Arduino mega 2560 R3 not programming with Windows7 64bit

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi. I've been attempting unsuccessfully to program my Arduino Mega 2560 R3 board with just an example sketch like "blink". I can see the 2560 in the device manager and have tried to use the correct driver.

The error I'm currently getting: avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer

My PC: Windows 7, 64 bit. I have read through the "getting started" guidelines and the only thing that jumps out at me is - Windows 7 will not let me specify the exact .ini file for the driver (no .ini files are visible when I browse to them, but I can clearly see them in windows explorer). The driver assigned to my board currently is shown in the attachment.

Also, the LED isn't blinking. I have a second identical board that was blinking right out of the box - until windows loaded the "driver" - now the LED's are just on all the time. Why is this? I thought blinking LED's were a good sign the board had a boot-loader.

Is there something fundamental that I'm missing?

Many, many thanks,
John

2560 drvr capture.PNG

2

The driver appears to be installed correctly. Have you tried the loopback test? Do you have the right board selected?

3

Thanks - good to know the driver is correct. Yes, I have the correct board selected, but have not tried the loopback test. I will research this and perform it - then post results.

4

Hi - I performed the loopback test successfully, with the terminal echoing everything I typed. I could also see the TX/RX LED's lighting simultaneously with each RTN - so all appears well in that regard.

5

And the board is not programming? Is anything else connected?