Author Topic: Something is wrong with my 50$ robot (Read 4281 times)

harrythepotter2007 · « **on:** August 27, 2008, 08:55:41 AM »

I have started to build the 50$ robot. I have build the board. I cand find any problems with it (maybe it is something else). I also build two programmers, one for serial and one for parallel port. Could theese schematics be faulty? (don't worry about the ground from the programmer connector, I have fixed it). the problem is: I can't program the processor. Does anyone have any sugestions before I rebuild the board (I still hope I don't have to)?

Everything I have done can be found here:

http://www.trilulilu.ro/harrythepotter/imagini

pomprocker · « **Reply #1 on:** August 27, 2008, 09:52:56 AM »

Why can't you program the board?

more details please...

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 27, 2008, 12:46:57 PM »

I use PonyProg2000. I have buit two programmers using schematics i have found on the internet that should work with PonyProg2000.

When I use the programmer for the serial port it gives me an error: "Device missing or unknown device (-24)". I have connected all the parts of the robot (sensors, servos, led, power). I have tried all the posible combinations I can get at serial port configuration. With the programmer for the paralel port If I test it with the AVR ISP I/O option it sais: "test OK" but when I Run the command "Write all" it sais the same error message. I have tried ro read from the processor and it sais it can read succesfuly.

What do I do wrong?

pomprocker · « **Reply #3 on:** August 27, 2008, 12:59:44 PM »

plug it in? power it on?

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 27, 2008, 01:05:45 PM »

It is powerd. anything else?

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 27, 2008, 01:14:00 PM »

You probably ask yourself why I didn't just buy the programmers. I didn't buy any programmer because I couldn't find one anywhere.

pomprocker · « **Reply #6 on:** August 27, 2008, 01:17:07 PM »

this is the one I use for my $50 robot

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=14

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 27, 2008, 01:34:09 PM »

This is not helping. I'm not willing to wait another 10 days for the shipment of a cable.

I have been waiting for the birthday of my robot for more than a month and I think it will start and end with a smash of my hammer.

pomprocker · « **Reply #8 on:** August 27, 2008, 02:34:51 PM »

make sure avrstudio and ponyprog are both set to atmega8 or atmega168 depending which one you have

dunk · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2008, 03:35:19 AM »

i find for problems with circuits the 3 most common problems you will see are 1. power, 2. short circuits and 3. a dumb typo somewhere.

1. test the voltage between the microcontroller's VCC and GND pins with a multimeter to make sure there is no problem with the microcontroller's power.

2. if power looks ok check each of the connections between your programmer pins and the microcontroller pin it is connected to. test the resistance with a multimeter between each pin and any of it's neighbours it might be mistakenly touching.
you should get no resistance between points in the circuit that are connected and very high resistance between unconnected pins.

3. leave it alone for a day. try to come back with a fresh set of eyes and see where you might have connected the wrong thing to what... sometimes we all do something wrong and can't see it.

as long as you can satisfy your self that the microcontroller is powered correctly and that the programmer pins are connected to the correct microcontroller pins then i think you are safe to say the problem you are experiencing is not with the circuit but rather with your PC side software setup.

for a home made programmer i use this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto-Programming:-Getting-started-with-AVR-micro/

dunk.

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:10:07 AM »

Quote from: pomprocker on August 27, 2008, 02:34:51 PM

make sure avrstudio and ponyprog are both set to atmega8 or atmega168 depending which one you have

They are both set to ATmega8 (the one I have)

Quote from: dunk on August 28, 2008, 03:35:19 AM

for a home made programmer i use this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ghetto-Programming:-Getting-started-with-AVR-micro/

What value did you use for the resistors?

waymental · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2008, 10:23:38 AM »

and if nothing else works I have found that a hammer makes things feel much better for a short period of time. Then you got to start over. What a bummer. I too am stuck on mine.

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 29, 2008, 11:00:31 AM »

Welcome to the club waymental!

Admin · « **Reply #13 on:** September 01, 2008, 04:58:49 PM »

Welcome to the club of -24

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2008, 04:42:29 AM »

Quote from: Admin on September 01, 2008, 04:58:49 PM

Welcome to the club of -24

This is not helping.

Admin · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2008, 07:52:12 AM »

Quote

Quote
Welcome to the club of -24

This is not helping.

I was implying that if you click on that link, you will find solutions to try out.

Have you used a multimeter to check the circuit yet?

Are you sure you are using the correct com port?

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #16 on:** September 20, 2008, 06:27:40 AM »

I have clicked the link and I saw lots of people having their own problems and none solved mine.

I used a multimeter to test the circuit since I finished soldering and repeated the procedure about ten times already.

I have two com ports but with the serial programmer the tests are not positive so I built another programmer on LPT and the tests are OK but pony prog doesn't program anything. it reads ok with any programmer.

The programmers I use are both made by me using the schematics I found on the pony prog site. I have also tested these circuits with the multimeter but I couldn't find any problems.

This link goes to everything I have build: http://www.trilulilu.ro/harrythepotter/imagini

Trumpkin · « **Reply #17 on:** September 20, 2008, 08:31:41 AM »

lol, when I had this problem, I put the thing on a breadboard and it worked.

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #18 on:** September 20, 2008, 10:23:12 AM »

Quote from: Trumpkin on September 20, 2008, 08:31:41 AM

lol, when I had this problem, I put the thing on a breadboard and it worked.

So you're sugesting to put the processor on a breadboard to program it?

paulstreats · « **Reply #19 on:** September 20, 2008, 04:32:07 PM »

What type of programmer have you set pony-prog to work with?

Trumpkin · « **Reply #20 on:** September 20, 2008, 06:29:29 PM »

Quote

So you're sugesting to put the processor on a breadboard to program it?

yep

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #21 on:** September 21, 2008, 02:59:12 AM »

Quote from: paulstreats on September 20, 2008, 04:32:07 PM

What type of programmer have you set pony-prog to work with?

Well, when I tried to program it with the serial programmer pony prog was set for com1, and when I tried to program with the parallel programmer pony prog was set to LPT1. I tried various combinations from the pony prog settings. None of them worked.

Challenger · « **Reply #22 on:** September 21, 2008, 09:47:17 AM »

Hello harrypotter2007,

I just finished testing this programmer and works pretty fine : http://electronics-diy.com/avr_programmer.php
I used BC547 instead of 549

harrythepotter2007 · « **Reply #23 on:** September 21, 2008, 02:38:34 PM »

Quote from: Challenger on September 21, 2008, 09:47:17 AM

Hello harrypotter2007,

I just finished testing this programmer and works pretty fine : http://electronics-diy.com/avr_programmer.php
I used BC547 instead of 549

Thanks! i'll build that as soon as I finish my exams. I will post the results.

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Author Topic: Something is wrong with my 50$ robot (Read 4281 times)

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