[Contiki-developers] Problems running Contiki 2.4 Demo for Atmel Raven and SICSlowpan under Windows Vista

[Rolf D. <Rol...@de...>]

Hi All, 

I'm trying to run the basic demo under Windows Vista, but I cannot resolve a problem with the RZRAVEN USB Stick (Jackdaw). 

I'm using the precompiled ELF files for Contiki 2.4 and everything works fine under Windows XP (SP3). So the general procedure as described in "Running Contiki with uIPv6 and SICSlowpan support on Atmel RAVEN hardware"
   http://www.sics.se/~adam/contiki/docs-uipv6/a01108.html
   http://www.sics.se/~adam/contiki/docs-uipv6/a01107.html

is not a problem. 

But with Windows Vista (required for us), I experience a problem which I cannot resolve though experimenting for a few days now. 

I tested the problem on various Vista installations, including SP1, SP2, and even Windows 7. 
For all Vista tests the problem is always the same: In "Network Connections", the RZRaven USB is finally "disabled" and both the red and blue LEDs on the RZRaven USB are continuously lighted. At the same time the USB virtual Serial Port is also not usable. In the Vista device manager everything is ok, no problem displayed, the hardware itself seems to be perfectly recognized. 


The interesting thing is that for the very first installation there is NO problem, I can even PING the other Raven boards, and I can use the virtual serial port. Once I plug off and on the RZRaven USB (or e.g. turn off /on the PC), it will not work any longer. Deinstallation and re-installation seems to solve the problem, but again only for one single time. 

If I watch the Network connections after plugging in the RZRaven USB, then I sometimes can watch the RZ Raven Network Device to be "enabled" but for only very short time (may be a second). But afterwards the status always switches to "Searching" which may take 60 seconds or more, the LEDs blinking in some pattern, but finally ending up with red/blue continuos and the network adapter status set to DISABLED. Afterwards I cannot even use the virtual serial port (COM open fails). 

I found a hint in the tutorials to shorten two soldering pads on the back of the RZ Raven USB, but this does not change anything. Also I have two RZ Raven USB, so I can cross-check that this is not a problem with an individual Jackdaw Device. Since it works with Vista after the very first install, this seems to prove, that it is not a general Vista problem. 

While this seems to be more a Windows than a RZRaven USB problem, I wonder why I cannot find any similar problem reports in the Internet or Contiki Mailing list. 

Has anyone experienced and resolved a problem similar to this ? 
Any help appreciated.