I got a Nano 3.0 from dx.com and couldn't upload to it... after too much research than it should have taken, I found that it most likely didn't have a bootloader. So I followed this tutorial to upload one to it with an Uno. I couldn't have been in a situation more exactly same as the tutorial except that I had some female-female jumpers on hand.
I followed the tutorial otherwise exactly the same, and at the end the LEDs flashed very fast as they were supposed to, then they stopped and the pin 13 LED started flashing once about every second. At this point I assumed it was done, unplugged my Uno, took apart the bootloading circuit, and set the tools>>programmer back to AVRISP mkII along with correcting the board and serial port.
Alas, when I tried to upload the blink program, it made no difference on the board and it still gave me the "avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00" error! I tried holding the reset button while uploading to no avail... what could be the problem?? Thanks in advance!
Do you have a photo or link to your Nano board ?
It could be a counterfeit FTDI chip.
If you are willing to buy cheap clones, then why spent too much money ?
You can buy a Arduino Nano with CH340G usb-serial chip on Ebay : arduino nano "v3.0" -prototype for sale | eBay
Check to photos to see that it is a CH340G and not a counterfeit FTDI usb-serial chip. The CH340G needs a seperate driver, and won't work very well on a Apple computer.
Well I can tell it works, I just can't upload anything to it. Also I'm using a PC (windows 7).
...what would the point even be of counterfieting a chip? aren't they cheap enough anyway?
Could you show a photo (of the bottom side) or a link to your Nano, please.
If you bought a very cheap Nano, then at the bottom is either the counterfeit FTDI or a CH340G which is not officially supported by Arduino.
The counterfeit FTDI does work, but it is ignored by the newest drivers.
My iPad takes pictures too large to upload... but actually I took it to school and tried it on one of the computers, and here it works just fine! Weird, right?
If you're still interested, I could just tell you what the chip says. It says:
=FTDI
1446-C
G3P60101
FT232RL
Have you tried the FTDI drivers in the /arduino/drivers/FTDI USB drivers folder?
Or the drivers from FTDIChip.com?
Or looked in the Getting started/Troubleshooting section of the forum.
Mark
I think you have a counterfeit FTDI chip.
The old drivers worked with the counterfeit FTDI chips, then there were drivers that bricked the counterfeit FTDI chips, and the newest drivers just ignore the counterfeit FTDI chip.
It was a big story last year :
My advice: Throw that Nano away. Stay away from FTDI. Really, don't try to use it. If some computer might have a certain driver, your Nano will be bricked.
The cheapest Arduino boards have now CH340G chips for the usb-serial. They need an extra driver : http://www.wch.cn/downloads.php?name=pro&proid=65
If you don't use an Apple computer, you can buy those without problem. Or buy an official Arduino board.
Why would I throw it away? If it works on the school computer anyway then the worst that happens is I run into a computer that bricks it... right? In which case I'd throw it away then. @CrossRoads I'll look around in that folder when I get home.
Peter_n:
I think you have a counterfeit FTDI chip.
The old drivers worked with the counterfeit FTDI chips, then there were drivers that bricked the counterfeit FTDI chips, and the newest drivers just ignore the counterfeit FTDI chip.
It was a big story last year :
FTDI Screws Up, Backs Down | Hackaday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU66as4Bbds
My advice: Throw that Nano away. Stay away from FTDI. Really, don't try to use it. If some computer might have a certain driver, your Nano will be bricked.
The cheapest Arduino boards have now CH340G chips for the usb-serial. They need an extra driver : http://www.wch.cn/downloads.php?name=pro&proid=65
If you don't use an Apple computer, you can buy those without problem. Or buy an official Arduino board.
The CH340 chip works perfect on a mac,- there are mac drivers out there as well
whythelolface, thanks for the info. I try to remember that.
Squirt_5432:
Why would I throw it away?...
Squirt_5432, trust me, I think you will regret it if don't throw it away right now. Shall I say now "I told you so" or shall I wait ? 
what would happen? I mean if I have it anyway I may as well get whatever usage I can out of it, right?
Yeah... well... okay... until suddenly at a bad moment (for example, you want to show to someone else what you made) it can't upload a new sketch anymore.
yeah... you have a point there... I guess what I'll do is order some more reliable nano(s), use this one in the meantime, and then if it isn't bricked by the time they arrive I'll keep it around as a spare. Sound like a better plan?
Do you have the right Board selected in Tools?
