Fish, did as you said. no dice.
heres a better shot of my chip. i pushed and pushed on it just now. not going in any deeper (or at least i fear im gunna break it)
if this still isnt clear enough I can use a different camera (just gotta dig it out of who knows where), using an iphone.
Gotta take a break, a friend of mine needs help ‘Wrangling his kids’ what ever that means.
thank you guys. ill be back in a few hours if youre still here.
Can you please define “no dice”? What is actually happening? Remember we are not there…
Please provide more feedback.
Does the SSC-32 LED light up when power is applied?
After you connect the serial cable does the LED go out?
Does the LED blink when you are entering data, typing in the Lynxterm window?
If you type VER then enter, does the firmware version display in the terminal window?
The chip does not appear to be installed full into the socket. However this is not the problem you are looking for at the moment.
OK, ill face my fears squeeze the hell of that chip. I can always buy a new one if i break it I guess. When power is applied the SSC LED does come on. it remains on until i start lynxterm, then it goes out perminantly. it does blink when i enter data. when i type VER nothing happens. or more accurately, the curser moves to the next line and stays there blinking.
Yep,
I totally understand about wanting to not hurt the chip. But it should go in most all of the way. That is there should be very little gap between the top of the pins and the socket.
But now back to the problem at hand. That is communicating with the SSC-32.
OK first lets verify some of the settings/jumpers on the SSC-32.
You have power to both the logic side and servo side. Could have just one power going into it if you have the VL=VS jumper jumper-ed. If you have separate power sources going in for VS and VL make sure the VL=VS jumper is removed.
On the area near the DB9 connector, you have the two jumpers in place for RX and TX
Toward the middle of the board you have the two jumpers set for BAUD. This would set up the SSC-32 to communicate at 115200.
It sounds like you have maybe the right Com port selected on the PC, as when you start up the LED on the SSC-32 goes out. The light on the SSC-32 blinks when it receives data, but not necessarily valid data…
Now make sure you have the serial port connection from your PC plugged into the 9 pin connector on the SSC-32. Is this a real serial port or are you using an USB to serial adapter. If an adapter, which one?
Now on the PC side. If you are running Lynxterm, Make sure the comm port that is shown at the top shows the right. Click on the setup button and make sure the baud rate is set to 115200. Also does the button at the right of the comm port say connect or disconnect. If it says connect, then click on it…
now try typing the Ver command
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Kurt
I’m sorry I don’t mean to butt in, but as far as I can tell he still has the SSC-32 setup to talk to the BotBoard… James noticed it and posted yesterday…
Yep, I was wondering that as well, but then mentions led on SSC-32 turns off when he starts lynxterm, so then I was not so sure. That is why I tried to detail what I would expect the SSC-32 to be configured like.
In particular, I would suggest getting back to the configuration shown in Step 10 of the T-Hex body assembly guide (lynxmotion.com/images/html/build170.htm).
Then we can go to step 1 of complete T-Hex Tutorial (lynxmotion.com/images/html/build171.htm), where he needs to update the firmware of the SSC-32…
Kurt
Success! Thank you guys. I can FINALY move to the next steps.
It still isnt working on my primary computer (Win7) but is on my secondary (Vista).
Did every single thing you guys said to do (thanx again) but it still didnt work. But there was a profound difference between today and yesterday. This time i knew i had it all correct, cuz you told me I did. soo … i tried my other machine. works. Dont know why it doesnt work on my Win7 machine. But whatever. The Vista machine litterally has lynxterm and nothing else installed. i guess ill keep it that way for now.
So as i move move forward can i can continue to ask for help through this same thread? I still do want a mentor (or six).
Oh by the way. My girlfriend is amazed by how fast and how many of you leaped to the call.
…and so am i. thank you.
Yeah 
Go ahead and continue on the same thread!
If you are having problems on Win7, it is probably with your USB to serial adapter (assuming you are using one). Is it 32 bit or 64 bit Win7? If 64 bit, I have heard of issues with some programs like Basic Micro Studio whose FTDI driver does not work for 64 bit machines… If this is the case (FTDI driver), you should try to update the driver for your USB to serial adapter to the latest ones up on the FTDI website.
There is a thread up on the Basic Micro website, that I know helped out a few people: forums.basicmicro.net/atompro-f4 … t9359.html Look for the post from AcidTech(Nathan). This gives a set of instructions for updating the drivers associated with their boards, such as the Arc32.
The process for updating a
The driver I downloaded and installed on a 64 bit Win7 machine was: ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM … tified.zip
The process should be very similar to what he mentioned, except probably where to find the device in the device manager… Also lots of good information in several threads up here on USB to serial issues. Like: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4702
But again it would be good know which 32 or 64 bit Win7, which serial adapter.
Kurt
Win7 Ultimate, 64 bit. I tried both the adapter lynxmotion sells with the driver the link to on the site and a PCI card i had laying around from god knows where. USed the driver that came with it.
For now, i am satisfied. I got my monster all set up and even managed to program it. Didnt know which code to use so i threw all four on in order. dont know if they coexist or over write each other, whatever. it is responding to the PS2. it cant walk for some reason. it tries but jjust looks silly. i think i dont have eveything alighed right.
do you think its safe to tuck in all the wires and such? its a real mess. all from here is just aligning servos and software right? no more jumpers and such?
I think you open a project and all the files load automatically. We will make this part more clear. If it is working try lifting the body up and select a tripod gait. 
I am for sure not the best one to talk about aesthetics 
, as I usually have lots of wires hanging everywhere and dust… But I have found that it is a good thing with legs to organize the wires, as they can get caught up in things and cause problems, like shorts, servo getting hung… So before long I would recommend working on that. The leg assembly tutorial (lynxmotion.com/images/html/build168.htm), shows a good example of it.
What I did when I built my 4 DOFT-Hex legs, what I did was to start at the Tars (ankle) servo and then routed it into the Coxa(Knee) servo bracket and then place the Knee servo into that bracket. The two wires should come out at about the same place, where I place a wire tie to hold it there. Note: you need to make sure there is enough free servo wire at each joint, such that the joint can move through it’s full range of motion…
…
As I mentioned the pictures toward the end of the above mentioned tutorial, shows this pretty well.
Kurt
OK so Im back and working on getting this up to snuff again. Thanks again for everyones help. Working on getting the legs calibrated now. I think i can do this but i have a question. When i power it on and set all servos to 1500 i hear a loud hum. is that normal or do i have one on backward or something?
Yep a Hum is quite normal. I assume you are using something to hold the legs off the ground, such as is shown in figure 1 of: lynxmotion.com/images/html/build172.htm . Note: If you were using digital servos, a large very annoying whine would be heard.
Kurt
Oh thank god! I’v been looking at this thing all morning fearing that the hum may mean something very very bad.
Yeah I’ve proped up exactly as shown actually. This project was/is a bit over my head. but i knew that going in so i have compensation measures in place, i.e. no 3rd party hardware and buying everything directly from lynxmotion when possible and when not as close to what i can see in the pictures.
Hello again. I’m confused. I have completed this tutorial ( lynxmotion.com/images/html/build171.htm ) up to step 9.
do i click “Read” or “Write” or anything, or just move on to step 10?
Sure am glad i put in fresh batteries this morning. Standing by…
Note: In Lynxterm, in the Registers page (shown I believe in Figure 5 of the tutorial), you need to press the write button, to put all of the offsets back into the SSC-32.
Note: I will normally do this after I adjust a few servos, just in case something resets, I don’t lose what I already did.
Kurt
Thank you Kurte. OK, hit write and moving on to step 10.
Dont know what a “Click” is but i do know what 45 degrees is.
