Burning Bootloader onto Atmega32u4

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

I have tried to upload the Adafruit itsybitsy 32u4 3v 8Mhz bootloader onto my custom Atmega 32u4 pcb with an adafruit itsybitsy m0, however the output always returns

   Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem141101
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
         AVR Part                      : ATmega32U4
         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    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  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% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0xffffff (probably .avr8x_mega) (retrying)

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x00ffff
avrdude: Expected signature for ATmega32U4 is 1E 95 87
         Double check chip, or use -F to override this check.

avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

I have checked the connections and also the jumper cables and both seem to be working fine. Any suggestions on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

2

New chips often run at 1 MHz and you then have to flash them slower. You've probably already tried that?

3

Yeah, I've tried that already :frowning: I have a feeling it might be because I'm using an 8Mhz external crystal or that I pulled pe2 high and not low

Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 20.47.13
Screenshot 2025-03-26 at 20.47.131013×488 5.17 KB

4

The processor from the factory is normally set to use the internal oscillator, the crystal should not have any affect until the fuse settings are changes to use it. The opposite is usually the problem, someone sets the fuses to use an external crystal when there is no crystal present, and can no longer program the chip because the oscillator is not running.

5

New chips generally don't have a bootloader and run at 1 MHz, so you first have to flash them using SPI and slow transfer, for example, with a USBASP programmer. Or, as in your case, an STK500 board. So, do I understand correctly that neither serial nor SPI flash works? If so, either a wire is soldered incorrectly, the reset pin is broken, or the chip is defective.

6

I don't think it was supposed to be STK500 beause I'm using an itsybitsy m0 to use an arduino as isp

I have tried burning the bootloader again with arduino as isp selected and it still says "using programmer: stk500v1"

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





         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem141101
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
         AVR Part                      : ATmega32U4
         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    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  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% 0.03s

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'm not really sure on how to test serial or spi but i'm guessing that it doesn't work because the chip isn't getting detected by arduino?

ah, got it.