Receiving data through serial after PC sleep-wake cycle

Projects Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
1

Hey smart people

My project entails taking physical input to control hardware and software on my Windows 8 PC.
I'm using GoBetwino to interface the Arduino Nano 3 (328) and the PC.

All serial communication initially works as expected, except for the following situation:
A serial monitor/window is open, successfully sending/receiving serial data to/from Arduino. When the PC is put to sleep mode e.g. S3 (while the serial monitor is open), and woken up again, the serial monitor on the PC is non-responsive. The Arduino never loses power when the PC is in sleep mode, and I can see that the COM port is not reset after PC wake.

This situation applies to both the Arduino IDE serial monitor and with GoBetwino open.

Temporary solution
Re-opening the serial monitor/GoBetwino (close/open of COM port) AND physical reconnecting the Arduino is necessary for successful serial communication after a PC sleep/wake cycle.

I've tried:
Adding Serial.begin(), Serial.flush() and Serial.end() to the relevant parts in my Arduino sketch controlling the sleep function (the Arduino knows exactly when the PC will sleep/wake-up) - no success.

I think the problem is....
Unfortunately I do not know enough of COM ports/serial communication on the Windows side of things, but possibly the problem is that the COM port is closed(?) when the PC is going into sleep mode, and not reopened when waking up.

Possible solution
I can implement a script on Windows that re-opens GoBetwino (thus re-opening the COM port), and attach a 120 Ohm resistor to the reset pin to avoid auto reset, but this doesn't solve the "Arduino must physically be reconnected"-problem.

Any ideas/comments/solutions?

2

Any ideas/comments/solutions?

Keep the computer from going to sleep.

3

Better answers anyone? This can't be the answer.

I have to unplug my arduino and replug it to get the serial working again. Is there alternatives for serial, if it's not possible to get serial working after wake up?

My Arduino however is not powered when I put the computer to sleep (which is just fine), it lights up when I wake the computer. Still the serial does not work unless I replug it.

4

I suspect you will need to write a specialized PC program to deal with the situation you describe. It would probably need to check what serial ports are available and then try to communicate with the Arduino. The Arduino Serial Monitor is not designed for your requirement.

I don't use Windows but I am rather surprised that it is necessary to unplug the Arduino. Haave you used the Arduino IDE to select the appropriate serial port? It may be different when the PC wakes up.

It might be worth trying puTTY as an alternative to the Arduino Serial Monitor.

...R