Trying to burn bootloader on Mega2560

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi,

I have an off-brand Mega2560 that I've never been able to program. When powered on, it has LED near R18 lit solid and LED R17 blinking.

It does not show under Ports in Arduino Studio (running on OS X 10.11.5).

I have a Pololu AVR USB programmer. I've upgraded its firmware successfully and checked (under Windows) that its config is nominal (e.g. ISP Programming frequency 200kHz, default voltage limits, etc).

I have avrdude installed and for want of a better suggestion I am trying the commands given here.

The output looks like this:

$ avrdude -p m2560 -c avrispmkii -P /dev/cu.usbmodem00143251 -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xD8:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m -e -v

avrdude: Version 6.3, compiled on Mar 15 2016 at 21:26:45
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "/usr/local/Cellar/avrdude/6.3/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/Volumes/ElCap/Users/toby/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem00143251
         Using Programmer              : avrispmkii
         AVR Part                      : ATmega2560
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PA0
         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    10     8    0 no       4096    8      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           flash         65    10   256    0 yes    262144  256   1024  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           calibration    0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
           signature      0     0     0    0 no          3    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

         Programmer Type : STK500V2
         Description     : Atmel AVR ISP mkII
         Programmer Model: STK500
         Hardware Version: 15
         Firmware Version Master : 2.10
         Topcard         : Unknown
         Vtarget         : 0.0 V
         SCK period      : 17.4 us
         Varef           : 0.0 V
         Oscillator      : 3.686 MHz

avrdude: stk500v2_command(): command failed
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

I'm really not sure what to try next.

2

OK, apparently burning the bootloader with Nick's sketch worked, according to output.

Just need to test this...

3

If your board does not show up as a serial port on the Mac, it has more wrong than just the bootloader. Perhaps no firmware on the USB/Serial chip, or no driver on the Mac for that chip (many "noname" brands have a differerent chip there, so the arduino standard drivers don't work...)

it has LED near R18 lit solid and LED R17 blinking.

That's sorta useless - A real MEGA2560 doesn't have any such markings. It doesn't even have those PARTS! Have you got a photo or a link to the actual board that you have?

4

It's offbrand. Pic below.

I don't think any special driver is needed on the Mac side; my Duemilanove has always worked perfectly.