Strange errors with Arduino Uno not working

Other Hardware 3rd Party Boards
1

Alrighty, hope this is being posted in the right area. If not please move to the most appropriate location.

So I'm brand new to Arduino. I am a total newbie when it comes to these things, which is why I hired someone on freelancer.com to build me a cool yet expensive project using Arduino.

He used an Arduino Uno board, as it says on the bottom of the board. There was no power supply, so I researched on here and found, Arduino Playground - WhatAdapter , so I purchased the Wall Adapter Power Supply - 9V DC 650mA.

I connect the adapter there purchased from Amazon, a green light comes on the board, but the device does not work at all. I press the functional "on" button to start the operations and it only blinks a yellow light 3 times. NO idea what that means.

I then saw on Amazon page that USB can power it too, and I happen to have a USB cable that size, so I tried plugging that in too, with and without the DC adapter. Still nothing.

All the while, my freelancer is very unresponsive and takes about a week to reply to a simple "why doesn't your product work" even though he is online. I REALLY wish not to speak ill of him until I know for absolute certainly why it's not working, if I was scammed, or what.

For purpose of troubleshooting though, here is what he says.

"you need AC adapter according to Arduino requirements"
This seems untrue. In fact I wonder if connecting AC would harm the board if that page I found specifically calls for a DC adapter of certain voltage.

"the microcontroller lost its program and needs reprogrammed, because a USB cable was connected to it"
I don't know if this is true. But it didn't work before connecting USB either. He also only said this after I mentioned my trials of trying USB power with DC power together.

So I ask him for the source code, sketch file, whatever it is. He says "we never agreed I send a source code or blueprints, and the hex file is all you need"

I have sitting here the Arduino Board, and a firmware.hex file which is obviously unreadable because this is already compiled I imagine, contains a lot of :10000000 and well, hex.... Has taken 3 weeks to get these replies and pleas for help from freelancer himself, so I just have to turn to others now. :drooling_face:

If I had to guess, the solution will be to fully WIPE the board somehow, and then re-upload the firmware.hex file? I TRIED to do some research and found XLoader but I'm really worried I will easily screw something up here. :frowning:

any input is GREATLY appreciated.

2

It doesn't appear that you have done anything that would damage the Arduino. I hope you did not release payment to your freelancer before checking that the project worked as documented.

3

Ask for the source. I don't know freelancer, but I have completed some arduino jobs in vworker.com and the source part of the contract. If you send me the hex file I can take a look.

4

That all sounds very strange. What use is the source file to him, and if you paid him to write it, surely you should get it?

You need a DC adapter, not AC. The USB will power the board, but not necessarily what you have connected to it.

... a cool yet expensive project using Arduino.

What project? Your post is so light on details it is almost impossible to advise.

If you paid by credit card I would be reversing the charge, you would reasonably expect it to work, otherwise how do you know he did anything at all?

5

"the microcontroller lost its program and needs reprogrammed, because a USB cable was connected to it"

That part is complete nonsense. Plugging in a USB cable does not wipe the program. I plug a cable in all the time. Often you operate with the USB cable plugged in. If he says that, I wonder if he knows anything at all about what he is doing.

6

I think he knows enough for the scam he is running, It's TOTALLY unreasonable to take any time whasoever to return a new cliients requests for the information paid for and If the OP didn't pay for the code, that was because the "Consultant' didn't make an ethical deal to begin with. Code always comes with programming anything unless there was a prior agreement otherwise, I suggest there is no code... just a slightly richer consultant.

Doc