As maybe one of the first users of the EarthMake-arLCD out of "Arduino AtHeart", I want to share my current experince with the installation and warn: Do not follow the QuickStartup guide as it is currently (April 2014) publiched at the product page!
I bought two of the arLCDs and followed the Quick startup guide, in the errenous believe to "update" the software and install the latest drivers.
After not getting any success with programming the UNO section of arLCD I did a lot of research - the result (as I found in comparison with my second arLCD) is:
Currently the arLCD has the latest Version 2.11 of the software already installed and also present in the flash drive, so do not update it as recommended from the the downloads as this is leading to a downgrade to V 2.10 which did not work for me. It was quite difficult to find the current V2.11 Firmware file at Github to reinstall the most current system on my arLCD by copying the files from the second unit, but now it is running well.
After unpacking your new arLCD proceed as follows:
After installation of the driver as it is present in the flash drive, just use the ezARDLib as you find it in the original flash files, use Arduino1.05 as UI, Programmer "AVRISP mkII", "UNO" as board and the correct port setting.
I had exactly the same issue! Followed the guide and was unable to upload to arlcd. Spent an hour fiddling before I found your post and found the newer firmware on github.
They probably should throw a insert into the package warning people.
For anyone else needing the newer FW here is the link to the github page GitHub - earthmake/arLCD: arLCD Documentation, Examples, Firmware, Libraries