(UNO) Unable to upload new code unless I press reset-button and time it well

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

I'm not sure what happened while I was messing around with my UNO yesterday, but I'm not able to upload new software.

The Arduino IDE says: - avrdude: usbdev_open(): did not find any USB device "usb"

So if I prepare my code, and then press the "UPLOAD" button almost immediatly after I press the reset-button the software uploads.

I've read quite a few threads on different forums from users having similar issues (throughout the internett) - but I'm still not sure as what to do.

I've tried flashing what I thought was the bootloader but I'm even sure I understood what I did while doing this.

I've read this tutorial amongst others:

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,92148.0.html

2

Are you running a sketch that is sending a lot of data out of D0 or D1? That can interfere with downloads.
One way to get around that is to press & Hold the reset button - when the IDE shows "Compiled xxx of 32xxx bytes" release the button.
Might take a couple of tries to get the release timing right.

3

So you don't think anything's broken?

Right now I got to upload the "blink" example, but only when I timed it with pressing the reset-button.

I read somewhere that either the firmware for the bootloader could be broken or that there were some other firmware(?) but I'm not sure.

I'll try your tip later on, my parents in law just popped by :slight_smile:

4

Hard to say.

You need some additional hardware, either a dedicated AVR ISP (programmer) or another Uno, to reload the bootloader.

I've been doing projects for quite a while, so I have several programmers around,
http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=415 for 328s, others also
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Atmel/ATAVRISP2/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMv256HIxPBQcA8%252bsNH3cLLR for 1284s, 2560s

and also several Arduinos and my own 328 & 1284 clones.
http://www.crossroadsfencing.com/BobuinoRev17/

If you just have the one, you are stuck with the reset workaround for now.

5

Yes! It's back to normal! :slight_smile:

I tried some other image ( https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/blob/master/hardware/arduino/firmwares/atmegaxxu2/UNO-dfu_and_usbserial_combined.hex ) and it seems to be quite normal now.

God must know what was wrong... :slight_smile:

Satisfied :slight_smile:

6

Hi there,

As I had posted an earlier problem with my Uno and have had no reply nor success in finding a solution, I'm replying to this message. I get an error of this kind :

avrdude: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x0000
0x0c != 0xfd
avrdude: verification error; content mismatch

Is this bad ? Is there a way of sorting this out ?

Thanks

Mark

7

Which Rev Uno?
Does your sketch still start up okay despite that?

8

Hi there,

It's a Arduino UNO board rev.3, working on a MAC OS 10.7.5 with Arduino V 1.0.5. All was working fine for the first few sketches and then one day this message. The sketch doesn't even work - Basic Blink. TX, RX & L are all working but no sketch output and always the same error.

Can't find any info on this. Help would be much appreciated - newbie.

Thanks

Mark

9

Mac - need other helper then, I have WinVista.