Subject:
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Re: failure in communicaton between RCX & IR Tower
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.rcx.robolab
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Date:
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Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:28:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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8982 times
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I may be stepping out on a limb, but have you tried reformatting the laptop that
doesn't work?
What about using NQC or the original Lego software to test and make sure its not
RoboLab in combination with your laptop that is causing errors.
Ok, here's one that I've heard before: Have you looked up the power output of
your USB port? I read somewhere that some laptops don't supply enough juice for
the tower to work properly, at least at full power.
http://news.lugnet.com/robotics/rcx/?n=1968
Do your other USB hardware work properly with your USB port?
Is you have the lego camera or some sort of digital camera/camcorder (w/o an IR
filter), you could monitor the communication between the RCX and the tower
visually by pointing the camera at both the tower and the RCX (just in case you
didn't know that :-)
Another thing that it could be, is that the computers you tried the tower on had
no IRda, maybe you need to disable the IR on your laptop to make sure its not
interfering.
You probably already know this, but make sure the RCX and tower are not near
sunlight or fluorecent lights, since they put out IR that can interfere.
I hope this helps some,
Timothy
In lugnet.robotics.rcx.robolab, Elizabeth Mabrey wrote:
> I tested with the same installation, IR tower & rcx module with another
> laptop (by Dell) built with infrared port, wireless network card, but with
> no bluetooth built in. They work fine... The problem is more and more
> leaning over to hardware specific problem... ie. something different about
> toshiba Satellite P25-series!!!???
>
> Since the device manager claims the usb device (the tower) is working
> properly, I can't get support help from Toshiba... But then, I called up the
> Pitsco tech support, no use there either!
>
> Does anyone know of any utlity that I can use to further debug this?
>
> As the tower tries to interact with the rcx, it even hangs even I picked the
> "usb#1" from the selection. (note that pitso stated that only selecting
> "autoselect" would cause the hanging problem)
>
> Then, I hooked a usb-to-serial converter targus hub and tested with a serial
> IR Tower. Again, according to device manager, the device is working
> properly. Then, as I selected the proper com port to download the firmware,
> it at least did not hang my box. The tower's green light was on, but still
> fail to communicate with the rcx. Error Response said ..."NO RCX RESPONSE
> (7 bytes read on port 2)... 7 bytes read? It probably is somekind of
> initail handshaking protocol. I just wish the robolab would tell me more
> technical details, or provide some utilities for lower level debugging...
>
> As always, suggestion and comment will be greatly appreciated!
>
> --
> EM
>
>
> "Elizabeth Mabrey" <emabrey@storming-robots.com> wrote in message
> news:HMux2o.19np@lugnet.com...
> > PC: toshiba - P25 series model with four usb 2.0 ports, an bluetooth/wi-fi
> > capability, w/ infrared port built in as well.
> > IR Tower : usb
> > RCX : 1.0
> >
> > Symptom:
> > - communication between the ir tower & laptop is fine... verified with the
> > device manager
> > - in the administrator/robolab screen, I selected usb#1 and attempted to
> > download the firmware. The IR Tower's green light is on for a while; I
> > assume it is attempting to communicate with the rcx. But no response.
> > - tested the identical tower and rcx with my other 3 boxes (one XP/laptop,
> > one XP/desktop, one Win2003/desktop). Communication between the tower and
> > rcx works just fine. These boxes have usb1.1 ports and have NO
> > bluetooth/wi-fi capability, havce NO infrared port built in.
> >
> > Trouble Shooting:
> > - definitely not the tower, nor the rcx because they work fine with other
> > boxes;
> > - definitely not the external environment; because I even isolated them in a
> > black box during the test.
> > - definitely not power as both my laptop and the rcx connected to AC
> > adapter.
> > - not the usb compatibility problem because ir tower communicates fine with
> > the laptop, as indicated by the device manager, as well as the green light
> > from the tower as it attempted to download firmware.
> > - does not seem to be because of the bluetooth because I disabled the
> > bluetooth device thru the device manager.
> >
> > pondered problem:
> > - what cause the rcx failing to communicate properly back to the tower?
> >
> > Comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
> >
> > --
> > thanks
> > EM
> >
> >
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