SOLVED avrdude stk500_getsync not in sync - Nano clone using CH340G USB-serial

Using Arduino Installation & Troubleshooting
#1

There are many suggestions all over the forums for why uploading to your Arduino fails with this error, but none of them helped me.

I eventually discovered that changing the baud rate from 57600 to 115200 cured the problem.
It's not clear why 57600 doesn't work. I assume it's an issue with the non-standard USB to serial converter on the Nano clone I'm using.

To change the upload baud rate you need to find (on your host PC) the folder "hardware/arduino/avr" in which you'll find a text file "boards.txt". Change the property "...upload.speed" for your board and programmer. In my case this meant changing line 147 from:
nano.menu.cpu.atmega328.upload.speed=57600
to:
nano.menu.cpu.atmega328.upload.speed=115200

Note that the text file in in Unix format (lines end in line feed, not carriage return / line feed) so you'll need to use an appropriate editor if you're on Windows.

#2

It's not clear why 57600 doesn't work. I assume it's an issue with the non-standard USB to serial converter on the Nano clone I'm using.

Uploading speed depends on the bootloader. The bootloader image is created for specific speed so it depends on used bootloader variant.

#3