Parallel Programmer

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

I recently burned out the ATMEGA168-20PU on my Arduino Diecimila. I have purchased a new chip, and I am now trying to make a Parallel Programmer to burn the bootloader.

When I use the Arduino IDE's menu option "Burn Bootloader > W/Parallel Programmer," I get the following error.

avrdude: can't open device "giveio"

avrdude: failed to open parallel port "lpt1"

This suggests that I need to install giveio, which I am unable to do. I have spend hours researching this issue, and I have tried the installer on MIT's website, as well as others, and I cannot make them work. I have copied giveio.sys to "C:\Windows\System32\drivers", and I think that I have installed it, but I am unable to run it. Would someone be willing to walk me through the giveio installation process?

Thanks.

2

Perhaps 'giveio' is failing to open BECAUSE the parallel port won't open. Perhaps your parallel port is not set up correctly?

3

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Are you saying that the error that I am encountering (avrdude: can't open device "giveio") could be caused by my failing to plug in my Arduino board properly?

4

Well, I was thinking that it was more likely that the parallel port on your PC was not set up correctly. It could be shut off in firmware or in the wrong 'mode'.: SPP/EPP/ECP - How Parallel Ports Work | HowStuffWorks , or maybe it was assigned a name other than LPT1.

5

I am using Windows 7. How do I change the name of the port?

6

In my device manager, there is an entry reading "Printer Port (LPT1)," and so I think that is not the problem.

7

Well, I've run out of ideas. Fortunately Google found some ideas for me over at AVR Freaks:

If you run \winavr\bin\avrdude-gui.exe then look to the top right for buttons to install giveio.sys or to check the status of the driver (whether it is successfully installed already and running).

or

All you need is to copy giveio.sys to c:/windows/system32 and then run cmd in admin mode from the cmd run install_giveio.bat that is located in your Winavr/bin and its all!!

8

Don't be too surprised or disappointed if you can't get a parallel programmer to function with the arduino. Many have failed (I among them) while a few have reported success. Problems can be PC software based, port hardware problems and the phase of the moon, and of course a combination of all those things. Parallel programmers are very finicky at best in my opinion.

Now a days there are better choices avalible. One path is to just load a arduino-as-ISP sketch into an arduino board that allows it to become a ISP programmer. Or obtain one of the inexpensive hardware programmers that the arduino IDE knows how to work with:

I love my adafruit USBtiny!

Lefty

9

If I go and buy a Pocket AVR Programmer, I will not have any trouble programming my ATMEGA chip? I dislike buying things and then finding out I cannot use them.

10

johnwasser:
Well, I've run out of ideas. Fortunately Google found some ideas for me over at AVR Freaks:

If you run \winavr\bin\avrdude-gui.exe then look to the top right for buttons to install giveio.sys or to check the status of the driver (whether it is successfully installed already and running).

or

All you need is to copy giveio.sys to c:/windows/system32 and then run cmd in admin mode from the cmd run install_giveio.bat that is located in your Winavr/bin and its all!!

Thanks for those suggestions, but neither of those work for me. I have no "avrdude-gui.exe" anywhere, and "install_giveio.bat" says "This driver has been blocked from loading...installation of giveio failed"