Can't communicate w/ cam

[obeyken]

I'm taking some time in this "off-season" to try to familliarize myself more w/ the cmucam, but I haven't gotten too far. I'm unable, for starters, to communicate w/ the cam using hyperterminal. 99% of the time I get no response from the camera: no firmware id, no ":" prompt. However, on a couple occasions, I've gotten the firmware ID and the prompt, and got an ACK response when I hit "enter". However, when I entered the "gv" command, all that was returned was the character "C". But like i said, most of the time it's just dead air.

Also I've can't get it to go into "demo" mode. And the GUI just hangs there with the message: "Looking for camera...".

Things that do work: the LEDs light up as advertised, and the servo returns to "home" when the board is powered up.

I've gone through the troubleshooting guide, checked and-rechecked the port settings and hyperterminal config, etc. Also I've swapped out the following components:

- the serial cable
- the cmucam2 motherboard (we have 2 boards but a single camera module).
- the PC
- I've powered the board at both 6V and 12V.
- i've tried connecting at both 115200 and 9600 baud

Basically i've swapped out everything except the camera module itself. I'd be sort of suprised if that's the problem, as it's such a simple component... really just a single chip.

I'd appreciate any suggestions. And in particular, if there are any teams in the San Francisco Bay Area that had the time or inclination to help me swap out some parts, I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks,
Ken

[mechanicalbrain]

two things to think about. one check all conections that could be loose or damaged. also it might be your computer or program. (im asuming this is where your getting the error)

[Mike Betts]

Use something other than Hyperterminal...