This FAQ will be posted periodically to the Forums on sunspotworld.com.

Posting the problem

Anything I should do before posting my problem?

Yes! Before posting please search the Forums to see if anyone has already reported a similar problem.

Also please look at the SPOT Troubleshooting FAQ at http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Mobileandembedded/SpotsTroubleshootingFAQ and see if your problem is listed there.

Finally please check the General FAQ at http://www.sunspotworld.com/docs/general-faq.php for information about Sun SPOTs.

What's the easiest way to post an issue to the Forums?

The easiest way for new users to post a detailed and complete request to the Forums, once you have an active account there, is to use the "Report" button on the Sun SPOT Manager.

This will gather a large amount of information on your platform, Java Version, PATH, Sun SPOT SDK parameters, and detailed information on any SPOTs you may have connected to your computer.

Using this tool you can select which forum to submit your question to, the Subject of your post, and a detailed description of what issues you are facing. This tool will provide us with most, if not all, of the information we would generally ask for about your platform, etc. in a simple to use way.

What information needs to be posted in order to get a useful answer?

Everyone posting a problem should include:

• your computing environment:
  • what version of the SPOT SDK they are using, e.g. orange, purple, blue-080423
  • what operating system & computer they are using, e.g. OS X 10.5.2 on a MacBook Pro
  • what version of Java is installed, e.g. sun-java 6
  • what version of NetBeans you are using (if applicable), e.g. NetBeans 6.1 RC1

• the problem you are encountering
  • is it on a SPOT (free-range or connected via USB), a host app or in the Emulator
  • what is the error message displayed (please include any stack traces or output from ant)
  • what code are you running
  • what command you entered

Should I post all of the output from ant?

Probably. Usually only the ant command & the output from the target causing the error are essential, but the other output can provide a clue as to your environment and other causes. Please be sure to include the actual ant command entered!

Should I really post to the Forum? Can't I just send my question to one of the SPOTs team members?

Please post to the Forum! Many people will read about your problem and lots of them will be able to help you. Also anyone else with a similar problem will be helped because it is posted in a public place. Besides the SPOTs team will just ask you to post to the Forum.

Who can/should answer a post?

If you think you might be able to help, please do! Anyone can answer a post. Many of the problems reported are ones lots of people have encountered when they first started to use SPOTs, so many community members should be able to help out. The Sun SPOTs team will try to answer posts (especially the more difficult or technical ones), but we may not be able to get to them right away.

How long will it take to get an answer? Should I repost my question to another Forum?

Please expect to wait as much as a week before someone has time to try to answer your question. Instead of reposting the question it is often better to post additional details. Many posts don't give enough information about the problem so they are impossible to answer.

The forums have the option of being able to mark your question as 'answered.' We recommend that you mark your question as answered when it is answered to your satisfaction.

Common problems

Why isn't my basestation recognized?

Make sure that the basestation is running. Reset it and see if it blinks its green LED every 8-10 seconds. If not run 'ant startbasestation' pushing the reset button on the SPOT when prompted. This problem can be caused if you had (mistakenly) deployed an application to the basestation.