Arduino Mini 05 - unable to upload sketches

Development Boards Arduino
1

Hello,

I’ve been unable to upload any sketches to my new Arduino mini 05. I continue to receive this error from avrdude:

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

The set-up that I have is as follows:

  • Regulated +5V as input to the mini from an Arduino Mega.

  • LED connected to pin 13.

  • FTDI USB-to-serial adapter connected to the RX and TX lines of the mini.

  • RX of mini → TX of USB

  • TX of mini → RX of USB

  • GND of mini → GND of USB

  • IDE Board setting as Arduino Mini w/ ATmega328

  • The orange LED stays lit

  • The red LED connected to pin 13 flashes ~3 times when the reset button is pressed.

Images of the set-up for reference are posted below:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4WyEj … V9oSG5BN0k

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4WyEj … FkzYWpwUzQ

I’ve read on several forums where folks have had similar issues. I’ve double-checked all of my settings and suggestions, such as the following:

  1. Verify that the correct COM port is selected.

  2. Make sure to press the reset button immediately before attempting to upload the sketch.

  • I am aware that this step is very important. The sequencing of these two actions can mean everything. I’ve tried

every combination suggested, and one of the most promising ideas I found was to first edit the preferences.txt

file to include the lines build.verbose = true and upload.verbose = true. After this, hold the reset button, press upload

and watch the output at the terminal until the following line(s) appear:

avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
     avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20]

after this, promptly release the reset button.

  1. Checked the boards.txt file to verify that the baud rate at which the Mini is expecting to communicate and the USB-to-serial adapter is sending match. Which according to the file, is 115200: mini328.upload.speed=115200.

  2. In case the bootloader was somehow corrupted or missing, I configured my Arduino Mega to act as an ISP-Programmer and re-programmed the bootloader on the mini - according to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq5PhM_Fz9Y. It seemed to work, as the IDE indicated a successful upload.

I feel like I’ve exhausted all the possible solutions I’ve come across. If anyone has any further suggestions - please let me know!

-k