I am having problems getting my evaluation software to see my evaluation board; what should I do to correct the problem?

First, be sure that the evaluation board is powered-up properly before launching the evaluation software, as in most cases the evaluation software will not be able to see the evaluation board without proper power on the board.

Faulty or inadequate printer cables have been a common source of problems with our evaluation boards. Be sure that you use an IEEE-1284 or compatible printer cable, preferably 6 ft. or shorter. Some printer cables which are not IEEE-1284 may not have all of the pins connected, and may not have adequate shielding to prevent crosstalk and noise problems.

Be sure that the evaluation software has the correct port address for the parallel port. Your computer may have more than one parallel port installed. If you launched the evaluation software before the board was powered on, it may have set the wrong port address. This can be set manually from the evaluation software in order to correct this problem.

The newer MS operating systems (WinNT, Win2000, WinXP) do not allow user software to directly address the ports on the PC. This means that a system level driver must do this. Our evaluation software must install a suitable driver in order to communicate with the parallel port. This can sometimes fail during the installation of the software, depending on the exact configuration of the OS and the user's privileges. The user must have admin privileges in order to properly accomplish this installation.