[SOLVED] Deek/Dswy Robot Mini Pro - can't upload a sketch & bootloader

cider101 · February 12, 2014, 9:48am

I have two Mini Pros form Deek/Dswy Robot where I'm unable to upload any sketches. A friend of my has 5pcs and the same problem....

OS is Win7
USBSerial is a CP21xx - Driver etc works since with another Mini brand there are no problems

Below is my wiring

CP21xx   =>        Arduino
--------------------------
5v           =>         VCC
GND       =>        GND
TX           =>         RX
RX          =>          TX

I tried a lot of programmers, different baudrates and pressing the reset-button on various times with no result. All i get is

        Using Port                    : COM9
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: 
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

avrdude done.  Thank you.

As i mentioned above, i don't have any problems with other branded Minis - just with this one. Any help/suggestions are appriciated...

system · February 12, 2014, 9:53am

(deleted)

cider101 · February 12, 2014, 10:04am

spycatcher2k:
Upload a bootloader to it!

thx for the hint - i'll try that.
But shouldn't it already have a bootloader ? The green led is flashing in 16sec intervals (16s on, 16s off)...

cider101 · February 12, 2014, 1:13pm

another question...
all the examples if found for the mini are using D10/D12/D13 for uploading the bootloader (because the "standard" minis don't feature an ISP header).
My mini does feature an ISP header - so do i have to use the ISP header or just the standard pins ?

cider101 · February 12, 2014, 7:49pm

ok...tried to boatload the mini - so far without success.
As a programmer, i used a arduino nano and the isp sketch from the ide.
Connections were
Nano -> Mini

D13 -> D13
D12 -> D12
D11 -> D11
~~D10-> D10 (also tried reset and dtr)~~
Edit: D10->Reset is correct

all i get is

avrdude: stk500_program_enable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x50 avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1

funny thing is...i get the same error even if i don't connect the mini at all

well, then i tried to loopback test - nothing echoed. Changed cables - still no echo. If I jumper the rx/tx on the cp21xx i got the echos

Any help/suggestions/idea is appriciated

system · February 12, 2014, 9:29pm

(deleted)

system · February 12, 2014, 9:31pm

(deleted)

cider101 · February 12, 2014, 10:46pm

yup...it's working now

after the cable/loopback test and posting here i rehooked everything again and suddenly - like a miracle - it worked.. I'm pretty sure i had the connections right before (but you never know)... The only thing i relay changed was, connecting vcc for the mini directly to the cp21xx/usb adapter instead of using 5v supply/output of the nano.

if anyone stumbles across the same problem, here is a list what worked in my case:

Download the ISP-sketch to your programmer arduino (a nano in my case)
Follow the instructions in the sketch description to wire the status leds
Connect Nano and Mini (Nano->Mini, D13->D13, D12->D12, D11->D11, D10->Reset)
Connect Vcc and Gnd from the USB2Serial adapter (cp12xx in my case, or any other puwer suply) to the mini
In the IDE, choose the com port, select Board->Mini or Mini Pro, Programmer->Arduino as ISP
IDE->Burn Bootloader
wait for about 2 minutes...
be happy

system · February 14, 2014, 12:04pm

Hello

Would like to know did your Dswy Robot Mini Pro have a bootloarder before ?
You mentionned the led was blinking (at a low frequency).

Do you think all the Dswy Robot Mini Pro should be first programmed with a bootloader to start with ?

Thanks a lot

cider101 · February 14, 2014, 12:23pm

shasha:
Would like to know did your Dswy Robot Mini Pro have a bootloarder before ?
You mentionned the led was blinking (at a low frequency).

Do you think all the Dswy Robot Mini Pro should be first programmed with a bootloader to start with ?

i'm not sure whether my Mini had a bootloader or not. I don't think the need to be generaly bootloaded - if it's working out of the box, then just use it. But if it isn't working - then flash it. I just know about 7pcs which had to be flashed - might be just a bad lot

system · February 14, 2014, 5:36pm

Hi Cider,

Thanks for your reply.
I did try to download a sketch from the IDE thu an UNO used as a FTDI (wo the chip) but no success I got the error:
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

Therefore I think there is no bootloader on the mini. (but why does the led blinks with this 16s period ?? any clue ?)

I will try to flash one using the UNO as an ISP (guess I should flash my UNO with the ISP sketch and use the IDE to download
the bootloader). Any specifc bootloader? if not the command from the IDE should do the job I think.

Thanks.

system · February 14, 2014, 10:25pm

I just got a handfull of those Dswy Robot Pro Minis today. They showed the same 16 secs. blink behaviour. When I read the flash via the ISP port, I found that in fact they have a bootloader (seems to be the same as for the Nano), but no fuses or lock bits had been set. Clock was set to 8 Mhz internal oscillator plus CKDIV8 still set. So in fact the chip ran at 1 Mhz only. That made the 16 secs blink although the sketch was meant to be for a 16 Mhz clock chip. Since the lock bits are not set either, the bootloader can get overwritten easily. Oh, and of course the Boot Reset Vector bit wasn't set so no way for the bootloader to run.

Jo.

system · February 15, 2014, 2:28pm

Hi Jo,

So from what what you have analyzed the bootloader can be overwritten. That means the mini is not a brick.

That explains Cider has been able to flash a new bootloader with the proper fuses.

Will try that soon.

Thanks.

system · February 16, 2014, 8:59am

Hi all,

Well my deek/robot mini pro works pecfectly by now.

Using my UNO as an ISP (with the ISP sktech) I downloaded a new bootloader.
Then still with UNO as an ISP I downloaded several sketches to test it.

Perfect it works.

I did that with the IDE.

However I am not fully satisfied as I wanted to use avrdude to read the various memories eeprom flash & the fuses.
If I use avrdude in command line it seems the only things I can get are the memories from the UNO and not from
the targeted avr ! any clue ?

thanks,
Shasha

pete_l · February 20, 2014, 11:27am

Just to add a "me too" regarding this %&**^ Arduinos.
I got a batch of 10 that arrived yesterday. They are labeled Dswy_Robot and have all the pin labels on the UNDERSIDE of the board. So when it is plugged into a prototype board, you can't see which pin has which function.
As in Cider's photo, there are the standard "serial" connections on one short side and the opposite one has 10 more pins in 2 rows of 5.
When I applied +5V to the device the Red LED lights and the Green one flashes with 16 seconds ON and 16 seconds OFF. None of them will accept a download.

I have reflashed one of these, using a (working ATMega328 Pro Mini) per. the instructions. I loaded the ArduinoISP sketch, put 3 LEDs on the host Arduino's pins 7,8 & 9 to show progress. I connected the "dead" Dswy_Robot device via its 6 ISP pins as directed in the Sketch. I kept the same description for the target board i.e. ATMega328 Pro Mini, made sure Tools->Programmer was set to Arduino as ISP. After that it was just a case of selecting tools->Burn_bootloader and it successfully reprogammed the device.
Now when I switch it on I can download sketches to it every time.

system · March 17, 2014, 3:36pm

Hi,
Same problem for me, with exaclty the same board and same symptoms. I got this Arduino pro mini on eBay and this si what the (eBay) seller has just replied to me:

In fact, we have found the problem in this version board, in the bottom, it mark " DSWY-ROBET"
the bootloader in the mini board have some problem. Here are the instructions for somebody else having trouble:
Using USBasp programmer, first the IC should be re-set before burning the bootloader and this id done by the following command:

"avrdude -p m328p -c USBasp -P USB -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m -B4"

This will erase the IC and then can be programmed using just the arduino IDE. We have stop to sell this version.
We get another version like your first shopping, it mark "DEEK-ROBET", it will never happen such thing again
Regards

mrlowalowa · March 23, 2014, 9:07pm

Joining the list with this awful clone..

Burned the Bootloader via my Arduino Uno with the exact same wiring as shown here! Thanks for that!

A friend of me has already the second new product line, without the label Deek-Bot and labeling of the pins again at the right site...

Cheers!

yesyes · April 3, 2014, 6:29pm

Hi,
thanks so much for posting the solution!! A life saver!
I bought 5 of these Arduinos, already installed some of them in my project and then wasn't able to upload any sketches. The Nano as ISP method worked perfectly! All 5 Minis saved!

Chris

system · April 14, 2014, 3:12pm

Hi there,

below is my output when I use my UNO as ISP to burn the bootloader.

the error is

avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.

and now, the dswy robot does not blink, seems die.
I have no idea how to solve. any advice?

Arduino:nightly (Windows 8), ??"Arduino Uno"

C:\Users\yenan_000\Desktop\arduino-nightly/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -CC:\Users\yenan_000\Desktop\arduino-nightly/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -v -v -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDE:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m 


avrdude: Version 5.11, compiled on Sep  2 2011 at 19:38:36
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\yenan_000\Desktop\arduino-nightly/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
         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
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           calibration    0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           signature      0     0     0    0 no          3    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

         Programmer Type : STK500
         Description     : Atmel STK500 Version 1.x firmware
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [80]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [02] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [81]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [01] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [82]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [12] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [98]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
         Hardware Version: 2
         Firmware Version: 1.18
         Topcard         : Unknown
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [84]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [85]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [86]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [87]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [89]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
         Vtarget         : 0.0 V
         Varef           : 0.0 V
         Oscillator      : Off
         SCK period      : 0.1 us

avrdude: Send: A [41] . [81]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [01] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: A [41] . [82]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [12] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: B [42] . [86] . [00] . [00] . [01] . [01] . [01] . [01] . [03] . [ff] . [ff] . [ff] . [ff] . [00] . [80] . [04] . [00] . [00] . [00] . [80] . [00]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: E [45] . [05] . [04] . [d7] . [c2] . [00]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: P [50]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | avrdude: Send: V [56] 0 [30] . [00] . [00] . [00]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
avrdude: Send: V [56] 0 [30] . [00] . [01] . [00]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
################avrdude: Send: V [56] 0 [30] . [00] . [02] . [00]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [00] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
################################## | 100% 0.06s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude: Yikes!  Invalid device signature.
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.

avrdude: Send: Q [51]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 

avrdude done.  Thank you.

system · April 14, 2014, 4:12pm

Hi,

May I know how to use this command.
"avrdude -p m328p -c USBasp -P USB -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m -B4"

really need a brief instruction.
thank you.

grmis:
Hi,
Same problem for me, with exaclty the same board and same symptoms. I got this Arduino pro mini on eBay and this si what the (eBay) seller has just replied to me:

In fact, we have found the problem in this version board, in the bottom, it mark " DSWY-ROBET"
the bootloader in the mini board have some problem. Here are the instructions for somebody else having trouble:
Using USBasp programmer, first the IC should be re-set before burning the bootloader and this id done by the following command:

"avrdude -p m328p -c USBasp -P USB -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m -B4"

This will erase the IC and then can be programmed using just the arduino IDE. We have stop to sell this version.
We get another version like your first shopping, it mark "DEEK-ROBET", it will never happen such thing again
Regards

[SOLVED] Deek/Dswy Robot Mini Pro - can't upload a sketch & bootloader

ok...tried to boatload the mini - so far without success. As a programmer, i used a arduino nano and the isp sketch from the ide. Connections were Nano -> Mini

ok...tried to boatload the mini - so far without success.
As a programmer, i used a arduino nano and the isp sketch from the ide.
Connections were
Nano -> Mini