Gboard nightmare

Hi all,

I've been struggling with this since this morning.

I bought a itead Gboard: http://imall.iteadstudio.com/im120411004.html

All I want to do is upload the Blink example onto it in as a starting point.

The Gboard uses a atmega328P microcontroller. I also have the Foca Tiny Breakout to connect the GBoard to the USB port: ITEAD STUDIO OFFICIAL |

Now I downloaded the newest Arduino IDE.

Opened the Blink example.

Set the board to: Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328

Set the Port to: COM7 (dissapears when I plug out the GBoard - so I think its working)

Set Programmer to: AVRISP mkII

And clicked on "Upload"

I've been getting the error: avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00 since this morning..

Just cant get something onto my chip!

Any direction will be highly appreciated..

Thanks

Hec

hqbeyers:
Set the board to: Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328

Try the Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328p option instead.

The 328 and 328p are similar chips, but different enough that they have different "signatures" that the programmer expects to read.

If that fails, you might want to try "Uno" instead -- which is correct depends on which version bootloader has been shipped on the chip.

hqbeyers:
Set Programmer to: AVRISP mkII

This setting actually isn't required since you are programming via the bootloader, rather than via ICSP using a programmer.

The other thing to ensure is the foca board is connected correctly to the dev board. You need at least four wires connected: DTR, TX, RX, and GND. Optionally you can connect +3V3 (assuming it is a 3V3 board), or else you can power the board independently using a power supply into the power jack.

Thanks for the swift response pico!

I cannot find an option for the "Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328p" in my Arduino IDE. Is there a file or driver I can install to get that option?

I tried the UNO option, but I am still getting that error.

The connectors between the foca board and the Gboard seems to be stock standard.

They connect like this.

Foca | Gboard

DTR -> DTR
GND -> GND
RxD -> Tx
TxD -> Rx
VCCIO -> VDD33

Hec

I. fixed. it.

It only took a full day.

So on the spec of the GBoard there is two jumper settings. In order to program the Atmega328P you have to put the jumpers on the following configuration:

Software UART to SIM900,Hardware UART to Specific

The Gboard manual shows you how to configure this.

I used the Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328 for the board.

Halleluja

hqbeyers:
I cannot find an option for the "Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328p" in my Arduino IDE. Is there a file or driver I can install to get that option?

Glad you got it working, but the missing board option is weird. Also weird that specifying 328 for a 328p chip works!

In the list, "Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328p" should sit between "Uno" and "Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328".

What version of the IDE are you using? Latest I've got is 1.0.2. Maybe they've changed boards.txt and dropped some options for whatever reason. I don't actually use the Arduino IDE for regular development, I only generally use it for testing project build compatibility with the IDE. Guess I'll have to download the latest to be up to date.

Here are the the two boards.txt entries from 1.0.2 for the two variants:

##############################################################

atmega328.name=Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328P

atmega328.upload.protocol=arduino
atmega328.upload.maximum_size=30720
atmega328.upload.maximum_ram_size=2048
atmega328.upload.speed=57600

atmega328.bootloader.low_fuses=0xFF
atmega328.bootloader.high_fuses=0xDA
atmega328.bootloader.extended_fuses=0x05
atmega328.bootloader.path=atmega
atmega328.bootloader.file=ATmegaBOOT_168_atmega328.hex
atmega328.bootloader.unlock_bits=0x3F
atmega328.bootloader.lock_bits=0x0F

atmega328.build.mcu=atmega328p
atmega328.build.f_cpu=16000000L
atmega328.build.core=arduino
atmega328.build.variant=standard

##############################################################

atmega328n.name=Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328

atmega328n.upload.protocol=arduino
atmega328n.upload.maximum_size=30720
atmega328n.upload.maximum_ram_size=2048
atmega328n.upload.speed=57600

atmega328n.bootloader.low_fuses=0xFF
atmega328n.bootloader.high_fuses=0xDA
atmega328n.bootloader.extended_fuses=0x05
atmega328n.bootloader.path=atmega
atmega328n.bootloader.file=ATmegaBOOT_168_atmega328.hex
atmega328n.bootloader.unlock_bits=0x3F
atmega328n.bootloader.lock_bits=0x0F

atmega328n.build.mcu=atmega328
atmega328n.build.f_cpu=16000000L
atmega328n.build.core=arduino
atmega328n.build.variant=standard

##############################################################

Hey

I've got Arduino IDE 1.0.3

Cool, you think it might work better if I copy and paste that info into the boards.txt file?

Thanks

hqbeyers:
Cool, you think it might work better if I copy and paste that info into the boards.txt file?

If what you are doing is working, I wouldn't mess with it. I don't know why the option has been dropped; perhaps someone else who has been paying closer attention to the various changes between IDE versions could chime in and explain what's actually going on here.

hqbeyers:
I. fixed. it. It only took a full day.

So on the spec of the GBoard there is two jumper settings. In order to program the Atmega328P you have to put the jumpers on the following configuration:
Software UART to SIM900,Hardware UART to Specific
The Gboard manual shows you how to configure this.

Thanks a lot for this note! I think it saved me a full day. :wink: