Arduino Timeout uploading firmware

[calabus]

I have searched the forums and don't seem to see any solution for this:

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer

I have tried Arduino IDE 1.0.5, 1.0.3 and 1.0. Repetier-Host talks to the printer just fine. The correct board is selected and com port. Nothing seems to work. I get some nice blinking lights in the RAMBO but that's it. So close to finishing this build and getting the final calibration done. Sadly until I get the edited firmware uploaded i'm stuck.

[calabus]

...also my stepper motor is running backwards.

[Polygonhell]

Stepper running backwards is usually swapped wires if it moves in both directions, loose wire if it moves in one, the former you can fix in the firmware.
Assuming you have everything selected correctly in the arduino tool, the next thing to do is try a different USB cable and finally a different computer if you can.
When you program the board you are not talking to the main CPU, but rather an ISC in RAMBOs case this is a second smaller processor (an 32U2), so it's possible the board is bad even though you can talk to the main CPU via repetier host. You should probably contact SeeMeCNC once you've eliminated bad configuration as a possible issue.

[calabus]

I tried a different computer and a different cable....same issue.

[Eaglezsoar]

The printer should be turned off when trying to update the firmware.
You did install the device driver?
Have you opened up device manager in control panel - system and checked the baud rate for the port
you are using?

[calabus]

Yes to all of those. I have used arduinos in the past so I'm pretty familiar with the IDE and uploading.

[Eaglezsoar]

Yes to all of those. I have used arduinos in the past so I'm pretty familiar with the IDE and uploading.

Then I must agree with Polygonhell about the possibility of a bad board. Contact SeemeCNC about getting a replacement or the vendor
you purchased from.

[Eric]

Strange. If Repetier works as expected, the communications hardware is good on both sides. Did you remember to disconnect Repetier Host before the upload? The upload can't use the port if it's already in use.

Another thing I'd try is slower baud rates, just to see if it works.

Apologies if you've already tried this.

[Island3]

I just assembled my first Rostock Max and plugged it in. As my first steps, I downloaded Arduino to my Mac, and I'm having the same trouble trying to upload Blink.

I have Mac OS 10.8.3, the Arduino chip reads Mega 2560 16 AU 1131. As far as I can tell I've picked everything in the Arduino 1.0.5 pull down menus correctly. When I hit UPLOAD, I'm getting communication between my Mac and the RAMBo board because the TX & RX LEDS flash. But after repeated attempts the upload times out (just like member Calabus explains).

After sifting through the Arduino forum, it's suggested the problem may have something to do with the Bootloader. However, I tried the Arduino// Tools/Burn Bootloader function, and get an error: "did not find any USB device "usb"

There are several people chiming in with fixes in the Arduino forum, all of which are confusing to me. Here's a link: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?PHPSE ... c=163152.0
One guy builds a second Arduino board to bootload the first.

SeeMeCNC, any suggestions? This is a bummer.

[Polygonhell]

Trust me unless you really know what your doing, you don't want to be trying to burn a bootloader.
It's not simple.
The reason that you can talk to the board and not be able to reprogram it, is that communication in both cases is different. It could be the bootloader, or it could be the ISC on the board.

You likely won't get an answer from SeeMeCNC here, they don't often frequent the board, send them an email or call them, they area usually pretty responsive.

[cambo3d]

yeah, why go through all that trouble?

contact seemecnc, you might have to send it in for them to test it, if they find that they can't upload either. they'll probably send you a new board.

[Island3]

Thanks Polygonhell and Cambo, I'll email them. Oh man I do not want to take that board out, I just put it in.

[JohnStack]

Before you guess...

Outta the box impractical answer...might not fit your budget or timing. If you're not confident it is not your connection....

Are you close to a place where you can pick up an Arduino board? Borrow one? Any hackerspaces or makerspaces nearby?

You might consider purchasing a low end board ($25 or less) and seeing if you can connect.

I have an Arduino board. When I couldn't connect in the beginning, I hooked it up to get a baseline.

SeeMeCNC will ship you a new board. If you have blown it out yourself, you might have to buy it. I definitely blew mine out...

[kbob]

Are you close to a place where you can pick up an Arduino board?

If you do this, make sure you get one with the Atmega32u2 chip. Most do, but a few boards use a different USB interface chip which uses a different driver.

Over at http://arduino.cc/ they have full schematics of all the official Arduino boards, so it's easy to check.

[Island3]

Thing is, how do I know if I blew it out. I've had a wrist band on every time I handled it, so I don't think it was static. The package was opened when it arrived, so I figured the SeeME folks did something to it prior to shipping, but I'm confident they handled it well.

I get the feeling it's not blown, it's just being ornery. That I can get flickering lights on the RAMBo by sending commands from my mac suggests it's not the connection, right?

Heh heh, I knew I should've bought an assembled unit

[calabus]

I have a 2560 mega and fired it up on the same PC I have attached to the printer. I easily uploaded the firmware. Obviously a bad board. Awesome...bad motor that took me three days to get a response on and now a bad board....all of which where bad right out of the box. I find it a bit concerning that as Polygonhell said "You likely won't get an answer from SeeMeCNC here, they don't often frequent the board, send them an email or call them, they area usually pretty responsive." the developers don't bother to frequent a board on their own site to answer questions and instead rely on other customers to support their product. I am not new to open/semi-open source projects, but this is certainly the first time I have seen such a disconnect from supplier and consumer. I would expect a little more for my 1k. This makes it quite hard to suggest a Rostock to someone looking for a printer. I really don't mean to sound like an ass and appreciate all the suggestions in fixing the issue. I will contact Seeme and see if I can get a new board.

[cambo3d]

they may not be on the forum as often but they do answer emails, quickly so long as its not the weekend.

so its not a bad thing that there not on here often. As long as they answer phone calls and emails. your golden.

[foshon]

They have some of the best customer service I have ever encountered. This forum is a gift. They use it to make announcements (rarely) other than that it is completely owner moderated. They will answer your support questions quickly when submitted in the recommended fashion.

[Polygonhell]

It's an end user forum, not a support mechanism. Forums are horrible ways to do support, too hard to filter the noise out.
Call them, email them, they're extremely responsive, when I built mine there was no manual, I had a couple of questions, probably exchanged email with them 7 or 8 times in a single day when finishing things off.

[calabus]

My problem is semi-resolved. By that I mean John has responded and confirmed, from what I can gather from the email, that defective boards were shipped. It appears that prior to shipping the boards they were loaded with firmware that somehow wiped the bootloader. The boards work fine until you attempt to update new firmware....no bootloader=no firmware update. He offered to fix the issue same day if I shipped the board. I opted to take care of the issue myself. Since I play with Arduino boards often I decided to get an ISP and be done with it. I'm happy to know exactly what the problem is and know that it is something that can be fixed somewhat easily.

Given the circumstances behind this problem and the days I have put in attempting to resolve it I have to disagree with the statement 'forums don't lend themselves well to support'. What better way to tell folks that visit the 'Troubleshooting' section that defective parts were shipped. A simple announcement would dramatically cut down on builder frustration and guesswork by the buyer and in turn the forum community attempting to address a problem they couldn't possibly resolve. SeeME also has my email address. I could have at least received a mail informing me of the possible issue. This would have saved me days of troubleshooting and less time here bitching about it. No ill will, but just a lesson learned by me and hopefully the support community.

[Eaglezsoar]

My problem is semi-resolved. By that I mean John has responded and confirmed, from what I can gather from the email, that defective boards were shipped. It appears that prior to shipping the boards they were loaded with firmware that somehow wiped the bootloader. The boards work fine until you attempt to update new firmware....no bootloader=no firmware update. He offered to fix the issue same day if I shipped the board. I opted to take care of the issue myself. Since I play with Arduino boards often I decided to get an ISP and be done with it. I'm happy to know exactly what the problem is and know that it is something that can be fixed somewhat easily.

Given the circumstances behind this problem and the days I have put in attempting to resolve it I have to disagree with the statement 'forums don't lend themselves well to support'. What better way to tell folks that visit the 'Troubleshooting' section that defective parts were shipped. A simple announcement would dramatically cut down on builder frustration and guesswork by the buyer and in turn the forum community attempting to address a problem they couldn't possibly resolve. SeeME also has my email address. I could have at least received a mail informing me of the possible issue. This would have saved me days of troubleshooting and less time here bitching about it. No ill will, but just a lesson learned by me and hopefully the support community.

If I purchased a programmer like the Atmel AVRISP mkII In-System Programmer, where can I find the bootloader code needed for the Rambo?

[geneb]

I will warn you right now Eaglezsoar, you're approaching the deep end of the pool. I would _highly_ recommend that you get yourself an Arduino board to play with BEFORE you start thinking about using an ISP on the RAMBo. You'll have a nice board to learn on and you won't have to worry about accidentally bricking the RAMBo if the wheels fall off.

There are some _excellent_ tutorials over at http://www.arduino.cc and their forum is full of really nice and helpful people.

g.

[Polygonhell]

I should point out that actually flashing the bootloader is easy, the easiest/cheapest way to do it is to use a second arduino as an ISP, but there are all sorts of gotchas.
Notably if your using an extra arduino as an ISP many boards trigger the reset line on connect, if this is the case you need to bridge the reset line to GND with a largish capacitor to provide enough of a filter to remove the signal.
Then there are the fuses, if they are set correctly this shouldn't be an issue, but you need to know the board configuration to set them, and not setting them correctly can result in things like it appearing to work, but thermistor inputs won't read, or it running at 8Mhz instead of 16MHz.
A friend of mine who's pretty technical just went through this after buying a replacement chip for a Sanguino board and it probably took him 3 days to work through the issues.
It isn't just like flashing firmware.

[Eaglezsoar]

I think you both just talked me out of experimenting on a working Rambo.
I have two version one Rambo cards. If I can ever afford it, I would like to purchase the latest Rambo and use one
of the old ones to learn how to flash the bootloader. At least if I brick the old one I won't feel so bad. The programmer
I wanted to purchase has a retail cost of $35 plus shipping and I consider it cost worthy to learn how to program these
things. I also wanted to learn the ins and outs of AVR Studio. Thanks to both of you for the warnings.