# Arduino Uno as ISP to program arduino mega 2560 with esp8266

**URL:** <https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-uno-as-isp-to-program-arduino-mega-2560-with-esp8266/1400359>\
**Category:** General Guidance\
**Created:** [August 5, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-uno-as-isp-to-program-arduino-mega-2560-with-esp8266/1400359 "2025-08-05T18:49:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![uzbek6565](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/uzbek6565/32/1131092_2.png) [@uzbek6565](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/uzbek6565)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-uno-as-isp-to-program-arduino-mega-2560-with-esp8266/1400359/1 "2025-08-05T18:49:02Z")

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Hi there!

Sorry, if it is redundant theme but I have looked for the similar issue and could not find it.

I am using arduino uno to program the mega+esp8266 board. Why am I not uploading sketch? Because I could not manage to connect using USB and DIP switches. I have tried to set ON 1-4 RX0/TX0 or RX3/TX3 and ON dip switches 3-4 RX0/TX0 or RX3/TX3. I can see the microcontroller when I set dip switches to 1-4 ON and RX0/TX0 but can not upload a sketch, it gave me an error.

After burning the bootloader using Uno, I managed to upload a sketch but now again having issue while uploading.

```arduino
avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\uztos\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port : COM5
         Using Programmer : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate : 19200
         AVR Part : ATmega2560
         Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
         PAGEL : PD7
         BS2 : PA0
         RESET disposition : dedicated
         RETRY pulse : SCK
         serial program mode : yes
         parallel program mode : yes
         Timeout : 200
         StabDelay : 100
         CmdexeDelay : 25
         SyncLoops : 32
         ByteDelay : 0
         PollIndex : 3
         PollValue : 0x53
         Memory Detail :

                                  Block Poll Page Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           eeprom 65 10 8 0 no 4096 8 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
           flash 65 10 256 0 yes 262144 256 1024 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
           lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
           hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
           efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
           lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
           calibration 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
           signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00

         Programmer Type : STK500
         Description : Atmel STK500 Version 1.x firmware
         Hardware Version: 2
         Firmware Version: 1.18
         Topcard : Unknown
         Vtarget : 0.0 V
         Varef : 0.0 V
         Oscillator : Off
         SCK period : 0.1 us

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

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

avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000 (retrying)

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

avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000 (retrying)

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

avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.

avrdude done. Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

```

I tried ISCP pinouts of both microcontrollers to burn the bootloader or upload a sketch but could not solve the problem.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![krocan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/krocan/32/1234222_2.png) [@krocan](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/krocan)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-uno-as-isp-to-program-arduino-mega-2560-with-esp8266/1400359/2 "2025-08-27T18:26:10Z")

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Hi why do you need to program arduino megha with uno?

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**Author:** ![system](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/system/32/1140315_2.png) [@system](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-uno-as-isp-to-program-arduino-mega-2560-with-esp8266/1400359/3 "2026-02-23T18:26:56Z")

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