I have just started using the Arduino system - using a starter's pack from Maplins. The board they sold to me is the UNO R3 SMD which has worked OK and given no problems uploading sketches. I then purchased another board (from CPC) and received the standard R3 - I found that my SMD board has a fully soldered ATmega chip because the dil chip (on the CPC board) had been in short supply. I also understood that both versions were supposed to be identical in use.
When I tried to upload a sketch onto the new board I received an error message "an error has occurred while uploading the sketch" followed by the "AVR dude Thank you". The sketch in question had uploaded onto the original board and worked OK. I tried other sketches and had the same results - OK on the original board but error on the new board.
I have asked CPC for help and they are looking into this. I have sent the board back and they are going to replace it. It will be interesting to see if it was a faulty board or whether the replacement behaves the same. I have been very happy with the service and efficiency of the CPC company.
Meanwhile I would ask my readers if anyone has any idea what is going on. Am I doing something really silly?, is there a difference in the R3 and R3 SMD boards apart from the fixing of the microprocessor chip used?
If anybody has any suggestions I would be grateful for very simple instructions since I really am only a couple of weeks into my "Arduino Experience"!
A little late now as the full error message might have been useful for those in the know (not me ). Was the board correctly recognized? Did you select the correct port in the IDE (it's not necessarily the same port as the original board).
Many thanks for this idea - I assumed the UNO was the UNO was the.... etc etc and once my computer had interfaced with one of them it was ready to meet others. I will look into this when I get the replacement.
There is no difference (other than the fact that the SMD chip has two more pins, but I don't think the Uno SMD breaks those out). There are - however - clone boards on the market that use a different serial chip, the CH340G - and the drivers for that are not included with the IDE (google will get them for you in a jiffy) - the CH340G works fine once the correct drivers are installed. There are also boards with counterfeit FT232R's on them that don't work unless you jump through hoops with the driver now (google ftdigate for details) - though most of these are out of circulation now.
Since you haven't described the symptom of the problem, we can't venture a guess on why your board didn't work.
The shortage of DIP atmegas was quite a while in the past. Many of the Uno clones use the SMD chip now simply for cost reasons (usually when something on the board fails, it's not the '328p, but the 16u2 used as serial adapter - so the socket is less useful than one might hope. At least on official boards with the 16u2 - the CH340G seems less liable to fail under abuse than the 16u2).
Thank you but you have left me in a quandary! You say I have "not described the symptom" but surely I have - I stated clearly that when I try to upload a sketch (which has been successfully done on my original SMD board) I received an error message "an error has occurred while uploading the sketch". This stops any further progress so I am at a loss as to what more I can offer.
Either didn't have the proper drivers or didn't reselect the correct port.
But what good is asking for help when you've already sent it back when it was user error. What good is it asking for opinions when you've got your own conclusions that first have to be proven erroneous to your satisfaction which wastes everyone's time.
You have not described your problem adequately. The offense you've taken to having that pointed out indicates you're a difficult individual to prove otherwise to. You should have described your IDE settings, which board was chosen, which port was chosen, what your PC response was to having it plugged in, which board you have (real or clone), which USB chip it is using, etc. There is plenty of information you could have given in your first post that would've gotten you a complete answer by a first response.
All you've really posted, which you deemed adequate, was, "it dun work and i reckon it's cause it looks diffurnt".
). Was the board correctly recognized? Did you select the correct port in the IDE (it's not necessarily the same port as the original board).