phidget 0/16/16 card not counting laps

Hi guy and other

i am currently trying to help one of our friendship Clubs WHO also use PCLC, they have just bought a new computer, but for some reason the system refuses to Count laps using the phidget Card

if we connect the old computer to exactly the same hardware everything Works just fine - and the phidget msi is installed on both the old and the new computer

The only difference we can see is that when using the old computer 8 led's are glowing on the phidget Card when power is on and no Cars passing the detectors - when passing detectors the light goes out on one of the inputs

On the new computer only the 4 led's for power goes on, not the ones for the counter - what have we done wrong - all settings incl. what port of phidget to use for counting is setup exactly as on the old computer?

Hope you are able to help us as we have a race tomorrow night

K/rgds
lars

This isue regards our PC  

update on info.

If I unplug, and reconnect the USB cable from the Phidgets card, the 4 LED's on the phidgets input (connected to the detector) turns on.
On the old computer, the LED's blinks when the cars pass the detector, and the lap and time is registered in PCLC, and all is fine.

On the new computer, instead of a blink and registration in PCLC, the LED's turns off when the cars passes the decetor, and nothing is registered in PCLC..  

regards
Per

Which version of Pc lap counter ?
New computer have windows xp, vista or windows 7 ?
32 bit or 64 bit ?
My first suggestion is to Check that both computer use the same phidget.msi version, you can download the good version at www.pclapconter.be section download.

Hi Guy

PC Lapcounter 5.28 on the new computer (I have tried 5.27e also)
5.27 on old computer.

Windows XP, 32 bit on both computers.
On both computers is the same version phidget.msi 2.1.7 - 32 bit downloaded from your website.

I have tried also a third computer today, a laptop with the same config, but with windows7 installed, no difference unfortunately.

Regards
Per

Did you use a USB HUB ? if yes then try to use a USB port directly from your computer.
Also did you check with the tools from Phidget ?

No USB hub, cable directly from USB port on computer to phidget.

I can see the phidget in the "phidget control panel"
There's a check in the 4 inputs from the detector.
When the cars passes the detector, the check's disappear instantly.

On the old computer, the checks give at short blink, like the LED's on the card..

Even when LapCounter is not running, things are not the same.

On the old computer, if I activate the detector, with LapCounter program closed, the LED's just give a blink.
If I do the same with the new computer, the LED's turn off instantly.

At this moment i don't see what is exactly the problem,have you try to connect to another USB port ?
Also , are you sure that the Phidget setting on the new computer is good and that PCLC regonize your Phidget interface ?

I have tried all usb ports, and all with same result.
PCLC recognizes the phidget fine.

The only place I can see settings on the phidget, is in the phidget control panel, but there is no option for change the settings ??
In PCLC the phidget settings are the same on both computers..

Regards
Per

Really don't know, i test it with my phidget and no problem at all on windows 7 64 bit and also on windows 7 32 bit
Did you use the Phidget interface to make other thing than counting laps :
Did you have any external button connected to the Phidget interface ? if yes then can you tell me if their work or not.
Did you use also the phidget to control the power ? , if yes then can you tell me if power control is working or not

Hi Guy, Thanks for reply

Yes, it's a strange problem..
The Phidget is only used for counting laps, and for power control.
The power control works fine, and starts and stop the power exactly like the old computer.
Every setting is set to the same parameters, and still it won't count the laps  

I think it's strange, that the problem is there, even when PCLC isn't open and running..
Today we have tested the power from the usb port, and it gives out 5,2V, exactly the same as the old computer..

I suspect a driver conflict of some kind..
I'm out of ideas  

Hi again

I'm still struggling with this problem..
Now I have formated the new computer again, and installed Windows 7 - 64 bit.
I have installed PCLC 5.27e, the same version as on the old computer.
PCLC recognizes the phidget card, even whitout the phidget.msi 2.1.7 driver from your website.

Still the exact same isue, no registration of laps  
I have tried to install the phidget.msi 2.1.7 as well, but still the same..

The 4 LED's on the phidget, that are connected to the detector, turns off when a car passes, instead of giving a blink like on the old computer..

I have tried to flash the BIOS on the computer, to the newest one avalible for the motherboard, but nothing helps..
All windows updates is installed as well..

I have tried to change the settings for "sensitivity - for analog IO" to both high and low numbers, no difference..
"1000" is the number that works on the old computer.

I'm really confused and frustrated..
If the old computer breaks down for some reason, we are in big trouble..

I have uploaded some screenshots of my settings:

Maybe you should try to just connect a simple external button to your phidget to simulate laps and see what happen.
To connect a external button look here: http://www.phidgets.com/docs/1012_User_Guide

Also, have you check the message part of Pc Lap Counter , did you see any message like "lap rejected" or other message ?

Regards.
Guy

Hi Guy

actually today I considered to test the board with the button and battery's, like you suggest, and maybe that will be the next step.
But when it works fine with the old computer, it's likely to asume that the board works fine.
On the other hand, I have to eliminate the possibilities.

I also have an Arduino Uno board, but I don't know how it works, and have no clue on how to program it.
If I knew, it would properly be easy to use that board instead !!

There's no problems written on the messageboard.
I can properly race for hours, whitout PCLC even will know there are cars on the track !!

Moulder, try the 'getting started' sections on Arduino website before you try going to anything more advanced, I do have some stuff written up for PCLC and I'd like to implement it to an easy to use library to be honest, but it's going to take some time. Right now the current revision of code is a bit of a handful!

Start with the blinking LED tutorial, and work up from there.