I have a B-328 that came with a USB AVR Programmer. I am getting the error “Target voltage seems to be below the operating range for this device family. Make sure the target is powered on and try again”.
Steps taken:
I installed Amtel Studio 6 and AVR Development Bundle, and opened the sample orangutan_app1. It built successfully. I then connected the programmer to my computer, running Windows 7. It was detected successfully and is in COM3. In Amtel Studio I added COM3 to STK500. I am using a 3S lithium polymer battery that was fully charged before use. The green LED on the B-328 lights up, and the red LED on the programmer flashes, and is solid after build. When I press F5, I get the error “Target voltage seems to be below the operating range for this device family. Make sure the target is powered on and try again”.
I have reviewed the General Advice, and was unable to solve my problem. Is there any way I can test to see if ESD or LC voltage spiks have damaged my B-328, or are there any further steps I can take to troubleshoot my problem?
Thank you for the details of what you have tried. I am sorry you are having trouble with your Baby Orangutan B-328.
If the red LED is flashing before you program, it means that the programmer does not think your Baby Orangutan is powered sufficiently. Could you use a multimeter to measure the voltage on the VCC line of the Baby Orangutan with respect to GND? Could you also measure the voltage on the programmer’s VDD pin with respect to the programmer’s GND while it is connected to the Baby Orangutan? You can access VDD and GND by turning the programmer upside down.
Also, please check your programmer’s firmware version. You should be able to see it by running the Pololu USB AVR Programmer Configuration Utility, found in your start menu.
Before you try David’s suggestions, it seems like a good first step would be to verify that you are actually connecting the programmer to the Baby Orangutan properly. Can you post a picture of your Baby Orangutan connected to the programmer?
Unfortunately, as Hovic says, you cannot use the included programmer cable when your ISP header pins are soldered the way you have them. From the Baby Orangutan user’s guide:
To program your Baby Orangutan, you will either need to desolder the pins and put them back the right way, or you can build a custom cable that makes the appropriate connections (assuming the unit has not been damaged by having the programmer connected incorrectly). It might just be easier for you to try again with a new unit; if you email us and refer to this thread, I might be able to get you a discount on a replacement.
Received the replacement today and soldered it correctly this time. Voltage shows as 4.4v. When I try to run the sample program, I get the error
"Failed to launch program.
Error: Failed to enter programming mode. ispEnterProgMode: Error status received: Got 0xc0, expected 0x00"
Hello. A voltage of 4.4 V is too low to be programmed, at least with the default settings of the programmer. Is that the voltage that is reported by Atmel Studio? How are you powering the Baby Orangutan? Is your battery freshly charged?
4.4v is the voltage reported by Amtel Studio. The B-328 is being powered by a fully charged 11.1v lithium polymer battery. The programmer has a solid red light, and a flashing yellow light. The B-328 has a solid green light.
Your Baby Orangutan’s logic voltage should be at 5 V if it is powered by 11.1 V. If you click the Target Voltage “Read” button on the window shown in the picture below, does it also say 4.4V there?
There are two ways to plug the ribbon cable into the Baby O and only one is correct. Did you make sure to line up pin 1 of the ribbon cable with pin 1 of the Baby Orangutan’s ISP connector?
Could you measure the voltage difference between the programmer’s VDD and GND pins? They can be accessed by turning the programmer upside down.
Could you also measure the voltage between the Baby Orangutan’s VCC and GND?
Thanks for the screenshot. Please measure the voltage difference between the programmer’s VDD and GND pins with a multimeter by touching the red probe to the VDD pin on the bottom of the programmer, and simultaneously touching the black probe to the GND pin on the bottom of the programmer.
Could you also measure the voltage difference between the Baby Orangutan’s VCC and GND?
This will tell us if your Baby Orangutan’s logic voltage is actually at 4.4 V (which would be abnormal), or if the programmer is misreporting the voltage.
There are two ways to plug the ribbon cable into the Baby O and only one is correct. Did you make sure to line up pin 1 of the ribbon cable with pin 1 of the Baby Orangutan’s ISP connector?
I took a photo of how the ribbon cable is hooked up to the B-328. (There is only one way to hook it up to the programmer, so I didn’t include a photo).
You are connecting the cable backwards; that kind of thing can easily break components like this. The Baby Orangutan user’s guide identifies pin 1 of its ISP header, and the programmer user’s guide identifies pin 1 of its ISP header.
