Burnt ramps??

Here's what happaned: I accidentally mounted the pololus the wrong way on my ramps. I then proceeded to connect the ramps to the Arduino (1280) and then to the PC and the power supply. A small fire happened, only one pololu seemed to be affected and it's probably gone for good. I immediately plugged the whole thing off. The Arduino now seems to work fine. I connected it without the RAMPS to the pc and after a couple usb driver problems I was able to upload it with sprinter firmware. The problem is that when I plug the RAMPS into the Arduino and then connect them via USB to the PC the computer doesnt recognize them. Usually a COM 3 port appears from the Arduino program but now I just get COM 1 and no connection at all. What can it be? Is the RAMPS burnt? Am I doing something wrong (maybe missing a driver/firmware step)? Oh, I put just one pololu on the RAMPS just to see if I could've calibrated a motor.

Thank you very much

Arduino 1280
Ramps 1.4 (no SD shield)
Pololu A40983
NEMA 17 1.8° 2.5A
ATX
Sprinter Firmware
Arduino 0023
Pronterface

EDIT: Can I test the RAMPS with a tester, apparently there is no visible damage but the LEDs don't work.
EDIT2: I don't seem to get what the RAMPS button is for. Any explanation?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/2011 06:14PM by proctor.

I would take a guess and say your Pololus are toast. One test you can do without the Pololus is see if you can control the temperature. If you can't do that you might have lost the RAMPS. Check the fuses on the RAMPS. That is the only other thing I can think of.
Depending upon the version of the Pololu they can be very sensitive. Wrong hookup or a solder bridge and you can lose it.

Lmao I did the exact same thing about 1 hour before you last night

Fingers crossed it did the same thing as mine, it merely blew the stepper driver.

After removing the driver, replacing it with a new one and correctly installing it correct it all works fine, well excluding the dead stepper driver.

Just need to order a new stepstick.

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My Reprap blog

jds-reprap.blogspot.com

Do I have to plug in all the 4 pololus to make the thing work?

No, just one for each motor you want working.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

is there another step i have to do after uploading the firmware to the arduino or should the ramps be recognized on the pc

It should always show up as a comm port regardless of whether the Arduino is programmed or working because a separate chip handles the USB comms.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

The RAMPS will not be recognized by the PC unless the control software you are running has some sort of interface to recognize something on the RAMPS board. As far as I know I don't think there is anything like that but I am always waiting to be corrected.

The Arduino should definitely be recognized by your PC on a COM port. I would connect the Arduino only first to make sure it is identified by the PC. Unplug the Arduino from the PC. After that add the RAMPS board to the Arduino and see if you can monitor the temperature or turn on the heated nozzle. Do this without any of the Pololus on the RAMPS. If you can monitor the temperature the RAMPS board is most likeyl good. Try the Pololus one by one. If the Arduino does not work with one of the Pololus, most likely the Pololu is fried. THis is as long as you can get some sign of life with the temperature monitor on the RAMPS.

So i do the following:
1 install firmware on the arduino
2 connect the ramps to the arduino
3 open repsnapper or similar and try to heat up the nozzle

am i missing something between point 2 and 3?

EDIT: I've seen that there is a test code to test the ramps trough the arduino program [reprap.org] do i open the file on the arduino program and then upload it to the arduino like i did for the firmware? and then see what happens?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2011 12:15AM by proctor.

The easiest way to run the test file is to open the Arduino software, paste the content of the test file into the blank pane then hit upload.

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My Reprap blog

jds-reprap.blogspot.com

Between 2-3 you need to make sure the COM port is selected, active and the right baud rate to talk to the Arduino.
If you do not establish the connection on the COM port you will never get a print.
You do not need a text routine to check to see if you can control the hotend.
You will need a Gcode routine to check if the stepper drivers are able to control the stepper motors.

Sorry,I have no idea as to how proficient you are at connecting devices to a computer.
There are a lot of little steps I passed over assuming you already verified the COM port and connection.

The program you are referring to is a pde file that will be compiled and loaded into the Arduino PIC and will write over Sprinter or what ever firmware you are using. Just understand it is a firmware test routine. I have no idea what it actually does because I have never used it. You will need to reload Sprinter or whatever firmware you are planning on using.