Arduino standalone uploading problem

Using Arduino Microcontrollers
1

Hi!
A while ago i've bought 10 atmega328p-au chips, 32 pin TQFP package (i think its TQFP package and not MLF package, MLF is supposed to have all 3 corners cut off 45 degrees and my chips do have that, but its supposed to have a metal pad on the bottom which my chips dont have so i am really confused about that. When i got them i read the markings and i have 4 different types of those: Atmega328p-au 1236; 1330; 1343; 1432. So the first question i have is what is the difference between those and what do those markings mean in the first place? I am asking that because the first chip i programmed was 1236, the same one as it is on the arduino nano. I first burned the bootloader on it and it was successful (after hours of trying). After that changed the programmer to AVRISP mkII. The board was changed to uno (from nano, because for some reason that didnt work? another confussion there). I loaded the blink sketch on it and everything worked as it should.
So now, after a month or so i got to the point in my project where i had to start including those chips (i actually needed only 1). I used a chip with the marking 1432 and when i wired everything up i tried to burn the bootleader but it didnt want to. Tried to do it again on some other chip, 1330 still nothing. I did everything the same as i did with the same chip. Then i tried with 1343 and the bootloader burned successfully! Why i do not know, thats why i am putting this on the forum. Also btw, i did these steps on multiple chips, repeated on all of the types of chips (the 4 numeral markings) and for some reason same problems occur for the same chips. Anyways then i changed the board to uno and programmer to AVRISP mkII and connected everything to the board (with the microcontroller removed ofcourse). Here is where the first problem occured. The pin 13 LED didnt blink in the first half a second like it does when you connect. For some reason the chip didnt respond at all (when i connected it. All it did is like i powered it normally and thats all. It didnt respond with the bootloader. It "played" the blink sketch - which i didnt load it on it. All i loaded on it is burned the bootloader. So here another question rises - does a bootloader also load on a blink sketch? Anyways so the chip doesnt respond, it just did the blink thingy.
Here is the error message:

avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x28

So does anyone knows what is going on here? I am very thankful for any help. Also i've been searching for this problem on the net for some hours now and nothing seems to help, also for some reason i cant find anything about those 4 numeral markings on the chips, as if they dont matter? But it seems they do, judging from my problem.

With regards, mate115

2

I felt bad for you. Those numbers you referred to are date codes. If you buy a batch of 328's, then their date codes should be the same, unless someone made a hodgepodge of 328s and sold them to you. Do they look new? If you buy them new, your date code should start with 15. Can you get 328's from legitimate source?

3

I got them off ebay from china for 10$. Is it possible that some of them already have bootloader loaded and some dont? Because what happened with some when i connected them and tried to install bootloader it said there is no connection. It didnt even want to try to do anything. Also what happens if you burn bootloader twice?
Also what seems really weird is that when i finally was able to burn bootloader the chip didnt even respond properly when i connected it to serial with rx and tx. It just "played" the blink sketch...which i didnt even upload. Does the bootloader also burn/upload blink sketch?

I guess i'll try to buy them off a credible source. Thank you for your help!

4

mate115:
atmega328p-au chips, 32 pin TQFP package (i think its TQFP package and not MLF package

That's correct, ATmega328P-AU is the TQFP package. See the datasheet for confirmation

mate115:
So here another question rises - does a bootloader also load on a blink sketch?

Arduino pin 13 will blink after burning the Nano bootloader. With the Uno bootloader it will do a fast blinking sequence after power on or reset but after that will not blink.

There's actually an upside to getting old ATmega328P-AU(assuming they actually work). The new ones don't support full-swing oscillator(http://img.digikey.com/Retractions/WC154601%20-%20PCN-12-23-2015.pdf).

5

Hmm, that is actually very interesting. I looked up what a full swing oscillator is and it turns out i am using one! ... i think.

Here they use a full swing one, right? Correct me if i am wrong, a full swing uses both XTAL1 and XTAL2 and the other one...external oscillator as it is supposedly called is only fed into XTAL1. Atleast thats what it says here: http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/difference-between-full-swing-and-ext-oscill-setting

Could this be the problem?

Also thank you for your reply!

6

No, you are not using full-swing unless you enable it in the fuse to use full-swing. I recommend you to get new chips with no unknown prior usages/damages to eliminate these unknowns. It's bad for study or project to use things that may have been broken already.