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October 06, 2004
troubleshooting Basic Stamp programs
Things to try if something isn't working:
- Make sure the pin numbers in your code match the pin numbers in your circuit.
- Make sure that your connections are connected on your breadboard - it's easy to mistakenly plug something into an adjacent row.
- Make sure you've selected the correct serial port.
- On the Mac, run Keyspan Serial Assistant (found in the Applications folder) to make sure that your Keyspan USB Adaptor is being recognized.
- Make sure you've selected the correct flavor of Basic Stamp.
- Remember, VDD = +5V, VSS = ground
- Make sure you are formatting your variables correctly when you print them out with DEBUG or send them over the serial port as SEROUT. Numbers default to bytes, you will often want to format them as integers using DEC.
- Try pressing the RESET button on the Stamp board.
- Put in lots of DEBUG statements so that you can pinpoint the problem.
- Try quitting MacBS2 and restarting; on a couple of occasions, I've had it stop communicating with the Stamp while appearing to still be working.
- I strongly recommend using red wire for connections to +5V, green wire for connections to ground, and black (or other colors) for connections to input/output pins.
Posted by Perry at October 6, 2004 06:03 PM
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