Paulusjacobus:
c:\users\paul\downloads\arduino\arduino\hardware\arduino\avr/tools/avrdude.conf
Why is the path non-standard? A stock install should have it at arduino-nightly\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf.
Paulusjacobus:
the slashes in the error message seem to indicate a configuration error or batch file that calls avrdude with the wrong parms.
No that's normal. Windows can handle either front or backslashes in the path.