Hello, I don't know if I am incredibly unlucky, or if this is a problem that is simply not spoken about. I have four Arduino Mega boards, two of which do not currently work, with different problems. I have been trying to find the root of the problem for the past couple of days. I believe the issue is with the ATMega16U2 chip.
The problems I have been having:
One Arduino Mega, lets name, Boop does not show up in ports.. Or in device manager when plugged into USB ports, it doesn't even make a sound.
Though, the LED on the Arduino light up, and I took a DMM and measured that the voltage between ground and the 5V pins are accurately 5V. This Arduino I am unaware if it has ever if it ever worked, or ever been used
The other Arduino Mega, lets name Beep, shows up in ports, but it will not receive code from the USB to Serial port connection, it times out and gives me this error message,
"avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer "
This arduino was working perfectly a couple of days ago, I don't know what changed
The other two arduinos work perfectly as they should. I have also tried 3 different computers, and 3 different USB to serial port cables. I also preformed all tests with one of the Megas as well, lets name Meep. All these Arduino Megas are on brand as well.
NAME KEY
Boop: Does not show up as a device when plugged in
Beep: Does not receive code sent via USB to Serial Port
Meep: Works perfectly, used as a control
In the past couple of days I have:
Checked drivers
Boop: Doesn't appear
Meep & Beep: Drivers look great, updated to what came with Arduino IDE
I tried the loopback test
Boop & Beep: Failed
Meep: Passed
Checked the device signatures utilizing the ISCP Headers & an Arduino Uno (GitHub - nickgammon/arduino_sketches: Publicly-released sketches for the Arduino microprocessor )
Meep: both headers connected
Boop & Beep: Header by the ATMega16U2 chip did not connect, but the header by the ATMega2560 chip connected
Put the Arduinos in DFU and erased and updated firmware
Meep: Worked perfect before and after, no problem going into DFU
Beep: no problem going into DFU, firmware update was successful, but the same upload problem consisted after the firmware update
Boop: Unable to test, as no computer can detect it when it is plugged in
Uploaded code to the Arduino Mega using an Arduino Uno as a programmer
1. Open Arduino IDE, go into Tools > Board (Select the board of the programmer) & select the port of the programmer
2. Open the Arduino ISP code which is located in the files > examples
3. Upload the sketch
4. Go into Tools > Board and select the board which is to be programmed (Arduino Mega; Processor: ATMega 2560)
5. Open the sketch you want to upload
6. Go to Tools > Programmer & select Arduino as ISP
7. Go to Sketch > Upload using programmer
Meep, Boop, and Beep: All Arduino were able to receive code from the Arduino Uno, and ran the uploaded sketches perfectly.
I was wondering if other people have had this problem with their Arduino Megas, or if this is something uncommon? What is the lifespan of an Arduino Mega? I am also wondering if anyone has any idea what could have caused these issues, or how to prevent this from happening to my other Arduinos?