A little help please.

[fyb2000]

You mentioned that you knew the USB dongle was working. Last time you used it, were you also using the cable that you are using today? If yes, the cable should not be the problem, especially if you were using it for other purposes lately (your printer).
SJB asked if your system was responding to plugging (or unplugging) the dongle from the computer. When you do so, you should hear a little jingle coming out of the speakers of your computer. I do not remember of hand, and have no way to test it right now, but isn't there a LED on the dongle that shows if it is powered? (if there is, is it lighting up when you connect the dongle)
Keep the device manager opened when you plug/unplug the dongle and see if it shows/disappears when you plug it/unplug it.
Is the dongle currently connected to the LE? If yes, is the LED on the LE lit? (the 3rd one, the one closest to the edge of the board)

[sittinguphigh]

All the led lights are on. Both the dongle and LE. Yes the com port going away and comes back when unplugging the dongle.

I used this USB cable for my printer.
This is a different USB cable then I used last year for the DMX system.

[sjb]

Ok, so we know that the computer see's the dongle.

So, like you said we are at a point where we can not remember what has been done, so lets start with the dongle and the LE.

Now I can not recall have you flashed the dongle back to DMX if so can you read the pic with your PICKit3 and tell us what the checksum is.

Steve

[fyb2000]

the cable is fine. It carries the information to your PC, back and forth, as the dongle is recognized by the PC.
Have you tried to test the LE with xlights? I am not using Vixen myself, so I won't be able to help you as far as the configuration is concerned. As far as I can understand the issues you are running into, I don't see any of them that scream 'hardware issue'. I think there might be a configuration step that is not taking or not entered correctly, and that it is blocking your system at the moment. It will be hours before I get back to my system, and can help you more, but I am sure that someone else, with knowledge in Vixen, can get you out of this in no time.
Right now, there might be too many cooks in your kitchen, and it's pretty hard to follow where we are at any given time.
If you get xlights up and running, it should be pretty simple to test the system, especially with the LE, as you won't even need to have lights attached to the system (the same would be true using Vixen)

[sittinguphigh]

OK. I decided to follow the video on how to test your system out from Vixen.
The lights on the dongle came on and faded up and down.
I was using the sequences I made in 2010.
Maybe there is a problem with the older program
or I have to do something with the sequences
with changing computers.

[sjb]

So you have started Vixen with the dongle plugged in and it does not give you any errors?

[sittinguphigh]

Correct. So I have to assume the dongle is OK.
Maybe some thing wrong with the older program.
Or I have to update some thing with the older sequences when changing computers.

I started out with a whole new vixen down load program and did the test.

Well know the next set is. What do I need to reprogram the DMX dongle to pixelnet dongle.

[sjb]

No the next step is to plug the dongle into your LE and run the test console in vixen to confirm the dongle is talking to the LE.

Steve

[sittinguphigh]

Dongle and LE are connected. lights on LE going on. Dimming is working also.

Do I need to run a sequence?

[sjb]

OK, now disconnect dongle from LE and download the Pixelnet firmware for usb dongle at below link and import it into your PICKit 3 and then write it to the dongle. Once it is written to dongle read the PIC from The PICKit3 software and let us know what the checksum is.

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Steve

[sittinguphigh]

You gave me the wrong link.

How do I down load the firmware into the dongle.
I have a pickit-3. I don't see any way to hook it up to the dongle.
I had some one else do it last time.

[sjb]

The link should bring up a download screen to save the firmware to your computer. Save it to a location you will remember and once you have downloaded it, we will walk you through the writing part.

Steve

[lonewolf41]

You have to use a stand-alone adapter like this: 

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since there is no program header.

[lonewolf41]

If you don't have an adapter like that or two PIC chips...one programmed with DMX & one programmed with pixelnet...then you are stuck with one or the other...which in your case appears to be DMX since you can run your LE.

[sittinguphigh]

I have the download pixelnet dongle in a file.
Do I need any thing else I need besides the pickit-3.