AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! RC NOT RUNNING!!!

[InnovationFirst]

Since nobody else has mentioned it on this thread, we would like to remind you that whenever you get a flashing red Program State LED indicating a code error, you can find out more information by using the Dashboard Viewer.

Make sure your OI and RC are linked via tether or radio, connect your PC's serial port to the DASHBOARD port on your OI, make sure the OI/RC jumper is set to "RC", and you will see details about the type of error which caused the flashing red LED at the bottom of the Dashboard Viewer window.

This is how we diagnosed Astronouth's problem, and it may also help you, Kesich.

Regards,
The Firmware Team
Innovation First, Inc.

[bigqueue]

Originally Posted by ToMMan b182

try updating the firmware.. or if you already did try hitting it with a hammer until it works

We tried covering ours with Loctite, and it made all our code problems go away. (Actually, it made all the plastic sides of the robot controller go away, and the code would no longer run.....)

VIOLA...no more nasty code bugs!

-Quentin

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by InnovationFirst

Since nobody else has mentioned it on this thread, we would like to remind you that whenever you get a flashing red Program State LED indicating a code error, you can find out more information by using the Dashboard Viewer.

Make sure your OI and RC are linked via tether or radio, connect your PC's serial port to the DASHBOARD port on your OI, make sure the OI/RC jumper is set to "RC", and you will see details about the type of error which caused the flashing red LED at the bottom of the Dashboard Viewer window.

This is how we diagnosed Astronouth's problem, and it may also help you, Kesich.

Regards,
The Firmware Team
Innovation First, Inc.

Cool. Didn't know it did that.

[JBabbie]

Im having the same problem at the moment with my program ... heh , I think I might re-write the whole code, have you tried re-writing your program in the newest version of FR_code ?

[JBabbie]

I was having the same problem until I did the following

1) update your firm ware

2) translate all your code from the older default to the newest , dont just put your files in their , copy and paste everything you need

3) keep the back up battery plugged in

I hope that helps you, that what fixed the problem with my RC

[Daniel]

Someone mentioned printf working strangely...

I put printf statements through out my program to trace and debug it.

But the program's output has been appearing erratically all of a sudden! That is sometime it just doesn't perform the printf or skips a function call. Has anyone heard of this before? Any solutions?

So much great code, and so little time to debug it!

[Jay Lundy]

We started getting a similar error. We then spent 3 hours removing parts of our code until we got all the way down to an empty main function with no interrupts. Then we rebuilt main using only the necessary functions to establish communication between the master and the user. Then we readded all our previous code, and it worked. Then we compared the version that worked with the version that didn't work.

Apparently, if you put a printf in your code anywhere before you call Initialize_Serial_Comms(), your program will enter a state where the program state led is flashing red/green and not even turning the robot off and back on will fix it. And it doesn't do it the first time you run the code. It only enters that state once you download the code then reset the robot, and once it enters that state it never leaves until you redownload code (not even the special prog/reset button routine fixes it).

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Daniel

Someone mentioned printf working strangely...

I put printf statements through out my program to trace and debug it.

But the program's output has been appearing erratically all of a sudden! That is sometime it just doesn't perform the printf or skips a function call. Has anyone heard of this before? Any solutions?

So much great code, and so little time to debug it!

The printf() is buffered, so it might just not be sending back the data right away. That should mean that you still get everything, just not right away, but it may be weird and do something like over writing what is already in the buffer if what is being written and what is already there is larger than the buffer can hold. Something like that. Or it may be that something changed in you code and it really is skipping those functions that you think are being called. Weird error.