Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21 troubleshooting

[joeldemetrio]

After updating the Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21, can`t load the Arduino Nano, running on Windows or Linux.
Only after returning to version 1.6.20, the communication works perfectly.

[pert]

You need to select Tools > Processor > ATmega328P (Old Bootloader).

[joeldemetrio]

You need to select Tools > Processor > ATmega328P (Old Bootloader).

pert, I appreciate your tip. Helped me a lot

[riban]

Confirmed that old bootloader (new menu option) resolves this issue for me too. Shame there is not notification of this change of behaviour and that the two links in the boards manager (Online help & More info) don't take you to anywhere that might help diagnose this change of behaviour. Like AP I realised fairly quickly that the update had broken this and was able to roll back to version 1.6.20 until finding this post. It would be advantageous to have a version history available for each board (and library).

[pert]

Shame there is not notification of this change of behaviour

Yeah, if it was me I'd have done a blog post and a forum post before doing the Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21 with such a large breaking change. And actually it probably would have been best to do a major version bump to Arduino AVR Boards 2.0.0 since this could be considered a breaking change to the API. When you see a change from 1.6.20 to 1.6.21 you don't worry so much about an update since that should only contain patches with no effect on the API. When you see a change from 1.6.20 to 2.0.0 you might think "hey I'd better do some research to see what they broke".

It would be advantageous to have a version history available for each board (and library).

I agree. The Arduino AVR Boards were historically part of the Arduino IDE installation package so it made some sense to just add release notes to the IDE release notes. Then they released Boards Manager and all of a sudden Arduino AVR Boards is not coupled to a specific IDE version and they may not be released at the same time so it definitely makes sense to provide a separate revision history. They have been in the process of separating the Arduino AVR Boards into its own repository so that's a step in the right direction. I did add a note about this change to the IDE revision notes (surprisingly it wasn't done at the time the change was made).

[sterretje]

I simply don't update. If it ain't broken, don't break it

[lappa]

I tried to upfate to 1.6.21 today by selecting just "Update" and also by selecting 1.6.21 and it starts to load then  it says "CRC doesn't match so file is corrupted - try later"
I'm after the update to get ATMega328(old bootloader) for a couple of nanos I have.

Any help to enable me to get this update would be appreciated.

[pert]

As I already said in the other thread, Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21's Tools > Processor > ATmega328P (Old bootloader) is identical to Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.20's Tools > Processor > ATmega328P. The only change made in Arduino AVR Boards is the renaming of Tools > Processor > ATmega328P to Tools > Processor > ATmega328P (Old Bootloader) and the addition of a new Tools > Processor > ATmega328P that uses the Optiboot bootloader. So if you only need the "old bootloader" board definition then there is no need to update to Arduino AVR Boards 1.6.21.

[lappa]

Thanks,
If thats the case, I cant see why I cant bootload a nano selecting ATMega328 using Arduino and a AVR Dragon but can by using another nano as the ISP programmer.

On another note, when using Studio 7 and the AVR Dragon, the only selection for ATMega328 in the Arduino subdirectory is Optiboot, theres no ATmega328 and this wont work with this nano.

[pert]

If thats the case, I cant see why I cant bootload a nano selecting ATMega328 using Arduino and a AVR Dragon but can by using another nano as the ISP programmer.

Because the AVR Dragon programmer is not currently supported by the Arduino IDE:
https://github.com/arduino/ArduinoCore-avr/issues/9
The Arduino as ISP programmer is supported.

On another note, when using Studio 7 and the AVR Dragon, the only selection for ATMega328 in the Arduino subdirectory is Optiboot, theres no ATmega328 and this wont work with this nano.

I don't use AVR Studio so I can't help with that.

[lappa]

I solved the problem with not being able to update Arduino AVR to 1.6.21 due to a corrupt file message. I searched and found Arduino_Core_avr__master.zip and downloaded it. Extracted it and used the files to replace all the files in the Arduino/hardware/arduino/avr directory. Works like a charm and Atmega328(old bootloader) is now a selection and Board Manager shows Arduino AVR as 1.6.21.

Not wishing to cross post again but Re using AVR Dragon. Mine states programming successful and verification successful via Studio 7 but nano still doesn't work.
 The thread you pointed to showed error messages at the end of the programming sequence and mine also shows an error code through Arduino.

Thanks for the pointer.