dlloyd:
Yeah, just random suggestions that seem to fit. Don't worry, I've noted the details and seen the source code.I would take any suggestions just as that - suggestions. I really wouldn't form too many solid opinions at this point - let your hardware/software configuration and test results do that for you.
If time is of the essence, you could just make a list of all possible things to test. If there are 10 things to try and 7 are simple, I would do all the simple things at once just leaving 3 to spend more time on.
Another way is to keep stripping things down (commenting out sections of code, minimizing hardware, etc) until the problem goes away ... and therein lies the problem (the last thing that was eliminated).
Anyhow, been there, done that (I absolutely love troubleshooting - but finding the answer is even better).
These are good suggestions, but I'm out of time.
At this point my plan is to test the hardware side. Unfortunately it's very difficult as the bug is difficult to reproduce. Regardless, when I get my hardware back tomorrow. I will
- Monitor the power supply and ground lines. This will be difficult to track as the bug occurs randomly...
- Once the bug occurs, check the lines on the arduino board to see if the serial transmit is sending data to the USB ATMEL and see if the data is actually being transmitted beyond the ATMEL.
- I bought a Surface docking station yesterday, so I can plug in the Arduino without using the USB 3.0 hub.