Programming Vex w/ MPLab

[Mark McLeod]

Sorry, I got dragged away before I could finish my answer last night.

The root cause of the problem you see is there are way too many files included as part of the project. The Vex starter code folder actually contains several different projects and variations on the projects lumped together, making it confusing. There are multiple variations of the same file included in your project. When you run Project Wizard don't include every file in your project.
Here is a more readable version (well okay, "readable" is probably an overstatement. I just put each part of the command on a separate line) of the last link step of your compile that you posted, so I can point out what I mean about duplicate files. The files sharing common colors you only want one of in your project. There are others you also don't need, including the assembly file that actually gave you the current error.

Executing: 
"C:\Program Files\Intelitek\easyC\Mcc18\bin\mplink.exe" 
/l
"C:\Program Files\Intelitek\easyC\Mcc18\lib" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\18f8520user.lkr" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\ifi_utilities.o" "C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\main.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\PicSerialDrv.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\printf_lib.o" "C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\user_routines.o" "C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\user_routines_DDT.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\user_routines_fast.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\user_routines_fast_DDT.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\asm_lib.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\ifi_startup.o" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_alltimers.lib" "C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_alltimers_auton_debug.lib" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_alltimers_competition.lib" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_library.lib" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_library_auton_debug.lib" 
"C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\Vex_library_competition.lib" 
/o"Vex Controller.cof" 
/M"Vex Controller.map"
MPLINK 3.90, LinkerCopyright (c) 2004 Microchip Technology Inc.
Error - Coff file 'C:\Documents and Settings\W4TK3\VexControllerProject\asm_lib.o' does not appear to be a valid COFF file.
Errors	: 1

I've attached a screen shot of the only files you should have in your project for starters (you can play with the differences later). Delete all the other entries from the MPLAB project by highlighting them in the MPLAB window and hitting "delete."

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The actual error you got was because the assembler used is too new. It's producing the newer type of COFF. You would have seen other errors if you got past this one.

MPSAM Assembler: C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPASM Suite\MPAsmWin.exe

I assume that you are not writing your own assembly code? So you don't need to be including any assembly files.