Did my firmware die on USBtiny?

USB AVR Programmer and SPI interface. Adafruit's USBtinyISP.

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attinynoob
 
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Did my firmware die on USBtiny?

Post by attinynoob »

I ordered a USBtiny kit, built it and it's been working great for a few weeks. Tonight, I plugged it into a USB port and the green light won't come on

I tried a different USB port

I tried a different computer

I grabbed my meter and it shows 5 volts from the backside of the USB connector

I checked VCC and GND on the ATtiny and it shows 5 volts

I looked at the PNG schematic for the USBTiny and tested voltage across PIN 9 and GND, the green LED connection, and I get nothing. Since the LED is connected directly to PIN 9, I'm assuming that the firmware is driving it the moment it gets connected to a PC

Does it sound like my firmware is dead?

I have a 20-pin Olimex development board, a ZIF target board, a 9 pin serial cable, along with 2 more ATtiny2313's that I can use. Is there another way to program the programmer :D I think I'm stuck in the chicken egg scenario

I've done some reading about building a programmer, but given the work there it might be easier to just order another USBTiny, build it, backup the firmware and re-program the old one...

Can I build a programmer myself using the 9 pin serial cable that I have? Do I need a MAX232 for voltage leveling? Can I somehow use the Olimex as a temporary programmer to get my USBTiny back in order? I love this little thing and I was looking forward to a couple nights of tinkering :D :D

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

did you try it on both a mac and windows computer? macs are good to test because they dont require a driver... :(

attinynoob
 
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Post by attinynoob »

I don't have access to a MAC, but after awhile of playing I decided to re-install the drivers, plus the com bridge, usbtiny500 and got it working. Why it died to begin with is strange. The only thing loaded onto the machine in the past week were virus updates. Maybe somehow that got in the way...

I'm a happy experimenter again! Thank you! :D

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

I too am having this same problem. I was successfully using the USBTiny to program back in october, I haven't made any hardware changes and not any software changes that I can think of (beyond some windows updates and such) since then and now my green light doesn't even turn on.

I unfortunately don't have a mac to try on and I am trying to dig up a computer that I don't mind if I were to damage a USB port to test on in case it's a hardware issue.

I have tried reinstalling the drivers with no luck.

using the windows driver installation program and try to force it to select the libusb driver, it doesn't recognize it and insists I use a "unknown device" driver. same deal with I use the "Have Disk" option and try to select the driver from the source directory.

my next step is to try the com bridge and the usbtiny500 as well. but if anyone else has some ideas that would be greatly appreciated.

does anyone know how to cleanly uninstall the drivers? which registry keys to remove and such as well so I can try a total reinstall?

thanks
=P

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

the com bridge isnt going to work if the device isnt recognized
you can uninstall the driver the same way any other driver is uninstalled (you can probably google for a tutorial)

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

I figured as much, but if it worked for attinynoob I was willing to give it a shot.

and like predicted the reinstalling the other apps didn't work. I'm going to try fiddling with it some more tonight as I have some more free time.

just plugging the device into a separate machine did not cause the green light to turn on though (should it?) I have not tried putting the drivers on that other machine yet (I want to make sure I have experience in uninstalling them, that other machine isn't meant to be a development machine)

thanks for the reply, hopefully we can figure out the culprit. I have noticed from another thread that my kit did not come with the 3.6v zeners, but the other voltages, and I was experiencing the other problem of having to disconnect/reconnect the device between programmings. Do you think these two problems might be connected?

=P

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

possibly but if it worked before it should work the same (even if its a little buggy) now.... right?

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

ladyada wrote:possibly but if it worked before it should work the same (even if its a little buggy) now.... right?
true..

unless it is buggy enough to prevent it from working.

maybe the repeated voltage drops finally got 'lucky' and corrupted something important preventing it from booting and I just didn't notice. I don't know, I'm guessing.

though I am curious as to how his started working again. I am hoping it's just a software issue on my side. I'll continue the postmortem to try to figure out what went wrong.

I am running Win2k and am up to date on all mandatory windows patches.
the only new thing that got installed hardware wise which (and also uses the USB ports) between October and now was an iPod Nano Gen3 I received for Christmas. I do not have iTunes installed as I have been using the winamp 5.5.

hrm..

=P

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

EqualsP wrote:
ladyada wrote:possibly but if it worked before it should work the same (even if its a little buggy) now.... right?
true..

unless it is buggy enough to prevent it from working.

maybe the repeated voltage drops finally got 'lucky' and corrupted something important preventing it from booting and I just didn't notice. I don't know, I'm guessing.
er, thats not how it works...

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

ladyada wrote:
er, thats not how it works...
ok =), like I said, I'm just guessing at that, i'm new to programmable chips.

I know software, and I have a slightly better than beginner take on electronics (been out of practice for 10 years) so I am relearning some of the newer concepts. I don't think it could be static but was thinking along the same lines, though I know the static voltages are much higher (10000x) than the usb provided voltage.. I was just looking more at the randomness..

just guessing, trying to come up with a valid theory to pursue.

=P

rickyrockrat
 
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Post by rickyrockrat »

Try a Live CD of Linux go here:
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso

Download, burn to a CD, place CD in your Cdrom drive, and reboot. It should boot to the Knoppix CD. Since it isn't a full install, but a live CD, you don't have certain point-and click luxuries. There is a way to do this with point-click - but don't have the specific info handy.

Anyway, once the desktop is up, press Ctrl-Alt-F1 (all 3 at once).
Type these commands:
cd /tmp
wget http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releas ... 5.5.tar.gz
tar -xzf avrdude-5.5.tar.gz
cd avrdude-5.5
./configure
make

Attach your usbtiny, then try avrdude. This will rule out a Windblows update. I tested this with a tiny45 attached to it, but substitue your AVR part.
Run avrdude:
./avrdude -C avrdude.conf -c usbtiny -p t45
You should see

Code: Select all

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################## |100% 0.02s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9206
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK
avrdude done. Thank you.
Last edited by rickyrockrat on Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

wow, thanks for the idea.
I had a CD of knoppix v3.6 kicking around, I tried that and no luck. I have a tiny45 chip and no lights came on.

Code: Select all

avrdude: Error: Could not find USBtiny device (0x1781/0xc9f)
when I connect the usbtiny I get the following error

Code: Select all

usb-uhci.c: Interrupt, status 2, frame# 1086
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=12 (error=-110)
usb.c: USB device not accepting new address=13 (error=-110)
(and the "new address=xx" xx number increase every time i disconnect it)

I'll download v3.7 and try tomorrow.

thanks for the help.

=P

adafruit
 
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Post by adafruit »

are you using a laptop?

rickyrockrat
 
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Post by rickyrockrat »

You are having USB connectivity issues - it is sorta talking to USBtiny, since you are being enumerated on the bus. Check your USB +5 voltage, then try using a powered USB hub.
I seem to recall that -110 is a timeout, which would indicate that the USB tiny started to talk, but locks up for some reason after that. Until you get past that uhci error, it is pointless to bother with AVRDude.

You should also try another USB-Serial device (if you have one), or any other USB devices (like a USB flash drive) to make sure your USB subsystem is working. Type dmesg to see a full print of the kernel messages.

I don't think Knoppix 3.7 will change the problem, but you never know - it is just what I used to test to make sure it worked.

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equalsp
 
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Post by equalsp »

no, I am not using a laptop. I am using 2 different machines though. Both of them are able to read my flash drive on the same port that I am plugging the usbtiny into.

on the knoppix box, when I unplug the flash drive and plug in the usbtiny, I get the same error from before.

I am starting to believe there is something wrong with the usbtiny.

=P

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