Clone Arduino Nano V3 - CH340 can't upload any sketch

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1

Hi guys,

I've purchased some Arduino nano clones but I can't figure out how to upload a sketch to them.
I've tried with 2 different boards, different cables etc... it doesn't work properly.

Let's see what I got...

Arduino: 1.8.7 (Windows 10), Board: "Arduino Nano, ATmega328P"

Sketch uses 924 bytes (3%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 9 bytes (0%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2039 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.

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:\Users\****\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM22
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00

avrdude done.  Thank you.

An error occurred while uploading the sketch

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.

and if I try with the Old bootloader :

Arduino: 1.8.7 (Windows 10), Board: "Arduino Nano, ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)"

Sketch uses 932 bytes (3%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 9 bytes (0%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2039 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.

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:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM22
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
         AVR Part                      : ATmega328P
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PC2
         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  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 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 : Arduino
         Description     : Arduino

avrdude: stk500_getparm(): (a) protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0xfc
         Hardware Version: 2
         Firmware Version: 0.16
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
         Vtarget         : 0.0 V
         Varef           : 198503788.8 V
         Oscillator      : 0.531 Hz
         SCK period      : 2239123.3 us

avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.

avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

avrdude done.  Thank you.

the selected serial port 
 does not exist or your board is not connected

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.
2

BUT.... from time to time... when I chose the Old Bootloader option... Randomly it succeed ... But I don't know why ? And whenever it "works" it throws this error :

Arduino: 1.8.7 (Windows 10), Board: "Arduino Nano, ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)"

Sketch uses 932 bytes (3%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 9 bytes (0%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2039 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.
C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude -CC:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -carduino -PCOM22 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_223217/Blink.ino.hex:i 

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:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM22
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
         AVR Part                      : ATmega328P
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PC2
         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  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 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 : Arduino
         Description     : Arduino

avrdude: stk500_getparm(): (a) protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0xfc
         Hardware Version: 2
         Firmware Version: 1.4611299
         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 = 0x1e950f (probably m328p)
avrdude: reading input file "C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_223217/Blink.ino.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (932 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.29s

avrdude: 932 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_223217/Blink.ino.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_223217/Blink.ino.hex:
avrdude: input file C:\Users\*****\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_223217/Blink.ino.hex contains 932 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
######avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avr_read(): error reading address 0x0000
    read operation not supported for memory "flash"
avrdude: failed to read all of flash memory, rc=-2
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

avrdude done.  Thank you.

the selected serial port 
 does not exist or your board is not connected

This report would have more information with
"Show verbose output during compilation"
option enabled in File -> Preferences.

I tried to press the reset button just before the upload, I probably tried almost all the board option etc.
Nothing really works ... If someone already solved this, it would save me ! :stuck_out_tongue:

3

My suggestion, you can upload a new bootloader. But if you never done it before, there are many little steps. Any miss/error step will make the end result not working.

You need an Uno as ISP programmer, so that you can upload bootloader to Nano through Uno. If you don't have Uno or a dedicate ISP programmer then this approach is a problem.

The advantage of using ISP programmer is it doesn't use Nano's CH340, so after you download a standard Nano bootloader from Arduino, there will be little issue.

4

Hi dtung,

Thanks for the answer.

I tried to upload a new bootloader using an Adafruit feather M0 (the only other board I have) but it says the same when I try to burn the bootloader... "Programmer is not responding" :frowning:

As I said, I randomly succeed upload a sketch (like 3 times in dozens of tries) so I thought it wasn't a problem of bootloader.

Would it be better to buy an UNO or a dedicated board as a FDTI one or something like that to burn the bootloader ?

5

Try setting it to Pro Mini. That works fine for me with the CH340 boards.

6

Well...
finally, I decided to try the 3 others boards.
On the 5 boards, only 2 works well (Board Nano and old bootloader), the 3 others are bugged.
I'll try to use the 2 good ones to burn a new bootloader on it...

Does anyone knows if a nano can be used as a Programmer ?

7

Yes it can. Follow the same steps as if you were using an Uno.