Not able to upload .ino to my Anet A8

Hey everybody,
I hav ebeen search around for a few days now, checked the forum and followed the instructions but I am still not able to upload the Marlin Prusa sketch to my printer to be able to autotune and
access other functions. (Extruder still overheats, etc..)

When I try upload firmware, Board and Port seem to work and the mainboard led blinks when the arduino upload starts, but I keep on getting this message:

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer


what could the problem be? I checked baud rates, comport, etc...

i'd be grateful for any suggestions, right now I am a bit clueless.. cheers!

For uploading to work a boot loader must be installed on the device.

Depending one what boot loader is used it will use different baud rates and settings. (baud rate is completely independent of reprap firmware, defined in boards.txt)
And it may not have a boot loader at all.

What board type did you set in the arduino ide? What type of cpu is even on that board (no details on it that I can find)

Did you stop your controlling software befor trying to upload as only one thing can talk to a serial device at the same time.

Also some board have a disable reset jumper, reset must be enabled. as the IDE reboots the board to launch the boot loader

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2017 03:27AM by Dust.

hey, thanks for the answer!
I can communicate with the mainboard over repetier (move the motors, etc) , so i am pretty sure that I have the correct baud rate.
So far I have been unable to get info on the main board. It was produced in China and neither on the board front or back nor on the USB stick that
came with it there is any useful information other than it being a "main board"... I have contacted the company, but am still waiting for a response.
For now I have been using the Arduino Mega 2560 and Mega setting as was suggested in the post.
I did stop the controlling software beforehand and I will check for a reset jumper.
Attached is a photo of the board.
Again, thanks for the advice, I will try to find out the exact specs and see if that solves it.

Hi!
I have a Anet A8 too.
Haven't done it yet. But download and install skynet.
Seems like everybody is using it instead of stock firmware.
My "autoleveling" is not working anymore than than like a mechanical limit switch.
I've tried to install A8L firmware. (Supposedly for autoleveling) But no luck.
There is a Anet A8 wiki with a lot of good information.

Best of luck of getting reply from Anet "customer support"
Did that for my autoleveling problems. 3 weeks ago. No response so far.

Double post. So how forums think I'm a bot! 3D I hope then!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2017 01:17PM by SatorCodex.

Hate to say it but I dont think you will get much help.
You get what you pay for. Its a cheap printer with a non-common board that no one really knows about.

Hi!
I have a Anet A8 too.
Haven't done it yet. But download and install skynet.
Seems like everybody is using it instead of stock firmware. My "autoleveling" is not working anymore than than like a mechanical limit switch.
I've tried to install A8L firmware. (Supposedly for autoleveling) But no luck. There is a Anet A8 wiki with a lot of good information.

Best of luck of getting reply from Anet "customer support" Did that for my autoleveling problems. 3 weeks ago. No response so far.
In my mind, there is no working firmware (original) So I do not like to be tricked. When the seller sent me the PDF, manual for the 3rd time. I'd set up a dispute on aliexpress.
With video proof of it not working. Boom. A new main board and sensor is on its way...
doubt it will help though. But selling things that it's not working. Even on Ali, is not ok.
So, argue..

Otherwise I'm happy with all the mods one will have to do.

You can find me also on Thingiverse. Btw, lots of mods to be found there.
Cheers!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2017 01:19PM by SatorCodex.

hey again,
alright, i will try skynet tomorrow.
@floyd: you are right it is a cheap printer. but so far everything else worked just fine. the only problem i have is that the extruder keeps on overshooting
the temperature max everytime it starts up (printing movement, etc is not problem) and even though i tried to change the max pid directly on the printer,
it has not helped yet, which is why i want to access the code through the arduino .ino ..
has anyone else have the same problem with overshooting temperature? (extruder temp basically doesnt stop and rises beyond 200..)
cheers!

Take a look at the thermistor on the hot end. It sounds like the wires might be touching and tossing the reading out the door.
They should not be touching each other or anything metal.

ok, so i downloaded the skynet software. skynet for anet 8
the upload with arduino now workes fine (thanks satorcodex!)

at the same time it did not help with the ongoing temperature increase of the extruder so it must be a hardware problem i guess. i will take a look at the extruder now.

i also contacted the company who did respond quickly, will see if they can send a new extruder plus reset code.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2017 03:07PM by 321lupo.

Hey,
so I looked at the thermistor, too, but did not see any wires touching... I ordered a replacement nozzle+thermistor, maybe it's that..?
Does anybody else have any idea or experienced a similar problem?
Cheers!

My bet is still the thermistor.
When you start up the printer what temp does it read? It should be room temp ~25c?

Does the temperature increase the moment you turn the printer on, or only once you start heating the extruder? If it heats up the moment its turned on, it could be a shorted component on the board that is causing the heater to be powered.

Good to hear firmware worked out good for you.

I still havent had the time to install it.
Agree about the thermistor probably is the problem. I hope I have the time to work with my Anet this weekend.

Hi, when I start it up, the thermistor is at room temperature. It only starts heating up when I initiate a preheat or print, in which case the temperature just shoots up and doesnt stop until I disconnect from electricity or to an emergency stop over the software.
I checked the thermistore for cables touching each other or the thermistor but could find anything...
Could it be software? A friend of mine said he had this problem until he changed something about the PID in the code.. I set the new PID max lower, but that didnt do the trick either..

Hi again.
I think you have to replace the termistor. In any case to rule that out of the question.
They are easy to find on eBay, ect.
Or any who sells 3d printer parts. And they ar very cheap.

what do you think of signet so far?

yeah, i ordered one a few days ago. the printer company volunteered to pay for it, so it's all good (good service for a cheap printer imo).
I havent tried skynet much yet, i actually found a working code with the original software which has more options in the printer menu, at least as far as I could see.
I will check out both once I get the thermistor working and I can actually start printing.
If anyone needs those files, btw, pm me and Ill send them.
Cheers!

hey, so i got a new extruder, put it in, seems to work fine. however, the temperature still overshoots until the heater automatically decouples.
so, i guess it must be a code problem. does anyone have any suggestions?
cheers

Sounds to me like your thermistor is working fine - it reports the ambient temperature and it reports the increasing temperature as the hot end heats up... what appears to not be working is the regulation of the power going to the hotend heater. Perhaps a fried mosfet or a configuration issue.

When you say 'automatically decouples' do you mean it declares a maxtemp error and switches off the heater mosfet and the reported temperature slowly drops

I had something similar. It was all my mistake. On the main board I had the hotbed and the extruder connection switched. (green connections) This caused the extruder thermistor to read the bed temp and bed thermistor was reading extruder, causing the extruder to continue to exceed the set temp. I corrected the mistake and it is working properly now.