I haven’t used my Pololu programmer for a while now(been playing with my Propeller Chip from Parallax). Yesterday I got out my AVR Dev board and Pololu Programmer to write a quick program to drive a linear actuator, and found the programmer won’t work. The output is so long I pastebined it.
It took a good 20 minutes to actually complete and exit. I have tried three computers and two different boards. I get the same error with each. Programming with a different programmer works perfect.
[quote=“xelapond”]I haven’t used my Pololu programmer for a while now(been playing with my Propeller Chip from Parallax). Yesterday I got out my AVR Dev board and Pololu Programmer to write a quick program to drive a linear actuator, and found the programmer won’t work. The output is so long I pastebined it.
It took a good 20 minutes to actually complete and exit. It usually takes several seconds. I have tried three computers and two different boards. I get the same error with each. Programming with a different programmer works perfect.
I’m sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your programmer. I have a few questions for you:
Can you tell me the revision number of your programmer (the revision number is circled in yellow here)?
Is the situation that your programmer used to work and now does not, and if so, did you ever use it to successfully program your AVR dev board in the past?
What AVR is on your AVR dev board?
Is your AVR dev board powered and turned on when you are trying to program it, or are you relying on the programmer to supply power?
Yes. My revision number is PGM02A. I have been able to successfully program baords with it before, including the board I am trying to program at the moment. The AVR I am trying to program is an ATmega32, and I have also tried a 644 and 16. THe development board has a steady 5v power supply, and it turned on. I might also add that the Serial portion of the board is working properly, and I can still send and recieve serial data.
Have you checked that your mode jumper is selecting for programmer operation and not USB-to-serial operation? Is there anything you can think of that might have caused your programmer to stop working? Is it possible you accidentally touched it and zapped it with an electrostatic discharge or perhaps tried to use it while it was plugged it in backwards?
Can you see if you can communicate with your programmer by following the configuration instructions in this section of the user’s guide:
Yes, I have it in programming mode. The USB to serial chip does work, I tested that. I can’t remember what I even used it for last, so no. All I really use it for is programming AVRs, I rarely use the serial header. ESD is always a possibility, I don’t keep it in any ESD protective container, it resides in one of those plastic boxes with dividers. Given my board it would have been hard to hook up backwards. On both ends I have the little tabs that only fit into the connector one way.
Following those steps I can not communicate with the programmer. It said it established a connection, but no characters were echoed back and nothing happened when I typed in config.
That’s not a good sign. At this point all I can suggest is you send it back for us to look at. If you’re interested in pursuing this, please contact us for an RMA number and return instructions.
