First-time Reprapper: HELP ME!

Hello everyone.

I recently bought my first Reprap, which is a Durbie Prusa Mendel from romscraj.com.

As I am new to this, I'm at a lose on what to do. I have the machine built following as per instructions, but updating firmware is giving me errors and trying to print something always ends up messy. Sometimes when I try to print, the ple plastic doesn't even extrude until after a few layers when I try to print the 0.5mm wall found here.

I'd like to ask for any kind of help that would aid me in this. I've been trying to figure it out myself, and even asking the devs of the Durbie via email, but to no avail.

If it helps at all, I have attached a zip file that includes screen-caps of what files I'm using and settings on Pronterface.

Thanks.

What errors do you get?

I get this error message when i try to upload.

avrdude: stk500_2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout

Probably a communication problem. That would also explain the printers erratic behaviour. Try swapping out the USB cable, preferably for one with ferrite cores at each end.

The USB cable is the one that came with the printer and it already has ferrite cores.

i dont know much about gen6 electronics. with only a quick look at [reprap.org]
it appears that 12v power is required for programming (which is different from ramps), and some specific commands are used for firmware loading. I assume you have tried those. do gen6 boards require the reset button to be pressed to upload? on arduino boards the reset is sometimes required, and may be sensitive to exactly when in relation to when the load commands are issued.
I hope it helps.

Avrdude is a communication error which according to the arduino site could be anything which is of no help.

I had the same error the other night while trying to update my settings. I have had no problems before.

When you are updating or just connecting do the following. It worked for me.

Open Arduino and then sprinter.pde, change settings to suit and click save.

Hold down the reset button on the circuit board when you press send until you see something like

" BINARY SKETCH SIZE 45456 BYTES" then release reset button.

I don't know why this is happening but this is working for me.

sometimes i need to upload a small sketch like "blink.pde" to "empty" the mega's eeprom. I upload the firmware after that and it works fine.

just for a sanity check though... make sure your board and port settings are correct in the arduino environment.