Trying to use Bootloader from Virtual Machine

[madsci1016]

I have Win 7 64 bit running on my computers now, which makes using the FBOOT bootloader useless, as it is not compatible with the operating system. I tried to get around this by installing a VMware player virtual machine with win xp.

That trick seems not to work, as the bootloader seems to run ten times slower (the spinning /'s go very slow compared to what they used to , and it takes 10 seconds for it to register that the Axon has been turned on) and it then says wrong device detected, and says the device detected is FFFFFFFF.

Any ideas? has anyone else tried this?

[z.s.tar.gz]

Virtual machines can be tricky.
First of all, if you have xp sp3 then get rid of it. sp3 doesn't work well with the bootloader at all.
Secondly, virtual machines will be much slower with I/O than any native OS, as it not only has to emulate it but run it back and forth through the host OS.

I strongly recommend virtualbox for a variety of reasons, but in this case because it has very good support for all kinds of devices. (and is generally faster than vmware)

[SmAsH]

Have you tried using an actual os like tinyxp booted off a usb?

[madsci1016]

It's not sp3, i am aware of that.

I will give virtual box a try.

And i am avoiding dual booting as that is time intensive.

[z.s.tar.gz]

There's always linux too...
Unless you're one of those people who think they're too good for linux, in which case forget I said anything about it.

[madsci1016]

I have nothing against Linux, I just don't have the patience or the time to do the research and work to convert all the activities on my computers to a operating system that is not ready to support what i need from the start.

Eventually The main controller on SAGAR will be a PC 104 board with a linux kernal, and i will learn to program robotics on linux.

[madsci1016]

ARGGG no dice. Same result with virtual box.

Between this and the Sparkfun lottery disaster, i should have stayed in bed today.

Is there an issue with Win XP sp2 fresh install? A missing patch or something? I have not updated it at all.

[madsci1016]

Well, this might not be a virtual PC thing as now my girlfriends Vista laptop, which yesterday flashed it just fine, is doing the same thing.

What could cause a REALLY slow response to the FBOOT flasher?

[madsci1016]

Well, it look like the USB chip died, as it does the same thing on the XP machine i first started to play with it on. This just is not my day.

Well, looks like time to get an Axon 2. I have always felt i had half an Axon to begin with; the power LED was crushed on mine since delivery. 

[Admin]

the power LED was crushed on mine since delivery.

Really?! But everything else was fine? Really odd . . .

When I get back to the US this summer, I can mail you a new LED for free if you want - your choice of green or red


Also, have you ever used the 3.3V output? Its sensitive, and two people have reported frying their USB by abusing it . . .

[madsci1016]

I used the 3.3V a long time ago when messing with a Venus GPS. now the Venus has it's own regulator and i have not touched those pins in months.

And don't worry about the LED, i just ordered an Axon II from you anyway.

side note, Where are you? Work or pleasure?

[Admin]

side note, Where are you? Work or pleasure?

I'm in Bangkok at the moment. I tend to work on robots/SoR ~6 hours a day. The rest is all pleasure

[madsci1016]

Turns out it was a bad USB <-> Uart chip. I severed the trace lines, and soldered on a pin headers (and glued them to the Axon), and using a FDTI I was able to use the bootloader to flash the chip no problem with WinXP in vmware.

Altough I can't seem to be able to use the bootloader over an Xbee radio link. Has anyone tried this?

[Admin]

Altough I can't seem to be able to use the bootloader over an Xbee radio link. Has anyone tried this?

yeap . . .
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=3899.0