Can i use a USB-to-RS232 Serial converter to connect to Arduino ?

avr_fred:
Tested three different IDE versions under an XP VM environment.

1.0.6
1.56.5-r2
1.6.9

wow, thanks - i really appreciate your comprehensive checking !

avr_fred:
with an identical to yours CH340G board

sorry to be doubtful, but given the multitude of varieties of those things on eBay, can you be quite sure ?

avr_fred:
...and a ProMini with the Uno bootloader installed. This was loaded by selecting the Uno board tye and then burn booloader in the IDE. Connections are:

CH340G     ProMini 

DTR <----> DTR
RXD <----> TXD
TXD <----> RXD
VCC <----> VCC
CTS
GND <----> GND




All three versions yield the same results:

Board type: Uno - Uploads and runs
Board type: Duemilanove w/328P - Uploads and runs
Board type: ProMini 5V w/328P - Uploads and runs

the common factor being the ProMini - i wonder whether these CH340G boards are tailored to cater for the ProMini boards that also proliferate on eBay.

avr_fred:
Based on the above, I would suspect that either you don't have a Uno bootloader installed or the fuses are set incorrectly on the target device.

that 'saga' i mentioned above documents in detail that this should NOT be the case !

as it stands now, i have the original 328P chip on the breadboard, with a sketch loaded WHILE ON the Uno board (normal upload, meaning HAS the bootloader) and runs the sketch (blinking LED on every digital pin in sequence) running on external power source - ie. standalone success.

it really is the USB-to-TTL converter that is not playing nice with this setup i have atm.