Can't upload sketch to Arduino Leonardo Flexbot drone

Projects General Guidance
1

I pulled my old Flexbot (an open source Arduino Leonardo based) drone out of storage a few weeks ago and was able to gather info to be able to upload a sketches to it and start debugging.

But as of last week whenever I try to upload a sketch the process just hangs. My guess is that my debug commands are overloading the serial port in some way and thus not allowing the bootloader to start up.
Similar to this: SOLVED: unable to programm Arduino Leonardo after loading unstable programm

I've somewhat consigned myself to attempting to flash the bootloader but I'm not sure if there's something else I should try first.

Looking at the bootloader tutorial and the PCB layout I'm pretty sure I can wire it up but the ICSP port is just a set of holes in the PCB (1mm pitch) and I'm not sure what the best way to connect to it is.

I'm a bit stuck right now, any advice would be welcome.

Gabe

2

Have you tried to reset the board shortly before uploading? If you upload bad code the bootloader may not be activated automatically, so a manual reset may be necessary. After the reset you have a few seconds to start the upload.

3

Adding to @pylon's reply

Wait till you see the memory usage reported by the IDE; that's basically when you can press and release the reset button.

I have seen reports that state that on their Leonardo they have to double tap the reset; not sure why the have to use the double tap.

4

I've tried uploading it as soon as I plug it in... unfortunately the drone doesn't have a reset button like an arduino board ... not sure if theres another way to reset it besides that... :frowning:

5

The board has an ICSP connector (although not in the usual form factor). Connect pin 5 and pin 6 of it to reset the MCU (only a short connection is needed).

6

That's the stuff!!!! Grabbed a small wire and connected the two pins and was able to reset it. After a bit of trying to reset and upload I got it to work... I'm back in business. Thanks!