Cant upload to custom atmega2560 pcb

Hello,
as stated I have problems with uploading code to an atmega2560 chip. I successfully burned the bootloader using the icsp interface with an Arduino Uno, but when I try to upload any sketches with an FTDI or a ch340g, I get the following error codes:

avrdude: Version 6.0.1, compiled on Apr 15 2015 at 19:59:58
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

     System wide configuration file is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

     Using Port                    : COM6
     Using Programmer              : wiring
     Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer

avrdude done. Thank you.

Loopback test with FTDI was successful. Do you have any ideas on how to resolve this?
This is the schematic:

Your diagram does not indicate which FTDI/UART chip you are using. Some clones use FTDI drivers some clones use ch340. You have to determine which chip you are using and upload the same drivers for that FTDI/UART chip.

Good luck with your project

I‘m using an ft232-az breakout board as FTDI.

That's a busy schematic. Can you guide me to the pull up resistor on the RESET line?

The pull up resistor is on the top left side of the atmega.

This chip allows your computer, either MAC or WIndows to communicate to an Arduino. Did you install the proper drivers on your computer? Do you have a USB port on your custom board? If you have a FTDI chip on your Arduino then you can install the drivers for that chip.

Did you configure a boot loader for your custom Arduino?

You can also use another arduino or an Arduino programmer to program your custom arduino through the serial port.

My guess is that the auto-reset is not working. Does it upload if you press the reset button briefly while you are getting the "avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout" messages?

Are you sure the bootloader upload was successful?

Did you try uploading a sketch (like Blink) with Sketch->Upload Using Programmer? (Note: That overwrites the bootloader so be sure to upload the bootloader again.)

I uploaded the Blink Sketch using an Arduino Uno as Programmer and it worked. I tested the serial connection with the FTDI and ch340g. With the FTDI I can only receive, with the ch340g I can send and receive but the characters I receive are weird:
When I send "a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z" I get back "a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o ` a b c d e f0g h i j".

Burning the bootloader seems fine, I get the following:
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 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

     Using Port                    : COM4
     Using Programmer              : stk500v1
     Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
     AVR Part                      : ATmega2560
     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    10     8    0 no       4096    8      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
       flash         65    10   256    0 yes    262144  256   1024  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% 0.06s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9801 (probably m2560)
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "0x3F"
avrdude: writing lock (1 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: 1 bytes of lock written
avrdude: verifying lock memory against 0x3F:
avrdude: load data lock data from input file 0x3F:
avrdude: input file 0x3F contains 1 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip lock data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 1 bytes of lock verified
avrdude: reading input file "0xFD"
avrdude: writing efuse (1 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: 1 bytes of efuse written
avrdude: verifying efuse memory against 0xFD:
avrdude: load data efuse data from input file 0xFD:
avrdude: input file 0xFD contains 1 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip efuse data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 1 bytes of efuse verified
avrdude: reading input file "0xD8"
avrdude: writing hfuse (1 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: 1 bytes of hfuse written
avrdude: verifying hfuse memory against 0xD8:
avrdude: load data hfuse data from input file 0xD8:
avrdude: input file 0xD8 contains 1 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip hfuse data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 1 bytes of hfuse verified
avrdude: reading input file "0xFF"
avrdude: writing lfuse (1 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: 1 bytes of lfuse written
avrdude: verifying lfuse memory against 0xFF:
avrdude: load data lfuse data from input file 0xFF:
avrdude: input file 0xFF contains 1 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip lfuse data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 1 bytes of lfuse verified

avrdude done. Thank you.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avrdude -CC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega2560 -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -Uflash:w:C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/bootloaders/stk500v2/stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex:i -Ulock:w:0x0F: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 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

     Using Port                    : COM4
     Using Programmer              : stk500v1
     Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
     AVR Part                      : ATmega2560
     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    10     8    0 no       4096    8      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
       flash         65    10   256    0 yes    262144  256   1024  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% 0.06s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9801 (probably m2560)
avrdude: NOTE: "flash" memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/bootloaders/stk500v2/stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (261406 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: 261406 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/bootloaders/stk500v2/stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/bootloaders/stk500v2/stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex:
avrdude: input file C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/bootloaders/stk500v2/stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex contains 261406 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

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

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 261406 bytes of flash verified
avrdude: reading input file "0x0F"
avrdude: writing lock (1 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.05s

avrdude: 1 bytes of lock written
avrdude: verifying lock memory against 0x0F:
avrdude: load data lock data from input file 0x0F:
avrdude: input file 0x0F contains 1 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip lock data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 1 bytes of lock verified

avrdude done. Thank you.

Do you have any ideas on why the ch340g gets the characters wrong?

Does your UNO have a removable processor? If so, you can try it as a USB interface by removing the processor and connecting these pins between the UNO board and the 'MEGA':
+5V, GND, Pin 0, Pin 1, Reset
See if that will let you upload through the MEGA bootloader.

We've only looked at a schematic. Maybe your PCB layout, PCB, parts, or parts placement is bad.

I found the solution. Apparently Ebay sent me the wrong ch340g chips, I desoldered the one on the PCB and I got it working with the FTDI.
Thanks for your help!

Great news, good luck with your project :grinning:

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