICD2 settings pages.)
ICDWarn0034: Please ensure that your system's serial FIFO buffers are disabled.
Connecting to MPLAB ICD 2
ICD0021: Unable to connect with MPLAB ICD 2
MPLAB ICD 2 Ready

At any time after a failed connect if i try to update the OS with the file ICD01020701.hex, i get:

Downloading Operating System
ICD0021: Unable to connect with MPLAB ICD 2
...Download Operating System Failed
ICD0152: Failed to read all of requested bytes (0x0 of 0x2)
ICD0082: Failed MPLAB ICD 2 operation
ICD0082: Failed MPLAB ICD 2 operation
ICD0082: Failed MPLAB ICD 2 operation
ICDWarn0054: MPLAB IDE has lost communications with the MPLAB ICD 2. Would you like to attempt to reconnect?
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
MPLAB ICD 2 Ready

or

Downloading Operating System
ICD0255: Download OS failed.
...Download Operating System Failed
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
ICD0286: Unable to communicate with ICD
MPLAB ICD 2 Ready


I am not sure if i should have the ribbon for the programming attached during this time or not. I am confused as what to do, overall i have the ribbon attached to the correct pins on a bread board to a 16F84A. I am really not sure where the problem is or where i can begin to debug it. Does anyone know what the OS does and where it should go? I imagine it should go on the F877A, does this mean i should take that chip out from the inch worm ? i do not have any other F877A, the man at the store said nothing about needing any more F877A chips then the one already in the inchworm. Thanks for your patience everyone.

 

[mouse9911]

I dont know if this helps, i was reading and someone said there was a loopback test, so i took out the main PIC F877A and jumpered the RX and TX pins, but hyperterminal is not giving me a echo back. I am using BAUD 19200 and have tried with and without flow control with no luck.

 

[toodles]

Sounds simlar to the problem I was having exept I put mine together myself. If you're not getting a response after jumpering the TX and RX pins, check the voltage level at the 'TP VPP' point. It should be roughly 12 volts. Focus on troubleshooting around the Maxim chip. Make sure it seated fully into the socket, check the solderpoints under the socket. Pull up the datasheet on the Maxim chip, and the Inchworm schematic on www.blueroomelectronics.com. Start testing points on the board.

I know its frustrating, but if its not working, theres a reason. With a little patience, you can find it. On mine, the power pin the Maxim chip wasnt soldered, so it worked intermittantly, which is even worse. But in time, I did find it and fix it. So can you.

Here, 3v0 said it better than I ever could in a different thread:

Start from the cable and work you way over to the PIC. Use hypertem to do a loopback in each of the following steps. I understand that step 1 will pass and step 4 will fail in your case.

1. Remove the RS232 cable from the Inchworm and short pins 2 and 3 on the cable.

2. If step 1 passed: Remove the MAX232. Look at the schematic and determine which pins on the MAX232 socket connect to 2 and 3 on the DB9. Short these pins at the MAX232 socket. If this works you know the RS232 signal is getting to the MAX232. If not you have bad solder joints between the DB9 and the MAX232 socket.

3. If step 2 passed: Replace the MAX232 and remove the PIC. Short the MAX232 pins that go to TX and RX on the PIC at the MAX232 chip. If this works your MAX232 is working.

4. If step 3 passed: Short the TX and RX pins on the PIC. If this fails you have bad solder joints between the MAX232 and the PIC.

 

[Sceadwian]

Don't use hyperterminal it is evil, many people in the AVR forums have had problems with it.

Try https://www.hw-server.com/software/termv19b.html

 

[mouse9911]

thanks so much for the reply, im watching this forum like a hawk now Im not sure if my jumper is in the right spot, i think it is but i dont know, i put it on pins 25 and 26 from this page https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2007/05/39582b.pdf i think it is the TX, RX. I got the idea for the loop back test from here https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/need-help-badly-on-inchworm-and-mplab.28166/ but im not sure if im doing it right, the jumper should connect pins 25 and 26? Thanks for the help

 

[blueroomelectronics]

I have got to start selling kits here, that heatsink looks a little funky, make sure it's not shorting against anything.

I'll be at Creatron this Thursday after 5pm drop by and I'll fix it for you.

PS is it a USB to Serial adapter or a PC with a hardware RS232. Also only COM1 or COM2 are useable.

 

[jeg223]

Under the windows COM port settings in device manager, the flow control should be set to hardware.
If you try the loopback test again, the flow control in hyperterminal should be set to none.

They gave me some good information on troubleshooting in this thread.
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/problem-with-inchworm-icd.29775/

 

[Sceadwian]

Both hardware and software flow control need to be off, or you will receive and transmit just about nill. Apparently, according to the error message the FIFO buffers needs to be explicitly disabled.

 

[mouse9911]

Hey guys, i followed those steps for the debugging and i found the error was a damaged sodiering on one of the com-port pins. I did exactly what you guys said with the look back, and i didnt used Hyper Terminal i used TeraTerm and no flow control and debugged it very nicely. Thanks Guys!

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Glad to hear it.