Author Topic: Programmer won't work in $50 Robot  (Read 1658 times)

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Offline CompChemEngTopic starter

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Programmer won't work in $50 Robot
« on: July 31, 2011, 09:38:31 PM »
Hey all,

I'm trying to program the $50 Robot using the AVRISP mkII programmer.  The LEDs on the programmer are both green, but when I try to read the voltage in AVRStudio 5.0, it says the the target voltage is 0.0V (which is an error since it should be between 2.7V and 5.5V).  I can't seem to get power to it.

I took a volt meter to the Vcc and Ground terminals of connector while plugged in, and it reads a voltage difference of 4.95V.  In fact I inspected all of the other connections on the board, quite rigorously, and they all seem good.  This includes ensuring a near-zero resistance between the pins connected to the AVRmega8 and the appropriate pins on the programmer as well as the voltage at the AVRmega8's Vcc and ground pins.

I initially used AVRStudio 4.18, but in hopes of resolving this issue, I installed AVRStudio 5.0.  Neither has worked.

I've tried a bunch of other things, but nothing's worked so far.  I'm running out of things to try to get this to work.  So, what can I do?

Edit:  Updated the issue above.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2011, 10:36:20 PM by CompChemEng »
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Offline CompChemEngTopic starter

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Re: Programmer won't work in $50 Robot
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2011, 09:54:53 PM »
Related notes:
1.  I haven't charged the batteries yet since the battery charger hasn't arrived in the mail yet.  I'm assuming that they came charged.  This is supported by Note (2) below.

2.  The volt meter shows 6.38V between the (+) and (-) terminals and 4.95V between the 5V-regulated (+) and the (-) terminal.

3.  When I go to AVRStudio 5.0  -->  Tools  -->  AVR Programming  -->  Target Voltage, and read the target voltage, it reads the target voltage as "0.0 V".
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Offline CompChemEngTopic starter

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Re: Programmer won't work in $50 Robot
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2011, 11:29:48 PM »
Update:  I think that I may've figured it out.  I got the pin layouts on the programmer from this thread, but mounting evidence suggests that the pins are switched on mine (1 <-> 2, 3 <-> 4, 5 <-> 6).  Soldered this in and it's 1:30am here, so I'll have to try switching the pins tomorrow.  I'll update here with whether or not this works.
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Offline CompChemEngTopic starter

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Re: Programmer won't work in $50 Robot
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2011, 08:13:52 PM »
Yup.  Pins were switched.  Not a clue why it is this way, but I'm happy that it's working now.
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Offline corrado33

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Re: Programmer won't work in $50 Robot
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2011, 07:33:52 PM »
Well, we're glad you've fixed it.

I swear I hook up the programming ribbon cable backwards every month or so.   :D
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