Hello,

I got the diavolino and it works quite well with my laptop on osx 10.5.
But now on my desktop (win7 64bit) it wont connect.
When i only plug in the ftdi-cable the COM Port appears (COM4, but there is also COM1, I have no idea what this one is...) but as soon as I connect the diavolino it dissapears, appears, disappears... and so on.
It doesn't matter if the diavolino is on or off (I use external Batteries). When its on, the LED is blinking but nothing else is happening. Without the cable it just plays its actual Program

I already tried reinstalling the drivers automatically as well as manually.

I have no idea what to do now...

This sounds like an issue with Windows and the FTDI driver, rather than anything that's actually Diavolino specific. That leads me to suspect that your symptoms are related to the ones usually described as "programming only works after I unplug the USB cable and plug it back in."

Try adjusting your port settings as follows: Device Manager - Comm Ports - USB Serial Port - Port Settings - Advanced button - Set RTS On Close.

I tried this with RTS On Close, but it didn't change anything...
maybe i have to look in the arduino ftdi-problem forum or somewhere overthere...

You might try re-installing the FTDI "VCP" (virtual com port) driver, to see if that helps. It definitely could still be something with your software setup. The fact that it works on the mac likely rules out any kind of actual hardware problem, unless (darned unlikely) the USB port on your computer is flaky.

I reinstalled the drivers many times, using the older ones and newer ones, but no difference...
Is there a special FTDI section on the arduino-website? I didnt find anything related to my problem, but I keep looking...

The FTDI drivers are available here: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

There is also an installation guide for win7: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/InstallGuides.htm

Yup, I know and I tried like 5 times, following the guide with no success...
Everything works fine, the COM port appears (btw: actually 2 COM ports appear, but only the second is the ftdi...)
But at the time I connect the arduino, the FTDI COM port disappears and Windows plays this annoying "hardware connected/disconnected" sound every 3 secs.

Okai, I was wrong. The COM port disappears in the moment I start the Arduino IDE.
When I just connect the Arduino to the cable, the LED begins to blink (2Hz maybe?)

Just let Microsoft Update download the driver.

The COM port disappears in the moment I start the Arduino IDE.
When I just connect the Arduino to the cable, the LED begins to blink (2Hz maybe?)

The steady blinking probably means that the Arduino Blink sketch is running, and that everything is (at the time) okay.

As for the disconnection, I'm afraid that I'm a bit stumped. You might consider searching the Arduino forums, or asking a question there. It's possible that someone else has seen this kind of behavior before in a different context.

The steady blinking probably means that the Arduino Blink sketch is running, and that everything is (at the time) okay.

But there is no blink sketch on the arduino! On my mac I uploaded some other code, which is running until I plug the FTDI Cable in.

In the arduino forum they pointed me back here again ;-)

Do I understand correctly that the situation is still as initially stated, then?

I got the diavolino and it works quite well with my laptop on osx 10.5.
But now on my desktop (win7 64bit) it wont connect.
When i only plug in the ftdi-cable the COM Port appears (COM4, but there is also COM1, I have no idea what this one is...) but as soon as I connect the diavolino it dissapears, appears, disappears... and so on.
It doesn't matter if the diavolino is on or off (I use external Batteries). When its on, the LED is blinking but nothing else is happening. Without the cable it just plays its actual Program

But there is no blink sketch on the arduino! On my mac I uploaded some other code, which is running until I plug the FTDI Cable in.

Okay, some questions then.
1) What is the configuration of the Diavolino? In particular, is the USB power jumper installerd?
2) When the Diavolino is running properly (off of battery, before being connected to the Win7 machine), what is the LED doing? Is it on, off, or blinking?
3) How does this behavior change when you plug it into the computer?
4) Confirm: COM4 only shows up when the USB-TTL cable is plugged in.
5) Are you absolutely certain that you're not running any other software that could be trying to connect to the serial port?
6) Arduino version number?

1) What is the configuration of the Diavolino? In particular, is the USB power jumper installerd?

No, there is no USB power jumper. It's powered from batteries all the time.

2) When the Diavolino is running properly (off of battery, before being connected to the Win7 machine), what is the LED doing? Is it on, off, or blinking?3) How does this behavior change when you plug it into the computer?

It is running properly until I start the Arduino environment. It's running whatever sketch I programmed into it from my powerbook as long as the arduino environment is started. Then the led goes into blinking (2Hz) And the COM Port vanishes.

4) Confirm: COM4 only shows up when the USB-TTL cable is plugged in.

Confirmed.

5) Are you absolutely certain that you're not running any other software that could be trying to connect to the serial port?

What kind of software could that be? I'm not using any palm or anything with serial interface...

6) Arduino version number?

0022

Now I also got an Arduino UNO, which runs flawlessly with it's USB-Connection.


Thank you for your help!!

I'm still not sure what the problem could be. I'd suspect the USB-TTL cable, but it works on the mac, so that kind of rules it out. The USB port could be bad, but the fact that the Uno works there rules that out.

What I don't understand is what's causing the LED to blink. The Arduino IDE *will not* reprogram the board unless you tell it to. Which leads me to ask: what is the LED *supposed* to be doing when your program is running?