Q1: In the menus for Arduino.exe, I see there's a choice for programmer. Mine is currently set to "avrisp mkii". Is that correct?
Only if you are using "Upload Using Programmer" which you don't normally have to do. And if you have that particular programmer.
I wonder if the FTDI chip is in DFU mode? Why would a new board be in DFU mode? Whatev. I'll reload it with FLIP as suggested.
What FTDI chip? To be honest, I would have asked here before you started erasing the code on the USB interface chip.
When I connect pins 5 & 6, LED "L" does not blink. I guess I don't have a bootloader, but danged if I know why not.
Why are you connecting pins 5 and 6?
I'll try connecting pins 5 & 6 on the ICSP connector to do a reset.
Isn't there a reset button?
I'm bemused by this post. They ship thousands of these boards. You shouldn't have to go through all this rather complex process.
I guess I don't have a bootloader, but danged if I know why not.
Where did you buy this board from?