Arduino malfunction

[Fabiolus2013]

Started getting this error while trying to upload on Arduino R3.

Old sketch seem to be in memory still....

[adafruit_support_bill]

This error shows up on rare occasions both here and on the forums over on Arduino.cc. I have not seen a good explanation of the cause or even the exact failure mechanism, but it seems to be related to the protection fuses on the processor getting trashed somehow. The only remedies I know of are to re-flash the bootloader on the chip, or a new Atmega 328 chip w/bootloader.

[Fabiolus2013]

Ok fair enough, I am unsure how I could have blown the fuse.


How does one reflash the bootloader? is there instruction on how to do this? If this is by going in tool and picking burn bootloader while that doesnt work either as I am getting an error message usb not found etc...which is weird cause my computer detect the board when I plug it in via usb port.


If I opt to purchase another Atmega chip w/bootloader...does Adafruit provide this? Do I simply remove old chip and replace it with new one?


Thank you for your support

PS: is that a fault in the product do I exchange, just asking never seen this before...thanks

Fab

[adafruit_support_bill]

To burn a bootloader, you need something like an USBtinyISP. We also have pre-flashed Atmega328 chips in the store: http://www.adafruit.com/products/123

Note: The bootloader on that chip is the "Adaboot" loader which is Duemilanove compatible. So, for the purposes of uploading, you will need to select "Duemilanove w/328" as your board type. Otherwise, it will be indistinguishable from a normal Uno.

[Fabiolus2013]

Thanks for the prompt reply,


I placed an order for an extra chip and another Arduino Uno, hopefully replacing the chip only will suffice and use the other one as a backup. I saw some threads where another Arduino was used to reprogram the chip of the other Arduino.


Cheers
Fab

[Fabiolus2013]

Good day,

I received the other chip and all is fine.

I was wondering about the un-sync chip I have now. Can I re-program using this product? http://www.adafruit.com/products/462 or is it just for blank chips to be programed?


Cheers
Fabiolus

[adafruit_support_bill]

You can re-program chips with that too.