ARDUINO ROBOT CONTROL BOARD - UPLOADING ISSUES WITH BOOTLOADER AND AVRISPmkII

I have just started using Arduino from a couple of weeks.

My environment:
HW: Arduino Robot (A000078 + a second label and bar code: Arduino Robot New (X00075P8ML)
SW: 1.0.5 IDE on Win 7

PREAMBLE:
More and more frequently, loading sketch on Arduino Robot Control Board, IDE 1.0.5 gives me the following error:
Errore: avrdude: ser_send(): write error: sorry no info avail

Putting together the information written in http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting#upload about auto-reset:
...
If you have a board that doesn't support auto-reset, be sure that you are resetting the board a couple of seconds before uploading.
...

and what is written on http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Robot
...
If the software can't reset the board you can always start the bootloader by double-pressing the reset button on the board. A single press on the reset will restart the user sketch, a double press will initiate the bootloader
...

I have defined the following procedure, that, in my environment, would seem to be consistent:
step 1) click verify button and measure the total duration of the compilation with a stopwatch.
step 2) click upload button monitoring the time progress of the compilation.
step 3) two seconds before the end of the compilation, double-press the reset button on the board.

USING AN EXTERNAl PROGRAMMER: AVRISPmkII:
In order to bypass the aforementioned problem, I thought about using an external programmer.

I purchased a AVR-ISPmkII, new and original.
I installed with libusb drivers for Windows 7.

Now, loading the sketch, and also loading the bootloader, IDE 1.0.5 gives me the following error:

avrdude: stk500v2_command(): command failed
avrdude: stk500v2_program_enable(): bad AVRISPmkII connection status: Unknown status 0x00
command failed
avrdude: initialization failded, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to ovverride
this check.

NOTE: IDE v1.0.5 with AVR-ISPmkII works correctly with Arduino Uno both for uploading sketch and uploading bootloader.


AFTER:
I typed in avrdude directly from the command line.
I used the following command to test the connection:
avrdude -c avrispmkII -p -P usb
obtaining the following results:

:slight_smile: Works properly with ARDUINO Uno:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin>avrdude -c avrispmkII -p m328p -P usb

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f

avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK

avrdude done. Thank you.

========================================================
:slight_smile: Works properly with ROBOT MOTOR BOARD !!!!! :

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin>avrdude -c avrispmkII -p m32u4 -P usb

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9587

avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK

avrdude done. Thank you.

========================================================

:frowning: Does not work with ROBOT CONTROL BOARD:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin>avrdude -c avrispmkII -p m32u4 -P usb

avrdude: stk500v2_command(): command failed
avrdude: stk500v2_program_enable(): bad AVRISPmkII connection status: Unknown status 0x00
avrdude: initialization failded, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to ovverride
this check.

avrdude done. Thank you.

NOTES:

  1. The robot control board is powered by the batteries of the robot, and one sketch (Compass) is running.
  2. When I type in avrdude command, compass application restarts.
  3. I entered the command many times, alternately in the three boards, and the answers were always systematically the same (No random answers).

QUESTION:
Which differences between ROBOT MOTOR BOARD and ROBOT CONTROL BOARD may justify the different response?
Any suggestions?

These are my first steps into the world of Arduino.
Thanks in advance, and happy new year!

Antonio

Thank you for the very helpful post. I will purchase a programmer and see if this solves the problem. FYI - I see that there are posts about issues with the programmer.

I had exactly the same problem.
Since the TFT display is also using ICSP, I removed it.
Without the TFT display my AVRISP mkII works perfect!

Thanks for the tip.

After removing the TFT screen, I was able to burn the bootloader of the contro board.