Arduino Mega 2560 stopped accepting firmware

I've been testing out a bunch of different firmware because I thought my printer was acting up. Recently it stopped accepting my firmware. I have looked around online but having trouble finding anything about this. I found a lot of people with this problem, but no solutions.

The board blinks as though the firmware is loading, but when I check it I get the blank screen that I attached.

Not sure if im going in the right direction with this but decided to give Atmel a try. I get to the Flip software and the USB keeps telling me it can not connect. The program recognizes the USB is connected but refuses to connect. Not sure if im going in the right direction, and im trying to salvage my board. My next step is just buying a new board.

Before I go the route of buying a new board, what is the difference between these imitation boards, and the real boards?

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Zulance

Before I go the route of buying a new board, what is the difference between these imitation boards, and the real boards?

The USB-Serial converter chip is the main difference. You need to find the driver for your particular board. If in windows you'll have to go to the device manager and ensure that it creates a valid serial port. If on a mac you need to run this:
ls /dev/tty*
before and after you plug the cable in to see if it's created a valid serial port.

If you were able to flash before, the USB driver will not be the problem.
Unless there is a new ( not arduino-tolerant ) driver online, which stupid "windows autoupdate" has installed without further notice.
According to your other thread, you most likely have bricked the USB chip on the arduino, due to ground-loop issues.
Buying a new controller might end up the same way, if you don´t get this problem sorted out.
-Olaf

Olaf,

Your really knowledgeable and very helpful. Im not familiar with your bricked term though. Because of my inexperience with the jumpers earlier on in my build i thought my issue fell on the software/drivers. I kept trying different USB drivers along with different firmware until my board no longer accepted my firmware. I have done a good bit of reading on this and some people fixed this issue with the newest version of arduino drivers and some with older versions. I have tried all the new versions and old ones and nothing seems to work. I can still load the USB drivers on there no problem. The board flashes when i load the firmware, but does not show on the information. I played around with Pronterface and im able to move my ma hine around. When I try and test out Repetier Host it does not acknolege my commands.

If i were to spend the extra money for a legit Arduino board would I potentially have these problems?

So, what I read from this is, you don´t see anything on the LCD, but the printer works with pronterface?
Then you have wrong settings in marlins configuration.h

You can´t connect with repetier? Check the Baud rate and Com-Port settings from repetier.

With legit arduino boards maybe the quality control is better, but the design of the board is the same.
Some parts of the legit boards are a bad choice already, if a manufacturer tries to use even cheaper parts, the failure rate is higher.
Personally I like to gamble and buy 2 or 3 clones instead of one genuine.
-Olaf
Bricked chip is another term for burnt or broken

I normally use Repetier Host but downloaded Pronterface because i have read its not as picky. I dont have a LCD, but under the printer information it would normally say what firmware im using. Ive tested this out with marlin and arduino firmware. Recently that stays blank regardless of what i try and upload. I can move the printer around with the arrows on the pronterface, but not on repetier host. I normally use host because thats what i am familiar with. I have never messed with pronterface until a few days ago. Hopefully my computer doesnt mess up the 2 boards i ordered and i can test the 2 programs against each other. My prints from repetier host were very crisp and clean. If i can get my printers back online soon i plan on testing the 2 together. I did some research on how to disable my plug and play so i can make sure i get Arduino drivers installed before auto update gets ahold of it. Has the auto update messed with your boards too, or have any sugestions about that? When you pointed that out it made me wonder if that was one of the culperates that helped get the boards to where they are. My operating system is windows 7. Also have you tested out repetier host in comparison to pronterface?

You are downloading marlin in different versions, but did you also configure it before you flash´d ?
configuration.h is a complex part, that adapts it to the printer.
If not configured, marlin only understands basic g-code but won´t do any reasonable stuff.
-Olaf

Yeah i configured the .h on both Marlin and Repetier Firmware. I like the older versions of Marlin and Repetier because I can understand them. The newer versions have information that I am unfamiliar with along with the printer basics. Repetier 0.83 is my favorite of the firmwares. When you start getting higher up it looks like the auto leveling starts to take place. I dont mind manually configuring and tweaking my printer. As frusterting as it can be at times its a learning experience that i am enjoying.

After reformating my computer to dump any possibility of corrupted files I am now stumped. I have no idea what I did different to upload my firmware to the Arduino Mega 2560 the first time. My computer being newly formatted does not try and auto load drivers. I loaded different versions of my Arduino 1.0.5 because thats what worked for me on my first firmware upload. I opened my new boards in case i bricked my old boards, and those dont seem to be taking the upload either. The LEDs on the board flash as though the firmware is uploading, but when i check the info on the board it shows up blank. At this point id like to ask what version of Arduino and what firmware is being used. Maybe my firmware is not compatible with the version of Arduino, idk but its very frusterating. Would love some feedback on this.

Have you tried detatching the RAMPS from the Mega and uploading a very simple sketch to the Mega such as Blink:

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Blink

This should upload in seconds and flash the built-in led on and off. This would demonstate that the USB interface is working fine and that the Mega is accepting new firmware.

One other thing to bear in mind is the FTDI driver controversy from last year, have you applied updates after not having applied them for a long time?

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch-that-windows-update-ftdi-drivers-are-killing-fake-chips/

adavidm

Hi Advavidm,

My board is not hard bricked as far as I can tell, I can still run the sketches and it operates just fine from the examples. I just have to figure out what is blocking my board from allowing me to upload. I might have to revert back to the oldest Arduino and start there from the sounds of that site you linked. Only problem that still confuses me is I was able to upload just fine until I started messing around with all the different firmwares.

So I have been doing some more digging. Should I be messing with the boot loader? I don't have that option on the newer Arduino, but the older versions have it available.

Zulance, in addition to adavidm post; The FTDI chip on an arduino is a seperate IC for uploading a new sketch from your PC to the main chip (normally its the small chip close to your USB port). If that chip is dead your arduino would still work but you can't upload new codes through USB.

If you have another arduino laying around you could try to upload new software through the ArduinoISP method.

But if this was my situation, I would safe myself the time/headache and buy another one.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2015 01:44PM by DragoslaV.

If my USB port was dead, would the LED's still flash simulating the uploading of firmware? I purchased 2 more boards from Amazon and I am having the same issue with those on a freshly formatted computer. My computer is simulating the upload to them, but nothing is going onto them. Im to the point of banging my head against the desk. Not sure if I am just having bad luck or I am doing something wrong. I went onto the Arduino website to just purchase a real board, but they are sold out.

It sounds like a problem in the WhinDuhs world - Arduino's don't 'simulate' anything . . . and WhinDuhs is also the only common element in all cases.

- Tim

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2015 08:08PM by tadawson.

Hey Tad,

Can you elaborate on that? I am not familiar with WhinDuhs. I am still new to a lot of this tbh.

Also with a brand new board out of the box is there any preparation I need to do to it? Or do I just plug it in, install drivers, and upload firmware.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2015 09:52PM by Zulance.

WOW after a crap load of experimenting I finally got a solid upload!!! So I ended up getting 1.6.2 and doing a debug while uploading the newest firmware. When I saw it took I went to my firmware and it took too. Thank you everyone for the time you put into me. I seriously appreciate it. I have learned a lot!!!!

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Zulance
Hey Tad,

Can you elaborate on that? I am not familiar with WhinDuhs. I am still new to a lot of this tbh.

Also with a brand new board out of the box is there any preparation I need to do to it? Or do I just plug it in, install drivers, and upload firmware.

My point being that the Arduino indicators mean what thry mean . . . if it looks like it uploaded, then it uploaded . . . and Windows is not exactly known for quality or stability, so it sounds like for some reason your IDE or Windows was dorked, and it kept uploading the same thing . . . Loading a non-Jurrassic IDE likely refreshed it's directories etc. and resolved that issue. And you *have* verified what I said - the problem was on the "WhinDuhs" side!

- Tim