Cannot connect to RAMPS to upload new firmware or with Pronterface

Hi I'm new to 3D printing and the reprap world but not to cnc and arduino. I started assembling the motors and endstops for my prusa this weekend and wanted to test them with my RAMPS 1.4 board. This is a pre-built board from ultimachine and has sprinter pre-loaded.

I connected 1 motor to the board just to test with and tried to connect to the board with pronterface. I hit the connect button the port set to the only available port in the drop down and the "connect...." just sat there.

I then opened Arduino 1.0.2 and tried to upload the "TEST" firmware from the wiki and received this message:

Binary sketch size: 7,766 bytes (of a 258,048 byte maximum)
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer

Im at a loss now. Only one LED lights on the RAMPS board, the one next to the screw terminals at the top left. Ive tried this in both ubuntu and Windows 7 for both scenarios. HELP

Your serial communications is not working at all for some reason. Wrong device choosen in Pronterface/Arduino IDE, no juice for the ATmega or something like that. Does the new serial device even appear in you PC operating system? Can't say the details, never seen a RAMPS.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

HI prcdslnc13,

Have you tried plugging in the Arduino Mega board by itself by taking the RAMPS shield off the Arduino Mega? This will cut the problem in half (ie: figuring out if it's the Arduino Mega or the RAMPS shield). You can load the firmware without the shield being present.

If it's the Arduino Mega, then you probably need a replacement, though I would also test the RAMPS board with a multimeter before plugging another Arduino Mega into it.

Could be a short between 5V and Gnd on the RAMPS board causing you issues. Also make sure that the motor boards are inserted the correct way around. They'll go into the sockets either way, but they must be in the right way to work. I don't know if putting them in reversed will fry anything though.

There are 4 LEDs on the board. Two above the connector (LED3 and LED4), one to the right of these (LED1) and one to the right of the bottom FET (LED2). All positions assume the board has connectors to the left, and you are looking top down.

LED1 runs direct to the Arduino Mega on pin D13, so if this lights, then the Arduino Mega would seem to be running. LED2 is the indicator for the heated bed FET (connected through D8), while LED3 and LED4 are for the D9 and D10 outputs respectively (usually Fan and Hot End respectively, though it depends on your configuration).

Note: LED2, LED3 & LED4 are all switched by the FETS, and run off the respective 12V for that output (D9, D10, LED3 and LED4 run through the 5A Polyfuse - which also powers the motors, while D8 and LED2 run through the 11A Polyfuse. None of these will work if you do not have 12V supplied to the board appropriately. This can be useful in figuring out if you've got a dodgy FET or have tripped one of the Polyfuses.

Did you install the USB driver? It's in the arduino driver folder.

this is what that works for me ....

strangely, any way that i try to communicate with ardy+ramps on first try, will fail.

after removing the USB from the ardy, replug it in (xp signals it recognizes it) ... rinse repeat that 2 more times ... and i get to upload stuff. strange but works for me.

Im not 100% how i got it working but i did. Here's a couple problems i know I had.

1. I did not install the USB driver in Windows 7. Once I did this I was able to get arduino 1.0.1 to communicate. I never did get Windows 8 working.
2. In ubuntu i needed to add myself to a group. I thought that had been taken care of as I installed through the software center.
I still am not able to use pronterface in ubuntu.

For what its worth this seems to be a fairly common problem with the mega. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I also had trouble installing the Arduino driver in Windows 8. The way I got around it is by disabling driver signature enforcement.

You can do this by doing the follow:
1. Open the "Advanced Startup Options" app by hitting the windows key, typing Advanced Startup, click Settings on the right and click Advanced Startup Options
2. Scroll to the bottom and click "Restart Now" under Advanced Startup

Your machine will reboot, and there will be an option to "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement".

Hopefully this will help you or someone else.

LOL windows 8? ... isit good? ... been using windows for a long time ... and my fav was windows2000

I'm liking it, but a lot of that is because it's new and shiny I think, I like new shiny technology. There's certainly some quirks though, like jumping through hoops to install unsigned drivers.

Hello, has someone solved this problem? I have Arduino Mega 2560 R3 with Ramps 1,4 and after first testing Marlin then "Ramps test code" I can't return to Marlin because this serial problem. I tried IDE 022, 023, 1.03, 1.03 erw and even 1.5.1r2. I also tried DFU with Flip 3.4.7 and hex'es from github and 1.0.3 folder and I assume I did it correct because my arduino changed COM ports after this. Unfortunately arvdude does still nothing.
I tried:
- 4 USB cables,
- different programs even the smallest blink,
- reseting board just before upload
- removing usb couple times
- uploading with or without ramps
Loopback test don't work or I do something wrong.
No matter what I do RAMPS test code 1,4 still occupy memory and blink LED1, 3, 4 and move stepper motors as always.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2013 03:30PM by picapau.