Can't save files to MBED

26 Jul 2009

Did the 'hello world' example by copying it to the drive and this worked ok.

However, trying to save from the web compiler with the sample prog in the 'quick start' Firefox says it can't save because of an unknown error. Tried using a different filename - didn't work. Tried replugging the MBED- didn't work.Tried removing all files from the MBED except MBED.htm- didn't work.

Any ideas how to fix this? I'm on OSX 10.57 with Firefox 3.0.10.

Didn't find anything in the FAQ

TIA

Ian.

26 Jul 2009

Hi Ian,

It sounds like firefox is explicitly giving you an error, which I hope is a good sign you aren't doing anything wrong.

However, we haven't seen this before so it'd be great if you could help us with some detective work:

  • Does donloading the first hello world binary always work?
  • Can you confirm FF is explicitly giving you an error that it can't save?
  • Is this totally repeatable (i.e. it is not an intermittent fault)?
  • After an error downloading from the compiler, can you go back and just copy a binary to the disk ok as worked first? (e.g. copy 1st hello world binary, or from the mac desktop)
  • Does the problem still occur in safari?
  • If you do have access to a different computer, can you try on that too?

Also, thanks for the OS and Browser report, very useful. Could you also say what hardware it is (e.g. just thinking if it is a laptop, does having it plugged in to the mains make a difference?)

This will hopefully give us some clues! We'll get you going whatever!

Thanks,

Simon

27 Jul 2009

in answer to your questions:

  • Does donloading the first hello world binary always work?

---No- I now cannot save anything to the controller 'disk'

  • Can you confirm FF is explicitly giving you an error that it can't save?

--Yes - it says'/Volumes/MBED/tester.bin could not be saved because an unknown error occured.

  • Is this totally repeatable (i.e. it is not an intermittent fault)?

--Yes.

  • After an error downloading from the compiler, can you go back and just copy a binary to the disk ok as worked first? (e.g. copy 1st hello world binary, or from the mac desktop)

-- No, Firefox gives the error but there is a tester.bin file on the disk with a size of zero k.

  • Does the problem still occur in safari?

--Unknown - Cant even login with safari for some reason.

  • If you do have access to a different computer, can you try on that too?

Yes - possibly tomorrow.

Hardware - macbook core 2 duo 2gig cpu with 2 gig of ram.

What I CAN do, is drag a file(say a small jpeg or text file) onto the 'disk' and it copies ok.

Other notes:

Try to delete any .bin file and I get a 'file in use by other application' warning, but I can actually delete it.

I'm sure this all happened when I tried to download a compiled file and save it over the one on the 'disk'.

I got the 'do you want to replace this file ' standard OS message , clicked 'yes' to overwrite, then go the

error message as described above.

--Workaround---

Save the compiled .bin to the desktop and drag it to the 'disk' and the file is copied ok, and can be run.

Not ideal, but it seems as if Firefox (or your web app.) has got some confusion over file locking (??)

28 Jul 2009

Further info - I've upgraded to Firefox 3.5 -didn't make a difference.

Tried it on an old PPC mac running 10.4.11 + Firefox 3.5 and it seemed  ok.

Maybe an issue with Firefox+10.5.x+Intel ?

28 Jul 2009

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the additional feedback.

Save the compiled .bin to the desktop and drag it to the 'disk' and the file is copied ok, and can be run.

Not ideal, but it seems as if Firefox (or your web app.) has got some confusion over file locking (??)

I don't think the webapp itself should feature in the equation, but it'd be good to eliminate it. Using Mac/Intel/FF, can you download the two hello world programs directly to the mbed from http://mbed.co.uk/handbook/MicrocontrollerGettingStarted?

What about downloading them both to the desktop, then copying to the mbed?

Tried it on an old PPC mac running 10.4.11 + Firefox 3.5 and it seemed  ok.

That suggests the mbed is working in general.

Could you try with the intel MAC plugged in to the mains? What about different USB sockets on the mac (if mac's are not too cool to have more than one socket); just thinking some of the sockets are sometimes un(der) powered.

Other thing is to experiment just copying files to/from the disk, eject, any mac "sync" options to see if it could be the OS/USB part. Then I guess download files from websites to check the browser general download is working.

Thanks for your help getting to the bottom of this. Exactly what we need from a beta test! A final resort and we'll perhaps have to hunt down someone our end who has the same setup!

Simon

30 Jul 2009

1/ USB issues- clearly the USB is working as I can copy stuff to/from the MBED via the desktop quite happily.

2/ Saving from Firefox - I cannot save any file from the compiler, or any of the Helloworld.bin files directly to the MBED without the aformentioned error.

3/ As stated, saving any .bin file to the desktop first then dragging to the MBED is fine, so I'll just work like this for now.

30 Jul 2009

Hi Ian,

3/ As stated, saving any .bin file to the desktop first then dragging to the MBED is fine, so I'll just work like this for now.

I'm glad you have something that works, but it is really not ideal.

It seems a very strange problem, and we haven't seen it before so i'm guessing it is something in the specific combination of the OS, Browser and/or Hardware. We'll see if we can hunt down a macbook of your spec, and see if we can reproduce it.

Another strange thing:

  • Does the problem still occur in safari?

--Unknown - Cant even login with safari for some reason.

Any chance of detailing the problem you had here? Do you get an error, no login screen, nothing happening on submit? This should be an easier one to track down (but again, we do test safari, so it might be a little more subtle as our tests work).

Top marks for your reports!

Simon

 

31 Jul 2009

Safari login- reset Safari and it I can login. Before I would type the correct password and user name and

it just didn't do anything.

 

I CAN save from Safari to the MBED directly. Firefox does not work, even under another user account.

13 Jul 2010

Hi, I've just purchased an mbed and am just learning how to use it. I've come across a similar problem. Compiler works fine at work using IE however does not save directly to th mbed on my home PC with Firefox, (goes to my downloads folder). Works fine on my home PC with IE.

14 Jul 2010

Hi,

This is a Firefox configuration thing. By default it saves everything to the downloads folder. You can change the settings so that it asks you where to save it.

This should cover how to make the change.

http://mbed.org/support/FAQ0004

The layout of the Firefox settings dialogue changes with every release, but it is esentially the same. Any problems, let me know.


Thanks,
Chris