Switched from USB to serial and MT connection flashes...?

[cahillicus]

I have been running more or less flawlessly on my serial to USB converter for months. I finally found a serial cable and decided to use it due to space issues and the ability to screw down the connections. I changed MT to the proper com port for the serial and changed the setting. When I power up MS, it connects to MT and everything looks fine and then the connection drops and comes back and continues this flashing of connectivity every couple seconds. Whats the deal? Do I not have the comm settings correct?

[Matt Cramer]

Try increasing the InterWriteDelay in common.ini.

[cahillicus]

Well I tried values from 2-10 and none seemed to really make a difference. Any other ideas? I really don't want to go back to USB as it takes up more space and is easily disconnected.

[Matt Cramer]

What sort of laptop is this?

[cahillicus]

PC. It is an older GoBook (progressive insurance field claim computer) running XP. It is kind of sweet because it has a touch screen. When it connects it responds to changes from the sensors (TPS, MAP, O2, etc) until it flashes off connection. It is not MS restarting as it will do it while the bike is running fine.

[Matt Cramer]

That's weird. It may be an issue with the serial port itself, though I'd expect a ruggedized laptop to do better. Have you tried TunerStudio instead?

[cahillicus]

I have it, but haven't really invested the time to figure it out. Maybe you could give me a refresher on exactly what settings need to be in both MT and in the divice manager for the serial port. And, I will check into TS. thanks, Matt.

[Matt Cramer]

There's not much in the way of settings you need for a serial port - I'm wondering if something is physically damaged inside the laptop here, like a DB9 that's come loose from the PCB.

[cahillicus]

It seems strange that it would connect at all if there was damage, or that it would flash so rhythmically. Not to mention that it does it while the engine is not running and everything is perfectly still.

[Bernard Fife]

cahillicus,

In addition to what has already been mentioned, another thing that can cause this is if the INI doesn't match the outpc structure in the code. This causes the comm to get ot of sync, so they fail, then restart, and so on repeatedly.

Normally you would get a type mismatch error if using the wrong INI, but if the INI is modified incorrectly or has been corrupted it won't trigger any errors but you will get just the sort of behavior you are seeing. So you might try re-downloading the INI that matches your code.

Lance.

[cahillicus]

You nailed it Lance. I reloaded the ini and it works great. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!