Error trying to burn bootloader on Arduino Uno with 12MHz crystal

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi guys,

I have an USBasp that I've been using to fix bootloaders on arduino clones. It works very well on most of my boards except one case.

In that specific case, I noticed that the crystal is not located at the same place and it is a 12MHz one. I have not been able yet to upload any code to this board.

Does anyone have an idea of what the problem could be?

Here's the bootloader burning verbatim from Arduino IDE.

avrdude: Version 6.3-20171130
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\_data\tools\arduino-1.8.8\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : usb
         Using Programmer              : usbasp
         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 : usbasp
         Description     : USBasp, http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/

avrdude: auto set sck period (because given equals null)
avrdude: warning: cannot set sck period. please check for usbasp firmware update.
avrdude: error: program enable: target doesn't answer. 1 
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Error while burning bootloader.
2

Is that board made by WAVGAT? Can you provide the link where you bought it from?
I most cases those boards with a 12MHz crystal don't actually use a genuine ATMega328 (despite what is printed on the IC itself), they use a different microcontroller.

3

I have no idea where the board comes from, I bought from a local store. I bought two boards thinking they were identical, but they aren't.

You will also notice that there is not 16Mhz crystal. Could it be the problem for my bootloader failed burning?

Here's a picture of the board.

Link to picture

4

It looks like the 16Mhz crystal has broken off the board. The 12Mhz crystal is for the USB to serial interface chip, that is the normal frequency for a CH340.

5

Luckily, that board does use the ATmega328P.

If you can't replace the 16 MHz crystal, you can switch to using the internal 8 MHz oscillator of the ATmega328P:

After doing this, remember to always use the board with the same exact MiniCore ATmega328 board selected from the Tools > Board menu, and with Tools > Clock set to 8 MHz

6

Without the crystal he won't be able to burn the 8MHz internal bootloader to the chip though, because it almost certainly has fuses set to use the (now missing) 16MHz crystal, without supplying a clock signal to the correct crystal pin...

7

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/abracon-llc/ABLS-16.000MHZ-B4-T/535-10226-1-ND/2184261

Get one of these, it's the 16 MHz crystal you are missing.

8

Ah, good point DrAzzy!