programmer is not responding problem

i am new to the ardunio board any trying to get an LED fading piece of code on the board, but cant seem to upload it. the error writes programmer is not responding, RESET the board right before exporting.

if anyone has any ideas what the problem is as i have tried reseting it and still have the same problem.

many thanks
james

Did you check the FAQ ("Why I can't upload my programs to the Arduino board?")?
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ

yeah have checked everything and looked at other peoples problems. the 2 usb ports on my mac are being reconised. and have the baud speed at 9600. i am resettiing right before i upload. but just keeps coming up with the exact same error. bit wierd any other ideas?
james

Try holding down the reset for a second or two before clicking the upload button then only release after clicking it... this works for me on my powerbook. Also check that you have the correct serial (usb) port selected.