avrdude: stk500_getsync() [again I know]

Development Tools Uploading
1

Hey, I know this is a common error but I've tried a lot of things that didn't work:

Operating System: Linux Manjaro;
Board is Arduino Nano Atmega old bootloader
Issue: can't upload getting this error message:

avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x44
An error occurred while uploading the sketch
  • Tried reinstalling the IDE both from the software manager and the direct link from the website AND the hourly build;
  • Removed all config folders and reinstalled;
  • Code and boards were working 3 days ago;
  • Tried restarting and reconnecting board multiple times;
  • I think COM port is open, the error use to be different otherwise;
  • Tried different codes and different boards (they are nanos as well tho);
  • Tried the code and board in Arduino IDE for Windows and worked right away (I don't use windows tho so it's useless for me);
  • Nothing connected to TX and RX pins (obviously because it worked on windows);
  • Tried hit the reset pin and upload failed again;
  • Tried to upload empty code with nothing connected to the board - failed;

Hopefully someone can help me out, I need this for work :frowning: Cheers!

2

You said you tested other nanos, did they work?

Nothing connected to the reset pin, right? That one is also used for upload, and must be treated carefully.

does pressing the reset button make the led blink? If not, either the chip is hosed, or the bootloader was somehow corrupted.

The only way that the bootloader could be corrupted on a nano* would be you connected an ISP programmer to it and uploaded something "using programmer" (if you did that, that's why it's not working - reconnect that ISP programmer and do burn bootloader to sort it out - personally, I bootload my nanos with the Uno board selected (and thereafter tell the IDE it's an uno when you upload to it - uno, nano, and pro mini are all the same as far as the code is concerned, just different shape and amount of additional functionality built into the board), thus getting an extra 1.5k of flash from smaller boot section, as well as the faster upload and fix for using WDT as reset source that you'd have gotten with the nano "new bootloader"**)

A few asides (from asterisks above), but which mostly aren't relevant to your specific case...

  • same applies to mega, uno, and pro mini. It also applies to any third party board with an AVR microcontroller where the usb-serial functionality is handled by a separate chip (boards with a classic attiny and serial bootloader, can, under very rare circumstances, get the bootloader corrupted by a pessimally timed reset pulse or power glitch). Boards with native USB (like micro/leo), however, can be put into a bad state by a very bad sketch - even in these cases the bootloader fine, but the port disappears when the sketch runs, so you need either a very carefully times press of reset during normal upload, or reburn of bootloader via ISP to fix it.

** as it happens, the "new bootloader" for the nano is the same (or effectively the same) one as the Uno uses - only they didn't change the BOOTSZ fuses to make that extra space available to the user; I suspect this was a mistake, but they're now stuck with it due to all the new bootloader nanos in circulation with the larger boot sector.

3

Hey DrAzzy thanks for the reply! No other nanos did not work as they previously did, neither did any of the example sketches from the arduino database... also, I did upload using another operative system, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the boards or cable! And the led blinks if I press the reset pin... again the problem must be some weird config on my OS

4

Problem solved by downgrading to a previous kernel!