Upload Timeout Error on Mega 2560 - Not Sure What Changed

Any news about this topic or we are just spent 30 € on a official arduino not working boards ?!

I had this problem with a custom 2560 based 8u2 board I have. I was going through a USB hub. Connected directly to the USB port and the problem resolved itself. Doesn't apply to everyone, but definitely try it.

I have the same problem. Uploading a program via USB gives me timeout error on Mega2560.
I found one workaround for this.
When I burn bootloader with ISP programmer, I can upload sketch via USB only 1 time. When uploading second time, I get timeout. Then I take my ISP programmer and burn Mega2560 new bootloader. Then I can upload sketch once again.
Fu**ing annoying.

Josephiah:
(Another possible symptom: with just the board plugged in on its own, the TX light is now staying lit solidly except for when trying to load something, which is a bit weird. In normal operation of my setup I expect TX to flicker in response to inputs on A0-A7, and otherwise to remain off. Grounding the analog inputs makes TX go off. So there's some kind of unwanted interaction happening in there somewhere. Sigh)

Unpredictable results are normal when reading from floating pins.

Same problem, here. Went to a friend's place and successfully demoed the Uno and then tried the Mega. Nothing. The L13 led flashed slowly around once a second but never saw the TX or RX lights flash. Tried repeatedly and double checked the COM port.

We purchased the Mega R3 from RS components for $60 recently and it appears genuine with the white screen printing on the back.

Shields_Arduino:
Same problem, here. Went to a friend's place and successfully demoed the Uno and then tried the Mega. Nothing. The L13 led flashed slowly around once a second but never saw the TX or RX lights flash. Tried repeatedly and double checked the COM port.

We purchased the Mega R3 from RS components for $60 recently and it appears genuine with the white screen printing on the back.

I think that the developers think we have cheap copies...

After a couple hours of trying to "brick" my board by uploading and disconnecting when uploading, disconnecting the board randomly, or just flashing it bunch of times i couldn't "brick" it again. Then i took my board and i was sending some data using putty (while TX connected to RX). Then i looked on the led pins TX and RX and they both flashed together. It was a sign that my board was ok.
Next step was to tuch the components. I first touched the mega2560 chip softly. My tx pin stopped flashing ! but the RX was still flashing. It was a sign that something shorted out... Then i tried to use the FIX that i mentioned above, and the board unbricked. Next step was to throw the board on a table from 2-3 cm height.. The board again bricked, and i was able to fix it again using the FIX i mentined.... That leaves me to think that something on our mega2560-s is making a short when under pressure... I will give it a closer inspection as soon i get the magnifier. :astonished:

SUMMARY: If your board "bricks" when putting a pressure on it, only your serial communication will be faulty, but you will still be able to use the program flashed on the board itself. I am looking if someone can confirm what i've found out...

I forgot to mention that we also tried the boards.txt fix - changing the protocol to wiring and this did not help. We even restarted the Arduino IDE several time with the wiring protocol line but still no action.

xvjeko - this is very interesting and we are all waiting for David Mellis to throw some light on this. What you have described sounds like one of two things - bad soldering or incorrect fuses in either the 2560 or the USB chip. Since all the boards were tested at the factory, something must have happened since. Bad soldering can cause this -talking about intermittent open circuits caused by a poor solder mix or not enough paste. Remember that solder paste must always be kept in a fridge when not being used. The other option of having fuses not set correctly can also cause intermittent operation - such as the brown out enable not turned on. A third scenario is faulty Atmel chips which is a small possibility -luckily Atmel is very open about Erratas do these can be easily checked.

Anyway, sounds like a lot of Arduino users have the same problem, so a workaround would be nice.

Problem with Mega2560 is huge. There are very many people with the same problem. Is there any official opinion yet?
I'd really like to use my Mega2560 normally.

Ragnar:
Problem with Mega2560 is huge. There are very many people with the same problem. Is there any official opinion yet?
I'd really like to use my Mega2560 normally.

Awesome, im so glad i got rid of my uno for a mega!

Way to go Arduino, now i cant do anything.

Same issue here. same on mac/ubuntu/and win 7

I was warned not to get a mega and now i see why

automagp68:

Ragnar:
Problem with Mega2560 is huge. There are very many people with the same problem. Is there any official opinion yet?
I'd really like to use my Mega2560 normally.

Awesome, im so glad i got rid of my uno for a mega!

Way to go Arduino, now i cant do anything.

Same issue here. same on mac/ubuntu/and win 7

I was warned not to get a mega and now i see why

sad

OK, picked up the Mega2560 from my friend last night, and tested it out on the Lenovo Win7 32bit desktop and HP Win7 64bit laptop, and it works fine on both. The only variation from the Uno is the driver takes a long time to load (2-3 minutes - OK maybe not that long in the big scheme) and opening the serial monitor takes a while to reset the Mega - maybe 5 seconds. The Mega works well on our LED and LCD shield and takes only slightly longer to load.

So the issue looks like a Dell issue. Maybe if anyone has a dead Mega2560, please report the make, model, operating system, and any other details which are show when you right click on My Computer and select Properties.

Shields_Arduino:
OK, picked up the Mega2560 from my friend last night, and tested it out on the Lenovo Win7 32bit desktop and HP Win7 64bit laptop, and it works fine on both. The only variation from the Uno is the driver takes a long time to load (2-3 minutes - OK maybe not that long in the big scheme) and opening the serial monitor takes a while to reset the Mega - maybe 5 seconds. The Mega works well on our LED and LCD shield and takes only slightly longer to load.

So the issue looks like a Dell issue. Maybe if anyone has a dead Mega2560, please report the make, model, operating system, and any other details which are show when you right click on My Computer and select Properties.

i tossed my mega into junk (i only scalvaged some connectors...), if i will ever need a high end dev. platform, i will go for psoc, mbed, el.imp, chipkit or raspberry... ]:smiley: ]:smiley: ]:smiley:

Hey All,
I had a similar issue when I was trying to use an Uno as a boot loader, and I think the trick is that the chip is getting reset part way into the upload. The reasons this seems plausible are :
A - someone mentioned it looked like his board had reset
B - after a half-assed attempt at uploading, my board just starts up the old code (i.e. looks like it reset)
C - It seems correlated to length of code, and I have no issue uploading the blink code, ever.
Anywho, the hardware solution to this software problem is to toss a BFC (10uF or so, I used an electrolytic) between the Reset pin and ground. What this does is it stops the device from getting reset by little transients that I believe are associated with the serial printing stuff.
Hope this works for Y'all, in the end I got it working with Arduino 023 and a 49K program.

EDIT: This worked great briefly but now it has gone back to it's old ways of not working.
-Shibbs

shibbs:
Hey All,
I had a similar issue when I was trying to use an Uno as a boot loader, and I think the trick is that the chip is getting reset part way into the upload. The reasons this seems plausible are :
A - someone mentioned it looked like his board had reset
B - after a half-assed attempt at uploading, my board just starts up the old code (i.e. looks like it reset)
C - It seems correlated to length of code, and I have no issue uploading the blink code, ever.
Anywho, the hardware solution to this software problem is to toss a BFC (10uF or so, I used an electrolytic) between the Reset pin and ground. What this does is it stops the device from getting reset by little transients that I believe are associated with the serial printing stuff.
Hope this works for Y'all, in the end I got it working with Arduino 023 and a 49K program.

EDIT: This worked great briefly but now it has gone back to it's old ways of not working.
-Shibbs

Salvage usable components and throw the rest away...

I'm having the same problem as Ragnar. Burn a new bootloader, upload one sketch. Then can't upload again (just hangs). Burn bootloader, upload one sketch... Has anyone found the problem or a fix. I'm using Mega2560 R1 and IDE1.0.2 on Windows 7 x64.

DJ

In reply to Upload Timeout Error on Mega 2560 - Not Sure What Changed - #18 by system - IDE 1.x - Arduino Forum

For the software patch of avrdude (stk500v2.c, patch for gentoo attached) it is necessary to take/leave the protocol "stk500v2" to take effect of patched program.

Wise versa for the protocol "wiring" got to work it is necessary to connect the "RESET-EN" pads on the board.

Good luck, Thomas

arduino-mega-timeout.patch (656 Bytes)

I had this error, the solution was simple. from the tools menu, select the correct serial port. If that doesn't work, try putting the usb into the same port you used during installation of the arduino software. :wink:

I've got this issue today after change my sketch to print three exclamation characters in sequence to the serial port:

Serial.println("!!!");

I'm using Mega 256 with a Ethernet shield however this happens in any sketch, even Blink.ino.
It looks like to me that this is a kind of reserved word for the compiler or for the firmware.
Anyways I've just removed one exclamation character and it is working fine now.

Hey thanks for the hint!
Running exactly into the same mess with MEGA, Arduino 1.0.5 on OSX..
Did some prints with "!!!" too.

B.T.W: I ported some code snippets from a LEONARDO, there it runs flawlessly.....