Untraceable problem with Minicom

[Marek Vasut]

On Sunday 09 January 2011 10:50:10 Shahnewaz Chowdhury wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> I am facing an untraceable problem with minicom. Allow me to provide proper
> details so that it will be easier to provide assistance.
> 
> I am using a desktop PC with Ubuntu 10.10. It has only one serial port
> (ttyS0) and I have verified that using the command " dmesg | grep tty ".
> 
> My development board is called HDP6410, which is a clone of the SMDK6410.
> The processor is S3C6410 with ARM 1176 JZ(F)-S core. After I start
> minicom, when I connect the board to the pc using a null-modem cable and
> power up the board I am supposed to see booting updates on minicom,
> followed by a prompt that would allow me to access the board. However, I
> do not see anything. I know that the serial port on the pc and the serial
> cable are fully functional because I do get all the booting updates and
> prompt when I use a custom serial communication software provided with the
> board. However, I want to use minicom because the custom software provides
> no means of transferring files.
> 
> I added my username to the following groups : dialout, uucp and tty.
> 
> I have also checked that ttyS0 has read/write permissions.
> 
> My settings in minicom are as follows:
> 
> Serial Device                           : /dev/ttyS0
> Lockfile Location                     : /var/lock
> Bps / Par / Bits                         : 115200 8N1
> hardware flow control               : no
> software flow control                : no
> 
> I have tried running minicom both as normal user and root, but I still get
> no output on the console when I power up the board. I know for sure that
> the serial port on the board is working fine and it does send messages
> once I power up the board. Something is wrong on the PC side. For some
> reason when I run minicom, the connection is probably not established on
> the PC side.
> 
> Am I missing any essential configurations / settings ?
> 
> I would highly appreciated some guidance on this. I have been trying for a
> week now without any positive result. Please help.

I) Stick a screwdriver between pins 2 and 3 of the RS232 and see if you get any 
output when you type into minicom window (loopback).

II) Another possibility is you should connect it directly, not null-modem

Cheers
> 
> Sincerely,
> Shan