Diecimila troubles

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Troubleshooting
1

I recently bought a diecimila off of the adafruit webpage. I actually bought the starter pack as this is my first venture into the world of hardware really. Anyways it came in the mail last saturday and I excitedly tore open the box, installed the drivers and loaded the software (I had previsouly downloaded it in anticipation of the arrival) When I first tried to upload the default blink sketch I was immediately met with the avrdude out of sync message that seems to be rather common place. After a couple attempts though it worked and so I set about playing with leds and code for a few hours. (actual error posted at end of message)

When next I tried to use the arduino I met with the same error again but again after a couple of tries and a driver reinstall all was well again. The only problem is this has been a continued problem over the last 4 days. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. Though I haven't actually sucsessfully uploaded anything since yesterday morning despite approx. 3 hours of continued attempts. I have attempted the solutions that I have read else where on these forums (the reset button before upload incase it has wrong bootloader, changing com port number and various other com settings, getting updated drivers from the getting started tutorials link, and I have even attempted to use an older release of the software driver package(have tried 0010 and 0011)) but to no avail.

The other thing that is peculiar that I havent seen mentioned yet is that my reset button doesnt actually seem to do anything. Sure its there and I push it and it does the little cliky thing all buttons do, but no lights go out or even flicker. Nothing. The pin 13+gnd led doesnt do anything and the surface mount led's (rx, tx and l) all do nothing.

Also when attempting an upload the rx light does a faint and fast little flicker (like its not getting enough power or something). Just the rx not the tx. But when I plug the usb cable in both have a good strong flicker.

The last peculiar occurance is that while 13+gnd do not light up period, 0+gnd does and 1+gnd lights up very weakly. (digital not analog) The last program I was running was a binary number counter running on 0-7 digital so im thinking maybe thats why but none of the others do anything period and 0 and 1 stay on constant.

Im running windows xp with arduino 0011 with the decimilia board with nothing plugged in except the led in 13+gnd occasionally out of hope. And I guess im just asking for any suggestions whatso ever because this is my first foray into this realm and am at a complete and utter loss as to what to do.

Thank you in advance and if you need any additional information i will do my best to supply it.

Stable Library
=========================================
Native lib Version = RXTX-2.1-7
Java lib Version   = RXTX-2.1-7

//loads of compiling messages

Binary sketch size: 1096 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51
2

Thanks for the detailed report.

It's strange that the pin 13 (L) LED doesn't blink when you press the reset button. It makes it sound as though the bootloader has been corrupted.

Is the power LED on brightly? Does the pin 13 (L) LED blink when you plug in the USB cable?

Did you drive any high powered stuff (e.g. motors or solenoids or relays) with the board?

3

Yes the power led is on brightly, no 13 doesnt do anything at all unfortunatly, I did hook up a motor at one point but it was just a motor from an old discman so it wasnt really strong or anything and no, no solenoids nor relays. pretty much all I did was play around with leds and different lighting sequences more so with the code than anything else. As for the bootloader being corrupted is there anyway to check this short of buying a avr programmer and reburning it?

4

You could try buying a replacement chip with the bootloader on it already: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=56

5

Thanks for the detailed report.

It's strange that the pin 13 (L) LED doesn't blink when you press the reset button. It makes it sound as though the bootloader has been corrupted.

Is the power LED on brightly? Does the pin 13 (L) LED blink when you plug in the USB cable?

Did you drive any high powered stuff (e.g. motors or solenoids or relays) with the board?

I think the new Arduino boards don't blink the L (pin 13) LED... unless you upload the blink sketch, of course. I asked Gianluca and he said that it is a feature of the new boards.

6

Well I ordered another chip off of adafruit and we will have to see if that solves my dilemma. Hopefully it will be here by the weekend. Thanks for all the responces and Ill be back if I am still out of luck.

7

Hi Travisevil,
I saw your message while looking around for answers with my own arduino problems.

One thing I would suggest you might try is to go over the board with a multimeter. I did this with mine to make sure I soldered everything ok. I know you bought your board but it may help. Plug the board into the usb power and simply go thru the soldered joints on the back side. also look to see if they are good joints or not. Sometimes looking at the joint is the easitest and quickest way.

Good Luck,
Oaxacamatt1

8

OP,

Try this for grins:
Device Manager - Comm Ports - USB Serial Port -Port Settings - Advanced button - Set RTS On Close

There is a litany of problems with the FTDI serial interface so don't feel like you are unique. Hang in there, it will be worth it. :slight_smile:

Steve.