error while loading initial minipov.h with serial connection

[Paulc1]

The assembled minipov3 worked fine with sequencing the led's.

On to avrdude, I followed instructions to load initial minipov.h through serial port and this is where the problem starts. When I connect the blinking unit to the serial port, with and without an extension serial cable, the lights stop sequential blinking. No dimmimg as reported somewhere in the forum.
typing: make program-minov in my c:\minipov3 directory the following error message appears:

avrdude -p atttiny2313 -p com1 -c dasa -uflash:w:minipov.hex
avrdude: ser_open(): cant set buffers for "com1"
avrdude: serbb_setpin():setcommstate()failed:the handle is invalid
make:***[program make-minipov] error 1
c:\minipov3>

I get the same error wether the unit is turned on or off.

I tried to trouble shoot the serial port with windows troubleshooter but no error found.

I connected an old serial mouse to the serial port and it worked ok and was recognized in device manager.

The minipov3 does not appear at all in device manager whether on or off. Is that normal?

I''m using an old XP I keep for emergencies, that happens to have a serial port.

All soldering appears good.

Would appreciate any further suggestions

Thanks

PBC

[adafruit_support_bill]

Are you sure the port you are connecting to is COM1?
Are you sure that no other driver or application is attached to that port? If you were able to plug a serial mouse in and have it recognized, I would suspect that there is an installed mouse driver that is holding the port.

[Paulc1]

I had overlooked that my old emergency XP had a phone modem and line connected. However it was on com3. I disconnected it, disabled the modem and uninstalled its driver... alas to no avail.

Exact same old error message.

Only other connections are a ethernet cable and a couple of usb's for mouse and keybord.

I reiterate a couple observations conflicting with previous posts elswhere in the forum:

1- the leds stop blinking altogether and the unit dies upon connecting to the serial port. Elsewhere it was quoted the led's dim erratically etc

2- Nothing shows on device manager when the unit is connected, powered or unpowered.

3- The leds turn off upon connection to serial port- never seeen similar behaviour reported on forum.

Thanks

PBC

[adafruit_support_bill]

Nothing shows on device manager when the unit is connected, powered or unpowered.

You are using a real serial port, not a USB/Serial converter. Unlike USB, serial ports are not PnP. The Device manager will show you any serial ports it knows about, but can not automatically 'detect' when anything has been plugged into a port.

If avrdude can't open COM1 it is either because it is not there, or some other application/driver already has it open.

Do you see COM1 in Device manager?

[Paulc1]

Com1 shows in Device manager under "Ports[om&lpt]
Communications portc(com1)
printers port (lpt1)

I know of no other serial connections. Is there a way of finding out?

Device manager does not show any serial devices. The modem even disappeared from the listing after disconnecting it and disabling its driver. Is ther a way to find out of other connections other than Device Manager?

On a different matter...

Re-inspecting the board, I noticed an unused connection hole drilled in the PCB to the right of pin 11 of the chip looking from the top of the board and this hole lies on the right outliner of Zener D1 looking from the top. Is that intentional?. There seems to be a connection trace leeding from this unused hole to pins 14 or 15 or 16 of the chip, not visible now due to soldering and flux around these pins.

There is a similar unused hole on the left outline of R11.

Hope this helps

Thanks

PBC

[adafruit_support_bill]

Com1 shows in Device manager under "Ports[om&lpt]

Good. There is a physical COM port there. If there were more, they would show up in Device Manager too.

(from your earlier post)

I connected an old serial mouse to the serial port and it worked ok and was recognized in device manager.

If you can still do this, then there is a mouse driver installed that is holding that port open. Avrdude will not be able to talk to it unless you disable that serial mouse driver.

I noticed an unused connection hole...

I believe the holes you are talking about are 'vias'. They are smaller than the holes used for soldering components and are used to connect top-layer traces with bottom-layer traces.

[Paulc1]

Indeed the empty holes are smaller and could very well be via's.

If I plug in the serial mouse after the computer starts, the mouse is not recognized. However,if I reboot with the mouse plugged in, it is rcognized along with the USB mouse and appears in device manager.

Under driver details, for the serial mouse I get two drivers:

1- c\windows\system32\drivers\mouclass.sys and
2- c\windows\system32\drivers\mouhid.sys

likewise I get two drivers for the original USB connected mouse:

1- c\windows\system32\drivers\mouclass.sys and
2- c\windows\system32\drivers\SEMOUSE.SYS

Note the 2nd line difference \mousehid:sys for the serial and \semouse.sys for the USB mouse

Note also that the two mice appear under the same heading of "Mice and other pointing devices" in Device Manager even though one is a USB and the other a serial.

Could the USB port be conflicting with the serial ?

I also observed that when I reboot with both mice connected, either mouse actuates the same mouse pointer on screen.

Hope this further helps.

[adafruit_support_bill]

If the Device Manager gives you the option of disabling the serial mouse driver, I would do that. (You could always Uninstall it, but you might want to use it in the future.)

[Paulc1]

Success! Disabling did not work. Uninstalling worked.

Post Mortem:

Unbeknonwst to me ,Com1 was loaded by Manufacturer (Dell) since puchase about 10 years ago.
Never had any use for that port since the computer came with a USB mouse. So never bothered to look further into it (unless com1 was need for the phone modem?)

My lack of sophistication in communications protocols, porting etc precluded me from recognizing that when Com1 shows a reading in device manager, that a driver was installed and functional even though no physical hardware was attached to the serial port.

As mentioned, Disabling the driver did not liberate Com1 port. Uninstalling did.

It was a relief and pleasure to watch Avrdude proceed past the first line and on to :
Done, thankyou.

My turn to thank you Guys,and Ladies, you for your terrific support in resolving this issue.

Quite an education!

Thank you again

PBC