Bootloader failure : error reading address, read operation not supported, ...

Hello everyone !

It's been a few hours that I've been trying to reset the bootloader of my Elegoo Uno R3 card from an Arduino Uno card as ISP but I get stuck at a new step.

My Elegoo Uno R3 card is no longer working (not even a led that flashes when I press the reset button but they are turned on) and so I have to burn the bootloader. It has an Atmega 328P-PU microcontroller, identical to the following picture.

By following the steps described by this web page, I run the example ArduinoISP and try to burn the bootloader of the Elegoo with the programmer "Arduino as ISP". My Arduino Uno has also an Atmega328P chip, the port correctly connected. My wiring are exactly as shown here except that the "not working arduino" is an Elegoo :

I have also connected the 3 leds so that my arduino can show me the 3 following information: heartbeat, error and programming state of the SPI Arduino.

The start of the bootloader works but stops rather quickly. Here are the details:

Arduino: 1.8.13 (Mac OS X), Board: "Arduino Uno"

/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -P/dev/cu.usbmodem1452301 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDE:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m 

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 "/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/Users/nicolas/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem1452301
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
         AVR Part                      : ATmega328P
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PC2
         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    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 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 | ################avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avr_read(): error reading address 0x0002
    read operation not supported for memory "signature"
avrdude: error reading signature data for part "ATmega328P", rc=-2
avrdude: error reading signature data, rc=-2
avrdude: stk500_disable(): unknown response=0x00

avrdude done.  Thank you.

Error while burning bootloader.

The problem is as follows:

error reading address
read operation not supported for memory « signature"
error reading signature data for part "ATmega328P", rc=-2
error reading signature data, rc=-2
stk500_disable(): unknown response=0x00

What does this really mean and what are the solutions to this problem ?

Here is some more information about my Elegoo Uno R3 :

  • When directly connected to my compter, it is well recognized as an Arduino Uno
  • I can get board info from Arduino IDE and is well recognized as an Arduino Uno but when I try to upload a sketch I have the "Not responding error" as follow :
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 "/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/Users/nicolas/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem1452301
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

Thank you in advance!

  • I can get board info from Arduino IDE and is well recognized as an Arduino Uno but when I try to upload a sketch I have the "Not responding error" as follow :

Of course, the bootloader is mandatory for uploading via USB, but you have destroyed it (or some setting) in previous step.

The start of the bootloader works but stops rather quickly. Here are the details:

It looks like something happen with your wiring in the early stage of the process. Make sure the wires and connections are reliable.

@nicodess

Your topic was Moved to it's current location / section as it is more suitable.

Could you also take a few moments to Learn How To Use The Forum.

Other general help and troubleshooting advice can be found here.
It will help you get the best out of the forum in the future.

Sorry for posting in the wrong section. Thank you

Budvar10, Thank you for your advice. So I made the same manipulation by changing everything: another computer, another USB cable, other jumpers and other capacitor. After several tries, the result is often the same :

error "avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature"

Effectively often meaning wiring problem. So I found these interesting topics about this :

After reading the answers, I'm going to test this solution that would have worked for someone :

"I soldered wires to pads to be sure the connection was good, and used those wires for programming from the Uno. Then the programmer worked, without any edits to the command lines as posted in the question."

I will indicate the results once the manipulation is done.

Another question, is it possible that the Elegoo is simply broken? Since an old manipulation had indeed burnt the bootloader, but looking at the loan card, nothing seems to be damaged. The card communicates, certainly not in the right way, but some exchanges do take place.

Sorry, your description is too vague for me.

First, I would check the voltages.
You can try the "loop-back" test : Arduino Forum > Using Arduino > Installation & Troubleshooting > Loop-Back Test Instructions.
This makes you pretty sure the board is good but except of the MCU.
If it is able upload the bootloader and then sketch via USB, probably damaged pins is the only thing which could be wrong with MCU. Anyhow, the MCU can be replaced easily in your case.

error "avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature"

Depends on the data values...

I performed the loopback test successfully. The serial communication work perfectly.

After soldering the pins to my Elegoo to be sure that all connection were good, I tried to install de bootloader again but still have the same message, this time in detail :

Arduino : 1.8.13 (Mac OS X), Carte : "Arduino Uno"

/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -P/dev/cu.usbmodem14101 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDE:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m 

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 "/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/Users/jfdessambre/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem14101
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
         AVR Part                      : ATmega328P
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PC2
         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    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 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)

Erreur lors de la gravure de la séquence d'initialisation.
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.

I think I'll leave the Elegoo aside for now...

Anyway, thank you for your help !

There is no connection to the target MCU - only zeroes obtained.
Double check connections. Only 6 wires.
Make sure the sketch is loaded in ISP device.

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