Hello all--
I just assembled my fist DIY arduino board this weekend (using the tutorials http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone and the DIYDuino from Instructables). Long story short, it works great, but only without the two capacitors attached to the 16 Mhz crystal. I'm using the .1uF caps as outlined in the Instructables version-- nothing happens when I have these between the two xtal pins and gnd (the setup doesn't work). When I remove them all seems to work great. Looking at the breadboard design again tonight from arduino.cc, I see that 22pF caps are recommended there (not .1uF as in the Instructables design). I don't have 22pF caps on hand so am wondering: are the caps between the xtal and gnd really needed? What will happen if I leave them out of my design? Again, all seems to be working without them. Just wondering-- I can order some 22pF caps if they are really needed but also wondering why all also seems to work without them.
Thanks!
--Rob