HELP! please rc=-1

[Hotdemonfuzz]

Hi
I am relatively new to the electronics world, but I have completed several small projects

I am using the usbtiny from a kit.
I am running windows 7 64bit
using avrdude 5.1 to program and Atmega32a or m32
this is my first time trying to talk to a chip

basically what is happening when i try to program the circuit diagram in a picture bellow all I get is an "rc=-1" error message, when i use the
-F command to override it I get the same error, and it says the device signature is "0x000000"

this is for an led cube, i am using professionally printed parts, and this design has been confirmed as working by atleast 15 people i have spoken to, I have no idea what is going on so any help is greatly appreciated.

also this has been looked over by my electronics teacher at school and he had no idea either

Thanks very much
Hotdemonfuzz

[adafruit_support_bill]

That means the the computer can talk to the programmer, but the programmer can't talk to your chip. Have you gone through the checklist here?

[Hotdemonfuzz]

Hi i didn't see that check list before.

I have one question out of that, it is to do with power, "are you either providing power to the chip (have the jumper in place) or are providing power to the programmer through the VCC header pin? If the jumper is not in place, the buffer chip (74ahc125) will require at least 2.5V from the target."

the wording of that is confusing me, the way I am powering my chip is through the boards power, it reads 5 volts. does this mean I have to connect the jumper header or just leave it off??

will hook it up to a scope tomorrow at school, to check the reset pin and sck.

thanks
Hotdemonfuzz

[adafruit_support_bill]

If your board & chip have their own power, you should leave the jumper off. But make sure that the ISP header on your board has VCC on pin 2. This is needed by the 74ahc125 buffer to generate the appropriate signal levels for your chip as noted on the top of the schematic:

http://www.ladyada.net/images/usbtinyisp/usbtinyisp2sch.png