SparkFun Forums

[sirus]

ok I need some help. first I bought an arduino duemilanove here and it worked great for a week or so then I wasn't able to upload sketches. After lots of trouble shooting I used a ftdi basic break out to bypass the ftdi chip on the duemilanove (by bypass i mean I cut the old one off), and it worked! but it didnt last. a day or two later it stopped working so I bought a 5v arduino pro nano here. lasted a day and blew up. then I bought 2 more nanos and they worked for a while and then stopped working. the other week I bought a RBBB arduino because I was tired of shelling out lots of money for these things and having them break. I was able to upload a test sketch to it and then sure enough I can't upload to it anymore.

Each and every time the error I get is

Code: Select all

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

So far that's 5 arduinos all fried from 4 different computers so it's not the usb port (2 windows 7 machines, 1 windows xp machine, and 1 kubuntu) and I can't figure out what's wrong.
is it possible that the ftdi basic board I have is capable of uploading sketches but just screwed up enough to still fry arduinos?

[leon_heller]

I got a Duemilanove a few weeks ago, just to see what they were like, and haven't had any problems. They seem extremely reliable, from what I've seen about them on the Arduino forum, and there is nothing wrong with the design.

[sirus]

yes i doubt there is anything wrong with the design. or sparkfun's arduinos as I bought a RBBB from their own site and that one failed too. I'm just trying to figure out what my particular problem is.

[leon_heller]

How are you powering them, and what are you connecting them to?

[sirus]

i'm powering them up with an ftdi basic breakout. that's the only thing that's hooked up.

[leon_heller]

There must be something wrong with that. Did you build it yourself?

[sirus]

yeah the RBBB i built myself. got maybe 2 uploads to it before it died. don't see what could possibly go wrong because the design is so simple. that's why im wondering if the ftdi basic board I have could be doing it but still be able to upload a sketch or 2 before frying whatever arduino I happen to have plugged into it.

[esklar81]

im wondering if the ftdi basic board I have could be doing it but still be able to upload a sketch or 2 before frying whatever arduino I happen to have plugged into it.

sirus,
Have you put a voltmeter (or, better yet, an oscilloscope so you can watch for variation) on the power into and out of the FTDI board?

Relatedly, have you checked the various power pins (Vin, 5V, and 3V3 on a Duemilanove) on one of the "fried" Arduinos? It might prove quite informative to know if the Arduino regulators are performing properly after the "frying".

Happy Hunting,
Eric

[esklar81]

Each and every time the error I get is

Code: Select all

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

So far that's 5 arduinos all fried from 4 different computers so it's not the usb port (2 windows 7 machines, 1 windows xp machine, and 1 kubuntu) and I can't figure out what's wrong.

sirus,
On re-reading your original posting, I noticed that the error messages looked hauntingly familiar.

Do the Arduinos still run the previously-loaded programs?

Contrarily, did any of these "fryings" occur during a single work session, or just between sessions?

The theory in my brain, at present, is that you may have a USB port assignment problem. I ran into this switching between two Arduinos and (perhaps, I don't actually know this) two USB ports on a single computer. I suggest you poke around in the Arduino IDE (Tools>Serial Ports) for other USB ports to assign and try assigning and testing each of them in turn (without moving the connector). While you're there, I suggest you check (Tools>Board) to make sure you have the correct board selected.

FWIW, If I were at your end of this conversation, I'd go looking for the port problem before I went looking for the voltage problem.

Happy Hunting,
Eric

[trialex]

The fact that there are so many Arduinos out there working happily pretty much guarantees that the repeated problem is at your end. The usual step to troubleshoot are to check in the IDE that you have the right board and port selected, check the voltage at the 5V pin, re-load the bootloader using an ISP programmer etc.

Also:

I got a Duemilanove a few weeks ago, just to see what they were like, and haven't had any problems. They seem extremely reliable, from what I've seen about them on the Arduino forum, and there is nothing wrong with the design.

Holy crap - Leon goes AVR! Next he'll be using Eagle and relying on other people's libraries...

[sirus]

i just soldered up a brand new arduino pro mini and this time I took the 5v from the ftdi basic breakout board and ran it through a LM7805 5V voltage regulator. 2 sketches uploaded perfectly. plugged it in a 3rd time and now the green light just blinks and crazy....

[sirus]

Each and every time the error I get is

Code: Select all

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

So far that's 5 arduinos all fried from 4 different computers so it's not the usb port (2 windows 7 machines, 1 windows xp machine, and 1 kubuntu) and I can't figure out what's wrong.

sirus,
On re-reading your original posting, I noticed that the error messages looked hauntingly familiar.

Do the Arduinos still run the previously-loaded programs?

Contrarily, did any of these "fryings" occur during a single work session, or just between sessions?

The theory in my brain, at present, is that you may have a USB port assignment problem. I ran into this switching between two Arduinos and (perhaps, I don't actually know this) two USB ports on a single computer. I suggest you poke around in the Arduino IDE (Tools>Serial Ports) for other USB ports to assign and try assigning and testing each of them in turn (without moving the connector). While you're there, I suggest you check (Tools>Board) to make sure you have the correct board selected.

FWIW, If I were at your end of this conversation, I'd go looking for the port problem before I went looking for the voltage problem.

Happy Hunting,
Eric

oh yeah ports, boards, usb ports, and computers were changed with the same error on windows and linux

[leon_heller]

The fact that there are so many Arduinos out there working happily pretty much guarantees that the repeated problem is at your end. The usual step to troubleshoot are to check in the IDE that you have the right board and port selected, check the voltage at the 5V pin, re-load the bootloader using an ISP programmer etc.

Also:

I got a Duemilanove a few weeks ago, just to see what they were like, and haven't had any problems. They seem extremely reliable, from what I've seen about them on the Arduino forum, and there is nothing wrong with the design.

Holy crap - Leon goes AVR! Next he'll be using Eagle and relying on other people's libraries...

I've been using AVRs for years, ever since the AT90S1200 first came out! I'm not likely to start using Eagle, though.

[esklar81]

i just soldered up a brand new arduino pro mini and this time I took the 5v from the ftdi basic breakout board and ran it through a LM7805 5V voltage regulator. 2 sketches uploaded perfectly. plugged it in a 3rd time and now the green light just blinks and crazy....

sirus,
According to Fairchild's datasheet:
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/LM%2FLM7805.pdf
the dropout voltage of an LM7805 is 2 V, which brings me back to a question I raised earlier: what are/were the voltages on the Arduino board(s)?

Eric

[brainwav]

How about posting pictures of your setup?

Some more questions:
1. Have you checked the voltages? What are they?
2. Are you uploading through the arduino sketch program? What version?
3. What sketch are you uploading that causes this problem?
4. Does it happen with the Blink program?


Denis.