Pololu USB AVR ISP problems (solved)

My previous ISP (USBtinyISP) died, so I thought I’d try the Pololu USB ISP (for Orangutans and whatnot.) The fact that it was in stock at Jameco right down the road helped :slight_smile:

I installed the ISP in Windows, and add it to programmers.txt with the following text:

pololu.name=AVR ISP v2
pololu.communication=serial
pololu.protocol=avrispv2
pololu.speed=9600
pololu.port=COM8

When I try to burn, the red LED turns on, and I get the following output:


C:\code\arduino>c:\code\arduino\arduino-1.0\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avrdude.exe -C C:\code\arduino\arduino-1.0\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf -v -
v -v -v -patmega328p -cavrispv2 -P\\.\COM8 -b9600 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0x05:m -Uhfuse:w:0xde:m -Ulfuse:w:0xff:m

avrdude.exe: Version 5.11, compiled on Sep  2 2011 at 19:38:36
             Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
             Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

             System wide configuration file is "C:\code\arduino\arduino-1.0\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf"

             Using Port                    : \\.\COM8
             Using Programmer              : avrispv2
             Overriding Baud Rate          : 9600
avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [01] . [00] . [01] . [0e] . [01] . [14]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [01]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [01]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [08]
avrdude.exe: Recv: A [41]
avrdude.exe: Recv: V [56]
avrdude.exe: Recv: R [52]
avrdude.exe: Recv: I [49]
avrdude.exe: Recv: S [53]
avrdude.exe: Recv: P [50]
avrdude.exe: Recv: _ [5f]
avrdude.exe: Recv: 2 [32]
avrdude.exe: Recv: t [74]
avrdude.exe: stk500v2_getsync(): found AVRISP programmer
             AVR Part                      : ATMEGA328P
             Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
             PAGEL                         : PD7
             BS2                           : PC2
             RESET disposition             : dedicated
             RETRY pulse                   : SCK
             serial program mode           : yes
             parallel program mode         : yes
             Timeout                       : 200
             StabDelay                     : 100
             CmdexeDelay                   : 25
             SyncLoops                     : 32
             ByteDelay                     : 0
             PollIndex                     : 3
             PollValue                     : 0x53
             Memory Detail                 :

                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               eeprom        65    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               calibration    0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
                                      Block Poll               Page                       Polled
               Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
               ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
               signature      0     0     0    0 no          3    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

             Programmer Type : STK500V2
             Description     : Atmel AVR ISP V2
             Programmer Model: AVRISP
avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [02] . [00] . [02] . [0e] . [03] . [90] . [86]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [02]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0f]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [18]
avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [03] . [00] . [02] . [0e] . [03] . [91] . [86]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [02]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [14]
avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [04] . [00] . [02] . [0e] . [03] . [92] . [82]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [04]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0a]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
             Hardware Version: 15
             Firmware Version Master : 2.10
avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [05] . [00] . [02] . [0e] . [03] . [94] . [85]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [05]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [03]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [10]
             Vtarget         : 0.0 V
             SCK period      : 134.6 us

avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [06] . [00] . [0c] . [0e] . [10] . [c8] d [64] . [19]   [20] . [00] S [53] . [03] . [ac] S [53] . [00] . [00] 5 [35]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [06]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [02]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [10]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [c0]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [c1]
avrdude.exe: stk500v2_command(): command failed
avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1
             Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
             this check.

avrdude.exe: Send: . [1b] . [07] . [00] . [03] . [0e] . [11] . [01] . [01] . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [1b]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [07]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [02]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [0e]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [11]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [00]
avrdude.exe: Recv: . [01]

avrdude.exe done.  Thank you.

The target is a factory-fresh ATmega328p DIP mounted in the socket of an Arduino UNO R3 board.

Note that it gets halfway, and then the thing just gives up. What’s wrong?

AAAAND this was because I had plugged in the ISP cable the wrong way – I wasn’t paying attention to the pinout of this programmer, and went by habit from my old programmer.
I thought it was right because the yellow LED was still flashing. However, when holding Reset down, the yellow LED stopped flashing, which is a sign that the programmer does not see +5V, which means the cable is reversed.
I’m letting this stand to shame me into forever double-check my connections before posting online, and as a help should someone else do the same thing.