Hello,
I have an arduini pro mini 3.3V 8Mhz and I need to burn its bootloader.
For that I have at my disposal an Arduino Uno and/or a USB Serial Light Adapterhttp://arduino.cc/en/Main/USBSerial
I tried this guide: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP but it gives me avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0xfe
So I'm stuck here and I don't know how to use the usb serial light adapter to burn the bootloader.
You have to connect the two boards, programmer and target, like this:
Arduino Uno programmer ---->---- target Arduino pro mini 3.3V
SS -->-- RESET
MOSI -->-- MOSI
MISO -->-- MISO
SCK -->-- SCK
You also need a 5V <---> 3.3V convertor on the four ISP lines between your 5V Arduino Uno programmer and your 3.3 V target Arduino Pro Mini.
"Can I use the usb serial light adapter to program the bootloader?" No, it does not support the SPI pins.
As you have it wired, you have 5V level signals going into a board with 3.3V power - this is bad for the input pins, having signals that are a lot higher than the supply voltage.
The arduino website is now showing an older V10 schematic, with no regulator part number.
If some info were known about the regulator on your board to confirm that driving the output while not driving the input would not damage the regulator, I would instead connect the promini Vcc to 5V, so both boards are running from 5V. This would also put MISO signal from the promini to the Uno at the correct level.
I don't recognize the markings on your part tho, so I can't readily recommend that.
Best bet is to use 5V to 3.3V level shifters on the SCK, MOSI, Reset, and MISO signal going back.
I tried to power the mini pro from both 3 V and 5V , same result.
Also my ftdi is 5V and I could program the mini pro a lot of times, without any problem.
To test if the connection was good, I uploaded the blink scheme on mini pro and the leds on both mini pro and arduino Uno were flashing... so no problem with the 5Volts in those pins.
"CGBS" where a Micrel part would be marked LB33 or KB33 per its datasheet.
I have a couple floating around (dead uCs that I zapped) that I can't seem to find, I can confirm with once I locate them.
The FTDI Basic connects right to the VCC pin also, bypassing the regulator. I can guess that supply path is okay then.
Another bootload option you might try then is NickGammon's:
I've read it yesterday and once more today after a good nights sleep but still can't figure out something usefull from that site.
Not being able to understand what "resp=0xfe" is I don't know what is my problem and how I can solve it.
As a test I took mini-pro out of the arduino uno and the response was still the same "resp=0xfe" .
Meaning what? that the arduino Uno isn't responding to the IDE/avrdude?
Oby_One:
Can someone direct me to a person that has experience with bootloaders on mini-pro ?
Oby_One, I use ProMinis a lot and have burnt bootloaders to them many times. For programming I power the ProMini at 5V, irrespective of whether it's a 3.3V or 5V model. It doesn't seem to do any damage to the voltage regulator. If ArduinoISP isn't working for you, I'd suggest trying Nick Gammon's excellent alternative sketch on the page already referenced. I'm sure you can adapt his instructions to the ProMini pin-out.
I use an Uno as the programmer. In your picture it looks like you're taking 3.3V power: this is bad, so check you haven't cooked the ProMini or its inputs. You should use 5V power to match the logic levels coming from the programmer.
Nick Gammon has written a number of sketches which talk directly to the board to be programmed. This takes the PC software (AVRdude) out of the equation and simplifies the programming process.
Aaaaaaaaaa.... ok okkkk.... Now I get it.
I don't know why I miss-read that page so many times. My mind was locked to wiring and I couldn't see anything else.
Ok....so moving on.
I want to burn this bootloader Experiment4.com is for sale | HugeDomains
I run his Mushclient, I now have the new header file and I guess I should insert it somehow in the original code.
Like if I press S then go to burn the bootloader_slowpoke_1Mhz.h routine.
Am I correct?
Note that the ProMini's voltage regulator and power LED draw about 1mA. In my low-power projects I disconnect these components by cutting a trace on the PCB as shown below. You can un-do the cut later if needed, by connecting the two VCC pins together.
Wow, that's an extremely well documented page... It has everything..and very well described 8)
I suddenly have ton of admiration for this Nick Gammon 8) 8) 8)
My device can't be put to sleep, because it has to permanently detect the interruption of a infrared beam... so all sleep modes are useless for me.
Also that bootloader was not for my board, and as soon as I will have time I will try to run it down to 1mhz using Nicks instructions.
@tim About your idea of cutting the voltage regulator, I have some questions:
is it really necessary to cut it?
It is used only to power up the board, and if I use the RAW pin I will bypass the regulator.
I will use several batteries in series & paralell to have 3V
is the voltage regulator used if the board is powered via the RAW pin ?
Even though the arduino can work down to 1.8V, I am using devices that work at 3.3V so I should let the brown-out intact at 3.3V.
Am I right?