how to program ECIO!

[achillis1]

Hello,

I have got the ECIO 40P and I want to send a program on it. I have also the programming board EB-006-00-6, can I use that in order to send programs to ECIO or I have to have a different programming board?

Can I connect the ECIO to my PC directly with the USB cable and then send the program via flowcode?

Thank you in advance,
Best Regards,
Achillis

[JohnCrow]

The ECIO is connected to your PC directly via the USB cable. Make sure you have the link on the ECIO set to USB.
The program is sent using either flowcode or if you have a hex file use the Matrix Multimedia programming software downloaded from their website.
http://www.matrixmultimedia.com/ECIO-X.php
DONT try plugging it into the multiprogrammer, not sure what it would do, but I expect it would damage either the ECIO, the programmer, or both.
Look on the above link for a adaptor board if you want to use e-blocks with the ECIO.

[Benj]

Hello Achillis

Yes JohnCrow is right the ECIO can be plugged directly into the USB for programming. You should not connect the ECIO devices to the EB006. Make sure your target device in Flowcode is set to ECIO and not the microchip chip type and this will automatically select the ECIO programming software and the configuration settings for you. If you need to program hex files outside of Flowcode then in the Flowcode folder is an application called ECIOprog.exe. This can also be downloaded from our ECIO product page.

[achillis1]

Hello Ben,

I am trying to program my ECIO and I am having difficulties!
Other times I could send from Flowcode the USB HID example for mouse which is included in Matrix's USB downloads to the ECIO with success(even if it did not worked on my PC as a mouse!)

Now I am trying to send the same code a I get these error codes: I am placing the attachments below.
On the other hand if I send a simple program such as output 255 on PortB it works!

Another thing before this happend, when I was connecting the ECIo on my pc it could not install the driver for it-even though before it was OK and the ECIO drivers were installed- and in result I had the message that the new device could not be installed.

After I reinstalled the ecio driver and it recognised the ECIO but Flowcode cannot send code with USB component included!

Thank you in advance,

Best Regards,
Achillis

[Benj]

Hello

Ok to get around this problem simply push and hold the reset button on the ECIO for a second or two rather then just giving it a tap. This allows the Flowcode USB component to fully disconnect from the PC allowing the alternative USB bootloader software to initialise and run correctly.

[achillis1]

Hello Ben,

Thank you for your quick reply!
That has done it! The first problem has been resolved.
I do not get that error message from flowcode anymore.

Now the problem is that when I compile to chip a flow code that contains the USB component -as I said now the compilation to chip is successful- after, Windows say that it has found new hardware and after it seeks for device drivers and at the end it cannot find them and the ECIO is like useless!!!!!!!

Have you got any idea for this Ben?
Do I have to manually point to any drivers?
Uninstall and install again Flowcode?

Thank you in advance,

Best Regards,
Achillis

[Benj]

Hello

The USB components generate their own driver files from the properties page you will see a generate driver button.

The USB serial is a single file.

The USB slave is a single fine that requires a library of files in the same directory. These are available from the USB pack download or the PPP driver files.

The USB HID does not require a driver.

[achillis1]

Hello Ben,

Thank you that was helpfull. I generated a driver file and when it was asked I pointed there and now the ECIO can be installed correctly.

I still have another problem! Before I mention it I will just say that I have installed Flowcode on my home PC, on which I have downloaded the USB pack by entering the last digits of my Flowcode serial key(as asked by the download section). Also I have installed it on my work pC, on which I have Installed USB pack but with the .exe I had already downloaded.
Also when I open files that I have created on my home PC, on the work PC then Flowcode says that the USB components are not licenced for this machine and question marks appear on the USB icon on Flowcode.
After I reinstall USB pack and the question marks are disappearing. After I try to download the code to the ECIO and errors come!
DO you think that the problem is that I compile the code to chip via the "not licenced" on that machine USB pack?
After when I go home and try with a "fresh" code the same errors appear: I will attach screenshots.

Even though the day before, this happened again, but when I went home I erased ECIO through the ECIO programming utility, restarted WIndows and I tried to compile to chip again and it was successfull. Now that cannot work.

Best Regards,
Achillis

[Benj]

Hello Achillis

It may be a licensing or registration problem. When you compile you should get a message right at the start telling you the status of your license and registration.

Also if you download the latest version of Flowcode PIC (3.6) from our website then this comes with the USB components pre installed.

This may help with some of the problems you have been experiencing.

[achillis1]

Hello Ben,

It seems that the problem was that I trying to compile to chip from Flowcode that was installed on the other PC that the USB pack was not licenced on.
Now when I compile to chip from the "original" installed PC it is always succesfull.

Thank you for your help,

Best Reagards,
Achillis