Can't find drivers for pgm03a bootloader mode

Just as title says: when in bootloader mode, Windows 7 doesn’t recognize the PGM03A, even after installing all the .inf’s. I was able to jump it back to default mode, so I can get things working for now, but as of yet I’m unable to upgrade the firmware.

The driver for the bootloader is pololu_usb_serial.inf.

Do you see an entry for the programmer’s bootloader in your Device Manager when you get it in to bootloader mode? What category is it in? Could you try right-clicking on it, selecting “Update driver software…” and entering the directory that contains pololu_usb_serial.inf?

–David

It’s under USB controllers as an unknown device, but the “Update Driver…” wizard tells me that the driver is already installed. (I assume you meant pololu_usb_to_serial.inf :wink:

In all honesty, however, I wouldn’t mind this problem much if I could figure out how to update the Arduino’s bootloader in Windows, with the programmer as-is. (Yeah yeah, I’ve had 2 months to figure it out…I’ve been busy.) I was only trying to get the 1.01nc update to enable Mac support. (the Windows is virtual)

The fact that you are using a virtual machine is important. What virtualization program are you using?

I don’t think the Device Manager entry you see in “USB Controllers” is actually the programmer. It is probably a virtual USB controller created by your virtualization program to expose USB devices to the virtual machine. Could you double click on it and tell me what the Hardware Ids are (Details tab)? Does the entry disappear when you disconnect the programmer? Do you see any entries in the “Other Devices”, “Pololu USB Devices” or “Ports (COM & LPT)” categories?

I have often had trouble with using USB devices from a virtual machine, so you might be better off just borrowing someone’s Windows computer for a few minutes to do the firmware change.

–David

I’m using VirtualBox 4.0.4, with which I haven’t had many USB problems before…ordinarily I can see the programmer and serial ports, but in bootloader mode it’s just “Unkown Device”, with hardware ID “USB/UNKNOWN”. It may be of interest that the Driver Details button tells me “No driver files are required or have been loaded for this device.”

If this becomes too much of a hassle I may do just that. There’s also a cheap bitbanging method that I’d like to try (although again, I had trouble with the drivers last time I tried it :P)

If the hardware ID is “USB/UNKNOWN” it means that Windows can’t even figure out the vendor ID and product ID of the programmer, which is usually the first step in detecting it. Maybe one of the virtual box drivers got confused when the programmer entered bootloader mode. How did you get it in to bootloader mode? Could you try getting it in to bootloader mode by shorting the two pads together as documented in the user’s guide?

–David