Arduino Mega + Ethernet Shield - not working

Hi there.
I have connected Mega 2560 + Ethernet Shield according to instructions:

Arduino communicates with both the W5100 and SD card using the SPI bus (through the ICSP header). This is on digital pins 10, 11, 12, and 13 on the Uno and pins 50, 51, and 52 on the Mega. On both boards, pin 10 is used to select the W5100 and pin 4 for the SD card. These pins cannot be used for general I/O. On the Mega, the hardware SS pin, 53, is not used to select either the W5100 or the SD card, but it must be kept as an output or the SPI interface won't work.

I uploaded standard WebClient example changing only serial port number and uncommenting

Ethernet.init(10); // Most Arduino shields

and I get the error:

Ethernet shield was not found. Sorry, can't run without hardware. :frowning:

Full WebClient example uploaded to Arduino

/*
  Web client

 This sketch connects to a website (http://www.google.com)
 using an Arduino Wiznet Ethernet shield.

 Circuit:
 * Ethernet shield attached to pins 10, 11, 12, 13

 created 18 Dec 2009
 by David A. Mellis
 modified 9 Apr 2012
 by Tom Igoe, based on work by Adrian McEwen

 */

#include <SPI.h>
#include <Ethernet.h>

// Enter a MAC address for your controller below.
// Newer Ethernet shields have a MAC address printed on a sticker on the shield
byte mac[] = { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xED };

// if you don't want to use DNS (and reduce your sketch size)
// use the numeric IP instead of the name for the server:
//IPAddress server(74,125,232,128);  // numeric IP for Google (no DNS)
char server[] = "www.google.com";    // name address for Google (using DNS)

// Set the static IP address to use if the DHCP fails to assign
IPAddress ip(192, 168, 0, 177);
IPAddress myDns(192, 168, 0, 1);

// Initialize the Ethernet client library
// with the IP address and port of the server
// that you want to connect to (port 80 is default for HTTP):
EthernetClient client;

// Variables to measure the speed
unsigned long beginMicros, endMicros;
unsigned long byteCount = 0;
bool printWebData = true;  // set to false for better speed measurement

void setup() {
  // You can use Ethernet.init(pin) to configure the CS pin
  Ethernet.init(10);  // Most Arduino shields
  //Ethernet.init(5);   // MKR ETH shield
  //Ethernet.init(0);   // Teensy 2.0
  //Ethernet.init(20);  // Teensy++ 2.0
  //Ethernet.init(15);  // ESP8266 with Adafruit Featherwing Ethernet
  //Ethernet.init(33);  // ESP32 with Adafruit Featherwing Ethernet

  // Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(115200);
  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  // start the Ethernet connection:
  Serial.println("Initialize Ethernet with DHCP:");
  if (Ethernet.begin(mac) == 0) {
    Serial.println("Failed to configure Ethernet using DHCP");
    // Check for Ethernet hardware present
    if (Ethernet.hardwareStatus() == EthernetNoHardware) {
      Serial.println("Ethernet shield was not found.  Sorry, can't run without hardware. :(");
      while (true) {
        delay(1); // do nothing, no point running without Ethernet hardware
      }
    }
    if (Ethernet.linkStatus() == LinkOFF) {
      Serial.println("Ethernet cable is not connected.");
    }
    // try to congifure using IP address instead of DHCP:
    Ethernet.begin(mac, ip, myDns);
  } else {
    Serial.print("  DHCP assigned IP ");
    Serial.println(Ethernet.localIP());
  }
  // give the Ethernet shield a second to initialize:
  delay(1000);
  Serial.print("connecting to ");
  Serial.print(server);
  Serial.println("...");

  // if you get a connection, report back via serial:
  if (client.connect(server, 80)) {
    Serial.print("connected to ");
    Serial.println(client.remoteIP());
    // Make a HTTP request:
    client.println("GET /search?q=arduino HTTP/1.1");
    client.println("Host: www.google.com");
    client.println("Connection: close");
    client.println();
  } else {
    // if you didn't get a connection to the server:
    Serial.println("connection failed");
  }
  beginMicros = micros();
}

void loop() {
  // if there are incoming bytes available
  // from the server, read them and print them:
  int len = client.available();
  if (len > 0) {
    byte buffer[80];
    if (len > 80) len = 80;
    client.read(buffer, len);
    if (printWebData) {
      Serial.write(buffer, len); // show in the serial monitor (slows some boards)
    }
    byteCount = byteCount + len;
  }

  // if the server's disconnected, stop the client:
  if (!client.connected()) {
    endMicros = micros();
    Serial.println();
    Serial.println("disconnecting.");
    client.stop();
    Serial.print("Received ");
    Serial.print(byteCount);
    Serial.print(" bytes in ");
    float seconds = (float)(endMicros - beginMicros) / 1000000.0;
    Serial.print(seconds, 4);
    float rate = (float)byteCount / seconds / 1000.0;
    Serial.print(", rate = ");
    Serial.print(rate);
    Serial.print(" kbytes/second");
    Serial.println();

    // do nothing forevermore:
    while (true) {
      delay(1);
    }
  }
}

What can I do to connect to network?
I have tried two different network cables and the lights seems to be on

Check this link out, they go through how to connect it and make it work. W5100 Ethernet Shield to Custom Board Problem - Arduino Stack Exchange Good Luck.

1 Like

put the shield on the Mega. use Ethernet.init(10);

Thank you for your replies.
I put the shield directly on my Mega and I was able to communicate on my network.
The problem still exists when I connect the shield externally with jumper wires (look at the picture in my first post).
It is really important for me (Home automation) to connect the shield externally.
How can I fix this?

the shield uses the 2x3 SPI header, not pins 11, 12, 13.
the header has 5 V and ground too.

1 Like

Thank you.
After your last reply I tried to connect the shield externally using only the 2x3 SPI header with jumper wires and there is no ethernet connection.
Do I need to connect anything else?

pin 10

1 Like

Thank you. That helped and I can connect now

Maybe someone in the future will find that helpful.

you can use the SPI header on the Mega too. then it is pin to pin. and you can use the SS pin of Mega (53) as CS for the shield (on pin 10)

I know but I use a special board for my home automation and the SPI header is blocked as you place MEGA up side down. I believe they fixed that in second version of the board

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