No board communication

I have been working on trying to get my printer running and everything is complete, at least for a test run anyway. The problem I have now is that I can't get the computer to recognize the board. I started with a board purchased from Zen tool-works. In my zeal to get the printer running, I mistakenly swapped the power inputs and fried the capacitor, maybe the whole board. I replaced capacitor and I got nothing, so I tried a new board from Botronicz. I tried the new board (Win 7 x64) and I got nothing. I tried again (Ubuntu) and still nothing. I tried both with and without the power supply. When I plug the board in I don't even get a searching for driver notice and nothing shows up in the device manager. I tried plugging into a USB 3.0 and I got an overcurrent notice. So the question is what am I doing wrong? Did I somehow fry the new board also? Would I have a better shot with RAMPS or some other configuration? Thanks for the help in advance.

Hey!

i will help you look for an answer. basically i only dealt with RAMPS but in my opinion u have one of the three problems:

1- try a different usb cable!
2- the ftdi chip is damaged
3- the ubs connector on the board is broken ??

when you connect the usb, does the red power on led power up?

I tried a different cord and it didn't help. Also, the LED does not come on when plugged in. Am I looking at a damaged board here? If so do you think RAMPS would be a better choice to move to or is it mostly just personal preference? Thanks for the help.

could be alot of reasons:

if you are sure that ur USB port (on the computer and the cable) are working good then the only 2 problems that pop up are:
1- sanguinololu usb port-b socket is broken - and u need to replace it. if thats the problem then its easy to fix. the usb socket is what gives the board its power too.. so if the led doesnt light up it could possibly be it.
2- whole board is broken.. in that case unsolder the MOSFETS (keep them for future reference), also keep your atmega chip and get a new board!

And yes i think RAMPS is much better.. and here are the reasons:
1- its very modular.. meaning that some part gets broken - u only replace that.. u dont risk blowing up the whole board.
2- the atmega chip is on the arduino board - which is why its LESS more problematic than the sanguino.. the arduino boards have been out there for a long long time and probably dont have 90% of the errors that u might face in the sanguinololu.
3- has better expansion options.

whenever using ramps just remember that the power supply shouldnt be more than 12v, unless u take off the power diode and connect the arduino board externally.

BTW check the PM i sent you about the RAMPS, if you want then let me know!

On the Botronicz (as you call it, its really a Sanguinololu board) the LED is wired directly to the power...

If you plug it into USB without any other power it should lite up and you should be able to connect to the board and talk to it.

The "overcurrent notice" you got makes me think you have a short on the board.

I would remove all the pololu driver boards (these [www.resco-research.com])
And disconnect all cables. (all while off of course, never change anything while on!)

Just plug it into USB. Does the light now turn on? If so you should be able to connect to it now.
If it does now work turn it off again and add in one thing, and retest. repeate till the led stops again
The last thing you added, is probably broken (shorted) and needs replaced.

If you removed all cabled and pololus and just with the USB and the led still doesnt work, you might have to remove the 644p. With that removed does the led turn on? If it does you wont be able to connect to it, as there is nothing to connect to.. you will need a new 644p.

If the led still dont light up you have a sort on the board somewhere... could be the 7805 voltage regualtor, or a blob of solder on the board shorting things. Or even a dead LED...