Problem uploading to board

Hi all, bought the above arduino off of ebay. Complete beginner to all of this so I started with a guide which suggested the first thing AFTER installing all the drivers was to try the blinker test in the examples. Selected the one and only com port under the serial port options and for the board option I chose the 3rd option with ends "w/ ATmega 168" as my main labled chip is "ATmega168-20PU"

I clicked upload and after about 15 seconds got the error:

"Binary sketch size: 1018 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51"

I've tried many suggestions, one being hold the reset button for a couple of seconds as I click upload and many different variations of this. I noticed the led closest to the power socket flashes 3 times after releasing the upload button, but I always recieve the above error.

I've literally only got this device today and I'm using it with the pictured stuff, arduino 0022 on Windows 7 32bit and have installed and reinstalled the FTDI drivers multiple times and they appear to be installed correctly.

If you need any more info just ask

Please help this poor noob out!

thanks

Picture didn't display for some reason

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280673453638

Anybody? :frowning:

Even when you just click upload the led closest to the sockets flashes 3 times, I'm assuming that means its acknowledging something?
The seller responded to my question and I am using the correct board in the board options.

Occideo
I'm not positive about Windows 7 but I can suggest the following, which is applicable in 2k, XP.
Check under Device Manager (Start, Control Panel, System and Security, System, Device Manager) and see what Com Ports are assigned.
(From the eBay picture, it appears you need to have the USB lead plugged in to power it, AS WELL as the USB to RS232)

You have indicated there is only one port listed in Arduino, which I suspect is Com1, and is not the Arduino board.

Try this and see how you get on.

Mark

You're correct, there is only one com port listed. I'm using a laptop and without the arduino plugged in there are no other com ports listed.
The Com port numbers vary, dependant on which usb port its plugged into. They're always higher than 3, usually 4 and 7.
I am having trouble with the drivers though, it takes dislike to the ones on the FTDI website, after I uninstall the drivers it automatically installs and will only install the ones the Ebay seller provided me with (exe file)
Those are the only ones I can install, I can point the wizard to multiple locations and it'll continuously fail, no matter what drivers I try (the ones on the website, and the ones in the arduino 0022 folder)
It probably doesnt mean much, but the serial usb adaptor is recognised on its own. I'm only telling you this to see if that raises anymore suggestions.

thanks for your help

p.s, I am using it with both the power cable and serial adaptor, the board doesn't power up otherwise (green led)

So it seems your RS232-to-USB converter doesn't have a FTDI chip. I think I have the same converter, and it uses a Prolific chip (PL-2303).

Occideo
Okay so it looks like the machine is installing a driver, as it shows up in Arduino.
I had lots of trouble with XP and an UNO, which only worked after I forced it to use another driver.

One suggestion is to check what the Com Port settings are when it installs, and is connected to the converter.
It is possible that its using Hardware handshaking, which isn't necessary (normally), and the converter may be responding to that.
The baudrate is normally overwritten by the programmer, however you could try checking in the Boards.txt file (...\hardware\arduino\boards.txt), which if I read correctly should be 19200, and set this in the Com Port to see if it makes a difference.

With the previous versions of windows, they tend to treat these things as a serial modem.
If you have a look at this posting, it might be relevant (was for 2k/XP) Something else (where's the Arduino, should I call him Waldo???) - #20 by system - IDE 1.x - Arduino Forum

Hope this helps.
Mark

Hi again, Tried adjusting the baud rate for the com port to 19200 like you suggested, I believe it was something like 9600 beforehand. This didn't make a difference though.
To be honest I didnt really understand the rest of your post :~

I installed the driver Razorblade showed me, and he is correct, It is a prolific usb serial convertor. and it's recognised under windows driver manager. Clicking upload with the blink example sketch, it flashes 3 times, and then once more maybe 5 seconds later, which convinces me it is recognising it, but then it always fails with the same error.

Tried so many different things now, I feel like im going round in circles =(