First off, thanks for taking the time to help me with this. I bought a nano off of Amazon (new, stocked by Amazon), and it came in the mail yesterday. I go to hook it up to my PC to upload the blink example, and... nothing. I get:
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
Which from what I understand is the generic "hey, I'm not talking to arduino" message. First I checked to see if the right COM port was selected, then made sure that I selected the nano with the 386 chip (which is printed on the top). Then I suspected drivers, so I made sure I had the right ones from the companies website. In device manager COM4 shows up as alive and happy. I did some digging on the internet, and tried grounding the reset pin (25 to 26) to no avail. It appears the bootloader is on there, the LED blinks when I hit the reset button. Pressing reset before upload doesn't help. Tried another USB cable, no success. Next I tried the loopback test, and got a response. At this point I'm not sure what else to do. It seems there is communication between the PC and arduino, but it's not working out. The serial communication stuff is at the default values.
I should mention that I have an uno that I use on this PC and I've never had a problem with it. Any ideas?
It may have a different kind of bootloader on it running at a different baud rate. I've seen that before from some clone manufactures. It may require selecting a different board type from the IDE.
You could also use your Uno as ArduinoISP and just burn a new bootloader on to it to avoid all the guessing.
Alright, I loaded the correct bootloader onto the board using my UNO successfully. The LED is now blinking, presumably because it was successful. I tried uploading a sketch using the correct COM and board setting, and now I get:
I also had ordered a Nano last year from Amazon under the same product description, but from Computing Alternatives. However, what I received was a "Nano V3.0 (Arduino-Compatible)". Yes it says that on the board. But it is working fine for me.
From what you are saying it seems your FTDI chip is working and the ICSP interface is working, but the serial pins to the mega328P is possibly not working.
To confirm the FTDI serial loopback working:
On the Nano you jumpered the RST and GND pins.
jumpered the Rx0 and Tx1 pins.
Connected up the USB to the Nano and it showed up on COM4.
Selected Serial Port COM4 in the IDE.
Opened up the Serial Monitor.
Whatever you typed in the entry window is echoed back in the window below. This should confirm the FTDI chip is working correctly. Also for this test you should be able to choose any baud rate and it should work. The standard bootloader for the Nano uses 57600 baud. So you may want to try that speed for testing the loopback.
Loopback: I tried the loopback again at 9600 and 57600 baud. Both returned the correct number of characters, but they were squares.
I also tried, with success, using the uno as a programmer for the nano. This makes me think that the issue may be a driver. The problem with this is that whenever I uninstall it in device manager, the next time it just auto-installs it again. I google'd that, but the top results didn't work. Are drivers a likely cause, or is it a hardware connection?
Driver Provider: FTDI
Driver Date: 1/18/2013
Driver Version: 2.8.28.0
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibliity Publisher
I'm beginning to think the USB to serial is bad, considering it programs fine when bypassing the chip. I've checked and re-checked the drivers, they are the correct ones. I ordered a new one, and if I can't get this one to work I'll just return it. Any other thoughts?
XP does not make it easy to completely get rid of a device... I finally figured out how, and installed version 2.8.24.0, with the same effect. Loopback spits out garbage and it won't upload.
Got the new unit today, apparently it is a Chinese knockoff (http://imall.iteadstudio.com/im120411003.html). Still getting the same error. As with the last one, when I do the loopback all I get are squares back. I've tried both versions of drivers, so I'm pretty sure those are right. Holding reset doesn't help. Any other ideas before I just return it and get one from another store?
I tried uploading from a third PC running Windows 7 and... it worked. I'm totally confused now. What could be causing the discrepancy? It's obviously PC specific. I'm running XP, could that have anything to do with it?
I tried it using an external power supply, I assume it would be the same as a usb hub? It was a converted PC power supply, so it should be pretty clean power.
Using Arduino IDE V.1.6.5, it didn't work. I plugged in the Nano, it found itself a driver, opened the IDE, set Tools > Board to "Arduino Nano" > Set Tools > Processor to "ATMega328" > Set Port of course. Didn't work.
So I tried it on another computer, Windows 7 with Arduino IDE V.1.6.5 as well and it worked. The only thing I can think of is that I have heavily modified my Arduino libraries with all kinds of updates. Perhaps that had something to do wth it.
So I uninstalled Arduin IDE from my original computer, the one that didn't work. Installed https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Donate and it worked. Out of pure curiosity, I also installed the original IDE V.1.6.5 and it also worked.
My conclusion is that one of the libraries I replaced was causing this problem.
I should also mention that the seller states that the CH340G model on this Nano replaces the FT232RL - not 100% sure what that means. I believe those parts are the modules that interface the board with the computer via USB. The ebay seller links this shady Russian site to install a driver. I didn't install the driver and still managed to get it working.