Our team is experiencing frequent problems with connections for programming.
1. For some reason, often AVRStudio fails to connect to the programmer. We checked that programmer has green indicator light on and yellow indicator light flashing. We checked that windows recognizes the programmer going through the device manager list. We also went through the troubleshooting steps on polulu USB AVR programmer's manual. None of it seems to work properly so that we can connect to the programmer everytime. Sometimes, AVRStudio does succeed to connect to the programmer, but we don't know what caused it to succeed because we did not change anything to the circuit. Can someone suggest possible solution for this? Or maybe more steps we should try out to see what is wrong?
2. When computer is connected to AVR programmer, often an error occurs because the voltage received by the programmer (the VCC on 6-pin) is lower than the minimum voltage required (which was set to be 4300mV initially). Usually our circuit (those that work) give back ~4000mV to the programmer so I had to lower the minimum voltage required so that we can program it. Is this safe thing to do? We are not quite sure about this fix.
3. Another error, when computer is connected to AVR programmer, is that:
Error from Last Programming:
The SPI command for entering programming mode was sent, but the expected response from the target was not received. Make sure that the ISP frequency setting is less than 1/4th of the target's clock frequency.
which is seen from AVR programmer configuration utility. We checked that the ISP frequency setting is definitely less than 1/4th the target's clock frequency. In fact, we set the frequency so that it is the lowest one that allow for flash/EEPROM programming. We searched this error over the internet and found that the connections to 6-pin on the programmer might be wrong. We checked ISP connections infinitely (well at least 20 times) and they are definitely wired up right. We know this also because we were able to program ATMEGA8 few times before this error occurred.
So these have been major headaches for our team just trying to start programming. We somehow managed to program the few examples (blinkLED to UART) just by bare luck I think. Even though we tried it before, when we try to wire it up again, some error from above occurs which drives us nuts.
So any reply will be appreciated!
We were using 5V from the programmer via USB. We will bring the stuff to the lab likely on Saturday after PCB tutorials
I can't gaurantee that anyone will be around to help after the tutorial. I suggest arranging a time with Dylan or Tina (lab supervisors). They are usually there Mon-Fri, 10am - 5pm.
Rehman
My teammate went to EA106 and tried to troubleshoot the problem. They didn't know what was wrong, so they told us to post our error on the forum. (which we already did) Anyways, we will post what our error looks like.
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab185/ty0012/InitialError.png
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab185/ty0012/FuseErrorsameerrorasbefo...
We are still desperately looking for help,
Since it's a software issue, maybe something occurred during installation that is messing up your program. Does the software work for other programs? If not, you could try uninstalling everything and re-installing it.
I think you have posted too many issues for anyone to help. So my advice to narrow-down the problem. You can start by using the STK-500 board in the lab to program your microcontroller. That way you can just isolate the chip (eliminates circuitry, programmer, etc.).
Then maybe you can try a different programmer on your circuit.
Even testing with a different computer may help you narrow the problem.
Hope that helps,
Rehman
We tried with different programmer on our circuit. We also tested with different computer, different microcontrollers and etc. They all gave same error.
However, now it is working for unknown reason. With no changes made, the error does not occur now and it programs the circuit fine.
2. Where are you getting 5V from? From the programmer via your USB port? It should never be that low. Or are you getting it from somewhere else.
All of these seem to be programming issues. Why don't you bring your chip and code into the lab (EA-106) and try programming with the STK-500 that we have. That will help us determine if it's your circuit or programmer. If that doesn't work, then we can try your code on a different ATMega8, maybe it's the uC.
Cheers,
Rehman