This is my second Diavolino build. The first one was smooth as butter. This one for some reason has been nothing but trouble.

Every time I try to upload a sketch, the Arduino IDE gives me the following error:

"avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00"

I have tried doing the rest at different times during compile/upload, I have tried multiple FTDI cables, but nothing seems to work. Incidentally if I disconnect the Diavolino and try to upload the sketch, I still get the exact same error as with it connected. How can I troubleshoot this? I need for this to work. :-(

Thanks in advance.

Not rest, Reset is what I meant.

Do you have a working diavolino (your first one)?

Get everything set up and working using the known-good diavolino.

Compare the known-good to the suspect (new) diavolino. Is the chip in the same orientation?

Changing nothing else, put the suspect (new) diavolino in place of the known-good one. Does it work now?

Does the LED blink? With no sketch, the standard bootloader will blink, blink, blink... If you see that, then the chip and LED seem to be running OK. If not, then it is a power, or soldering or chip problem.

How are you powering it? Make sure the jumpers are in correctly for your desired power source.

Did you solder in the chips as per the standard directions? If your chips are socketed, put the known good chip in place of the suspect chip. (first detach power and cables, pry carefully!). now try the suspect. Still broken? Try the known good with the suspect chip. Still good? If the problem stays with the board, we know it is the board.

If it is the board, at this stage it is probably soldering. Carefully inspect, reflow any connection that doesn't look perfect. Look for bridges that shouldn't be there, solderballs, bent pins, etc.

Nothing?

The next thing I would try is to use the 6pin DIL ISP connection and try to program a bootloader into the suspect diavolino. You can use your working arduino with ArduinoISP from the arduino.cc pages or the EMSL ISP Shield. If that works then we know that most of the board is OK. If FTDI still doesn't then the FTDI connection path is bad on the board. Inspect again...

If ISP fails then it starts sounding more like the chip isn't running for some reason.

If still nothing, post some high-res pictures of both the top and bottom of the board where we can take a look and see if we can spot something you missed.

+1 to all of that.

The second board or the suspect board was working fine. I uploaded many sketches to it and it worked flawlessly. Then I got busy with other things for a few days and now when I try to upload a new sketch to it, thats when I get the error message mentioned before. So with that in mind, I would assume that the solders are all good and nothings wrong with the board or the chip orientation or how the caps are connected. I have been using it with an LoL shield so I never connected the led, but I guess I should. I am powering it with a USB TTL cable. Do you still need high res pictures? What else can I try?

thanks
aF

So, to recap, the second board was working correctly for a few days, but is no longer functioning. The *most likely* cause of a problem is that an "iffy" solder joint has opened up after a few days of normal daily thermal cycles. It's less likely-- but possible --that there's some kind of firmware corruption, or worse, damage due to ESD or the like.

Assuming the former situation, it is (as you say) very unlikely that there are any components in the wrong places or orientations. Carefully inspect the bottom of the board for any solder joints that look like they could be dry, cracked, blobby, or not sufficiently filled with solder. If you find any, touch them up with fresh solder.

If that doesn't help at all, the next thing to try (as sdb says) would be reprogramming the chip over the ISP (aka ICSP) connection (from the other Diavolino), to see if the chip is happy and healthy, and possibly to restore the bootloader.

Took out each individual component (resistor, pb, capacitors) and tested them with a MM. They are fine, Resoldered everything back on making sure all the solders are perfect. Th sonly thing that was not removed/tested is the micro controller itself. Is there a method to test the micro controller?

Still no go. I am thinking this is probably the boot loader at this point. Could you elaborate on the process of transferring boot loader from my other diavolino to this one? Is there a how to somewhere?

Thanks for your time and effort in helping me out with this.

aF

Took out each individual component (resistor, pb, capacitors) and tested them with a MM. They are fine, Resoldered everything back on making sure all the solders are perfect.

Yow. That's the number one way to end up with a problem where there wasn't one before.

Is there a method to test the micro controller?

Yes. The best method-- and your next step --is (for the third time in this thread) to use the "arduinoisp" method, using the other diavolino as an ISP programmer to check out this one.

Ok so I followed the instructions from "http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP" to try and upload the boot loader using my other Diavolino. Still get the same message. "avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00"

One thing to check on your setup: Did you disable auto-reset on the "programmer" Diavolino?

(Read about the auto-reset issue here: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/MegaISP )

Tie Reset to Vcc on the "programmer" Diavolino, through about 100-500 ohms.

I had not disabled auto reset the first time I tried this. This time I did. Now I get a message saying "Yikes, invalid signature". I have spent way too much time on getting this to work. I am now officially giving up on this. :-(

"Invalid signature" generally indicates some kind of connection issue, or indicates that you've got the wrong chip type chosen while trying to program it. If you're sure that the "board type" is correct, then there's likely a setup issue of some type.

If you decide to un-give up, one of the things that you might consider is to send it back to us for examination. We can sometimes spot problems that other people miss.

Ok so I have suddenly decided to un-giveup. I got my third Diavolino today and it works like a champ. How would initialize sending this to you guys? What is the exact procedure? Also if a problem is spotted, will I be told what exactly was wrong with it?

Thanks a bunch
aF

Please contact our store directly for that kind of thing: http://evilmadscience.com/contact.