How to "ungray" the tools->serial port menu? Win764, MapleIDE v0.0.12, DFU OK

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How to "ungray" the tools->serial port menu? Win764, MapleIDE v0.0.12, DFU OK

(10 posts) (4 voices)

Started 4 years ago by LarryP
Latest reply from LarryP

LarryP
Member

Greetings all,

I have *finally* worked through the mess to get the unsigned DFU driver working on Win7/64bit. I can successfully modify sketches and run them from flash memory, hurray.

I've tried using the search function on the docs and forums, but I'm not finding an answer to my issue, inability to configure and/or use the serial monitor/serial port.

Namely,
The tools->serial port menu is (always) greyed out!
When I open the serial monitor, it seems to be attempting to connect to com1@115Kbaud. When and where can I specify the proper serial port and baud rate? Win7's hardware device manager appears to believe the maple is Com3 (for reasons nowhere explained.)

Similarly, what *is* the Maple mini R2's default baud rate for the serial console?

Thanks for reading,

Larry

Posted 4 years ago #
rosendo
Member

I hope I can help... I also have Windows 7, but my board is Maple Native.

I had problems installing, but then I found some walkthrough inside this forum.

http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=73#post-788

Read specifically some post at the end of the 1st page, from Bionic-Badger.
I believe you still have to install the Serial drivers, inside Maple/drivers/mapleDrv/serial. Do it after you plug your board (maybe you have to put in some specific boot mode).

Sorry for taking too long to answer... Anything post again!

Posted 4 years ago #
LarryP
Member

Greetings all,

I'm again having device-driver woes with my Maple Mini. So I'm again seeking help from forum readers, especially those who've gotten the Maple IDE working recently under Win7-64 -- and especially anybody who has gotten it working again after it mysteriously fails.

Suddenly and silently, the serial port connection to my Maple Mini, which had been working fine as COM4 via USB, has stopped working. In the Maple IDE (v0.0.12), the tools-> serial port menu is again greyed out. Worse yet, the device manager no longer shows *any* serial devices, though my Maple is plugged in -- specifically into the exact same USB port I used previously. I've looked at it with the Maple in both perpetual bootloader mode and in normal bootloader mode, but neither yields a non-grey'ed out tools-> serial port menu.

In MS' Device Manager, I do see a USB Composite device, under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, and Device Manager claims that this device is working correctly.
However, I no longer see *any* com ports (or any "MAPLE 003" device at all), so I cannot fully follow the instructions in http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=73#post-788

I tried the procedure outlined in
http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=73#post-788

as best I could, however, the LibUSB package seems to have changed since those instructions were posted, and I don't see the .exe or Wizard files of the same names. And with no "MAPLE 003" device visible in Device Manager (even after re-scanning, unplugging replugging, changing bootloader modes, praying, etc. I don't see anything sufficiently corresponding to the fix-up procedure for me to follow.

Could somebody at leafLabs *PLEASE* provide workable, current documentation on how to get Maple's Baroque driver system to work on Win7-64 -- and how to repair it when it fails after installation!

I wish I could go back to WinXP, but MS won't sell it anymore. If Maple is effectively unsupported on Win7-64, please be candid about that. Or be serious about supporting a rather popular (by numbers, if not user satisfaction) O/S.

Posted 4 years ago #
LarryP
Member

Greetings all,

I've stumbled on what seems to be an undocumented, partial "mystery cure" -- at least for those that have another Maple with a known runnable image in flash. However, it's still not a consistent, sane system, from what I can tell. I plugged in my second (spare) maple mini, which still has the factory image (blink sketch loaded into flash.

Magically, the tools->Serial Port menu became unGreyed, and a Com port re-appears when viewed with MS's Device manager.

Upon switching back to my first Maple mini, the serial port is supposedly still there. I was able to re-compile and load the blink sketch back into ram and flash. So far, so good.

However, I can no longer get any other sketch to load into flash. Example sketches (directly from the examples directory) verify, are not too big, and show no errors during loading them to flash.

However, they're apparently silently failing to load and they certainly don't run. The blink image stays put in flash, and is apparently never over-written, even after a nominally successful compile+upload to flash of a sketch that doesn't do anything to the LED's output pin! Another sign that the bootloader is now silently failing to load verified sketches into flash is that even sketches that use the serial port, now show no activity in the serial monitor -- and the blinking LED from the earlier blink sketch is still in flash, blinking merrily away.

I may well be doing something wrong, but the diagnostics (for compile, link and uploading to flash) are either giving rather incomplete/misleading info, or the bootloader has some undocumented "features" that are pretty USER UNFRIENDLY. It seems that my Maple and/or the IDE (or drivers) have become haunted, with no indication of how or why. Not fun.

If anybody can shed light on this very curious behavior -- and especially how to get rid of it, please respond.

Thanks for reading my rant,

Larry

Posted 4 years ago #
poslathian
LeafLabs

LarryP,

First off, we agree that the windows install process is baroque. Not only that but the dual-USB configurations (one for Serial communication and one for programming via DFU) is even more so. We are working to clean up the latter with some hardware changes, and the former with an installer and some very expensive windows driver signatures. While we do indicate the very shaky windows 7 support in our docs, I agree that it should be made more visible in other places.

Particularly so in windows 7 where there is the driver signing issue. On windows 7 64, there is also an unconfirmed issue with the IDE Serial monitor not working, which (if you experience this) you might successfully fix by visiting: http://forums.leaflabs.com/topic.php?id=1100#post-7321 If windows seems to see a COM, but the IDE does not see it, you might try the above fix.

Regarding the missing serial port. New binaries are uploaded to Maple over DFU, not over Serial. So when maple is in bootloader mode, you will not see a Serial port listed anywhere. Maple is in bootloader mode after a reset. If there is a sketch loaded into RAM or Flash (you didnt just reflash the bootloader) AND you are not in perpetual bootloader mode, Maple will leave the bootloader and jump to your code after 2 seconds. From the IDE, maple is triggered to reset (and thus enter bootloader mode) over the Serial port (using out of band signaling).

Sometimes, bad code or a corrupted transfer/program will cause the Serial port never to appear. When this happens you will need use perpetual bootloader mode, or simply press reset quickly once the IDE informs you in the command window that "Serial port not found..." during the upload process.

If you use perpetual bootloader mode, uploading should just work - even though the serial port will not be found. perpetual bootloader mode is described here: http://leaflabs.com/docs/troubleshooting.html#perpetual-bootloader-mode and demonstrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvNIeKuXsxM

I am not sure that I followed your description 100%, but plugging in two different devices at the same time is really not recommended. If both devices end up in bootloader mode at the same time, the result is completely undefined.

Either way, you should always be able to recover from a weird state by putting the board in perpetual bootloader mode. Ignore the serial port. Upload blinky. The board should reset itself back to blinky and a serial port should appear.

Let me know if that helps.

Posted 4 years ago #
LarryP
Member

Greetings all,

I have two bits of information that may be helpful to others attempting to use leafLabs' boards and software on Win7-64bit systems.

(1) One of the posts on getting leafLabs drivers working on a Win7-64bit system suggested using "ReadyDriver Plus." My own experience is that ReadyDriver Plus caused serious system instability, and I had to reformat my C: drive and restore from a Win7 install disk and backups of my files to get rid of that !@#$% software. So beware -- and back everything up before mucking with the Win7/LeafLabs' driver issue.

(2) One way to obtain a licensed copy of WinXP (and thus sidestep the driver issue on Win7) is to buy a refurbished Dell PC of the right vintage. IMHO, MicroSoft is seriously trying to kill off WinXP, despite the fact that considerable software (e.g. leafLab's drivers) have problems running on Win7. Buying a reconditioned PC turned out to be a good strategy for me. The refurbished hardware is old in PC years, but is serviceable. The copy of WinXP is official MicroSoft OEM distribution with license key, etc. As of a couple weeks ago, http://www.microcenter.com/ had boatloads of Dell GX280s for $140, complete except for a monitor. Your mileage may vary

HTH

Posted 4 years ago #
poslathian
LeafLabs

good suggestion!

Our support plan for windows 7 64 moving forward is actually the new Wiring IDE. With a unified IDE, we should be able to rally the necessary resources from across vendors to nail down all the finicky nonsense associated with - uhh - certain microsoft products.

Posted 4 years ago #
donvukovic
Member

To help me understand, does the reference to W7-64 also apply to W7-32 ??

Thanks

don

Posted 4 years ago #
LarryP
Member

@donvukovic,

I only have Win7-64, so I can only comment on that case. Sorry I can't be of more help. Hopefully somebody running Win7-32 will post how to get Win7-32 to play ball with the Maple IDE.

Posted 4 years ago #
LarryP
Member

Unfortunately, I must withdraw my suggestion that running the leafLabs' port of the Arduino development system on Windows XP is stable.

In my recent experience, it is neither stable or reliable -- the problems just take a little longer to appear -- and are then so similar to the Win7 driver woes (already reported by multiple would-be users) as to make no effective difference. My money spent on a Win XP system seems to have been largely wasted.

Posted 4 years ago #

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