I have a similar problem. I have Prolific USB-serial cable and USBtinyISP.

I can make the download to Diavolino ONLY when
a) I burn the bootloader with USBtinyISP
b) after that it loads the program ONCE, If I try to load again, I get

Binary sketch size: 1010 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

In CommPorts advanced settings there is nothing about "Set RTS On Close". It's only about FIFO-buffers.

My USB-serial is actually for 3.3volt signals, because it's originally intended for my Bifferboard. It works FB with it. Does it matter? I even cheked it like here:

Locate the GND wire by checking resistance between each of the wires and the USB shell
- Plug the USB connector into your system and start terminal. Set a low Baud rate (9600). Connect your voltmeter between GND and each other wire in turn. For each wire do the following: Hit and hold the SPACE bar. If you've found the TX wire you should see a noticable drop in voltage when holding the space bar down. Why? The binary for SPACE is 00100000, which is a lot of 'zero's. Since rs232 lines are high when not sending signal this means when you keep sending space the average voltage will be noticeably lower than when you're not sending it.

- Finding the RX line is now easy. Connect the TX line to each of the remaining line in turn - when you've found the RX line you should see characters echoed back to the minicom screen when you type, because you have established a loop-back from TX to RX.

As this is not in any way a similar problem, I've moved it to a new topic.

I'm not sure exactly which product the "Prolific USB-serial cable" is, but the Diavolino does not work with general-purpose serial ports, only TTL-level serial ports.

If you have one of the Prolific USB-RS232 connectors, you should *never* connect it directly to the Diavolino, as RS232 voltage levels can easily damage it.

http://bifferos.bizhat.com/buy/000012.html

The cable is at the link. It is NOT a serial, but a TTL-3,3v-cable. It has only ground, rx & tx connected because of the intended use with bifferboard console.

> It has only ground, rx & tx connected because of the intended use with bifferboard console.

No surprise that it doesn't work then!

There's no signal to reset the Diavolino to begin programming. You may be able to do it by pressing the reset button (*once*) just at the right moment-- about 1-2 seconds after it finishes compiling.

Quote by: Windell

> It has only ground, rx & tx connected because of the intended use with bifferboard console.

No surprise that it doesn't work then!

There's no signal to reset the Diavolino to begin programming. You may be able to do it by pressing the reset button (*once*) just at the right moment-- about 1-2 seconds after it finishes compiling.

Ok! I have to look if I can tweak the cable to handle that. It was not necessary in original use because of the minimalist needs.

THANKS for wise and prompt answer.