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Development Boards Arduino
1

hello,

i am a newbie to this forum.

I bought a new Aduino Pro Mini AtMega 328 5V/16Mhz and also a FT232 RL and connected to my Laptop running Windwos 7.

It automatically loaded the drver and recongnises the USB serial converter.

I have connected the TX of Ft232 to Rx of Pro mini.

when i tiry to load the sketch file it gives the following message. I know this is a very common problem and i have tried some tricks described in this forum such as give rest soon after compilation etc. but does not work. Both the FTrs232 and Promini are brand new.

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

avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

Request help from the Experienced people of this forum.

Thanking you in advance

ashta

2

ashta,

Welcome to our “playground”! :smiley:

Is “I have connected the TX of Ft232 to Rx of Pro mini.” the only thing you connected? If so, check the documentation for those two boards and connect the other leads. I think you need, at least, power, ground, TX and RX connected. Also, some of the FT232 boards come wired for 3.3 V. If you’re using a 5 V Arduino, you need to change a jumper on the FT232 board so the signal level match those of the the Arduino.

Have Fun,

Eric

3

Thanks.

But i have connected VCC, GND also apart from TX and RX. also it is 5V version.

did some more research on this.

  1. TX on Arduino is an o/p

  2. Rx on Arduino is an Input.

  3. Tx on the Ft232 is an Input. (Atleast the one that i have)

4.Rx on the Ft232 is an O/P ( Atleast on the one that i have)

The above have been confirmed thru schematics as well as physical multimeter checking and also thru Oscilloscope.

Hence Arduino TX will have to go to Ft232 TX

and

Arduino RX will have to go to Ft232 RX.

I had initialy connected the other way.

But inspite of doing it as above, it was still not down loading.

Next step: Disconnected the TX and RX from Arduio, and looped it. and under Arduino 0022- Tools - serial monitor. typed some letters and saw that these are echoed… confirming that the Ft232 is working fine.

Then, checked the TX pin of the Arduino (Isolted from Ft232) and found that the level is low in idle condition. Since TXO is an out put and active low, in idle condition this has to be High In active. Tried to Pull up this line and it was getting pulled up. So it looks like that there is a problem in this pin.

This is my observation as of now and looks like the Arduino 328 chip has gone bad.

Pl comment on the above observation

esklar81:
ashta,

Welcome to our “playground”! :smiley:

Is “I have connected the TX of Ft232 to Rx of Pro mini.” the only thing you connected? If so, check the documentation for those two boards and connect the other leads. I think you need, at least, power, ground, TX and RX connected. Also, some of the FT232 boards come wired for 3.3 V. If you’re using a 5 V Arduino, you need to change a jumper on the FT232 board so the signal level match those of the the Arduino.

Have Fun,

Eric

4

ashta:
Thanks.

But i have connected VCC, GND also apart from TX and RX. also it is 5V version.

did some more research on this.

  1. TX on Arduino is an o/p

  2. Rx on Arduino is an Input.

  3. Tx on the Ft232 is an Input. (Atleast the one that i have)

4.Rx on the Ft232 is an O/P ( Atleast on the one that i have)

The above have been confirmed thru schematics as well as physical multimeter checking and also thru Oscilloscope.

Hence Arduino TX will have to go to Ft232 TX

and

Arduino RX will have to go to Ft232 RX.

I had initialy connected the other way.

You are certainly not the first person to fall victim to “serial dyslexia”, the strange behavior of some designers to labels their inputs as “TX” and outputs as “RX”. The excuse usually given is that they believe it is better to label a port for the thing to which it connects than to label it based on what it is.

ashta:
Next step: Disconnected the TX and RX from Arduio, and looped it. and under Arduino 0022- Tools - serial monitor. typed some letters and saw that these are echoed… confirming that the Ft232 is working fine.

Which FT232 are you using?

ashta:
Then, checked the TX pin of the Arduino (Isolted from Ft232) and found that the level is low in idle condition. Since TXO is an out put and active low, in idle condition this has to be High In active. Tried to Pull up this line and it was getting pulled up. So it looks like that there is a problem in this pin.

How are you managing the “reset” function on the Arduino? I took a brief look at [a tutorial for this board and found some discussion of how to connect automatic reset for programming and a configuration change you need to make in the IDE for this board.

ashta:
This is my observation as of now and looks like the Arduino 328 chip has gone bad.

Pl comment on the above observation

Although having the RX and TX lines swapped, as you did initially, will certainly keep the device from communicating, there is no obvious reason to believe that would cause damage. I suggest you confirm that you’re doing everything described in the tutorial before concluding that the hardware has failed.

You could also check the voltages at the ATMega chip’s Vcc, RESET, and SLEEP pins. You should be able to capture the reset pulse during the download sequence with an oscilloscope.

Good Luck,

Eric](http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoProMini)

5

Thank you very much eric, for the detailed reply. Thanks for your concern and efforts in replying to me.

Pl see my* comments*.

  1. I am using FT232RL, http://www.rhydolabz.com/index.php?main … b587fce57f

  2. The board ( Arduino Pro Mini 328, 16Mhz, 5V) has a built in rest switch. I am not doing any thing extra. The voltage for the 328 is fed from the USB and i have measured it and is 5V. Rest is working since when i press it the Pin is pulsing.

  3. What i want to know is when the Ardino is connected thru FT232RL tp PC(windows7) and in adle mode,

what is the status of the TXO pin of the Arduino board?. According to me it should be High, aince this is an active low signal from Aduino, and being and out put it shold be high.

can u update me on this on a working board. Baed on ur feed back, i want to decide whether to replace the IC or not

thanking you once more

ashta

thanks once again

ashta

esklar81:

ashta:
Thanks.

But i have connected VCC, GND also apart from TX and RX. also it is 5V version.

did some more research on this.

  1. TX on Arduino is an o/p

  2. Rx on Arduino is an Input.

  3. Tx on the Ft232 is an Input. (Atleast the one that i have)

4.Rx on the Ft232 is an O/P ( Atleast on the one that i have)

The above have been confirmed thru schematics as well as physical multimeter checking and also thru Oscilloscope.

Hence Arduino TX will have to go to Ft232 TX

and

Arduino RX will have to go to Ft232 RX.

I had initialy connected the other way.

You are certainly not the first person to fall victim to “serial dyslexia”, the strange behavior of some designers to labels their inputs as “TX” and outputs as “RX”. The excuse usually given is that they believe it is better to label a port for the thing to which it connects than to label it based on what it is.

ashta:
Next step: Disconnected the TX and RX from Arduio, and looped it. and under Arduino 0022- Tools - serial monitor. typed some letters and saw that these are echoed… confirming that the Ft232 is working fine.

Which FT232 are you using?

ashta:
Then, checked the TX pin of the Arduino (Isolted from Ft232) and found that the level is low in idle condition. Since TXO is an out put and active low, in idle condition this has to be High In active. Tried to Pull up this line and it was getting pulled up. So it looks like that there is a problem in this pin.

How are you managing the “reset” function on the Arduino? I took a brief look at [a tutorial for this board and found some discussion of how to connect automatic reset for programming and a configuration change you need to make in the IDE for this board.

ashta:
This is my observation as of now and looks like the Arduino 328 chip has gone bad.

Pl comment on the above observation

Although having the RX and TX lines swapped, as you did initially, will certainly keep the device from communicating, there is no obvious reason to believe that would cause damage. I suggest you confirm that you’re doing everything described in the tutorial before concluding that the hardware has failed.

You could also check the voltages at the ATMega chip’s Vcc, RESET, and SLEEP pins. You should be able to capture the reset pulse during the download sequence with an oscilloscope.

Good Luck,

Eric[/quote]](http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoProMini)

6

Eric,

Thank you.

Back ground: My Aduino Pro Mini and the FT232 after connectin to the Note book(Windows7), is not able to down load the Sketch file.

Experts here pl comment on my observation, below. In summary, what i want to know is the following.

1, On the Arduino board, when connected to FT232 board and connetced to the PC, and in idle mode, what will be the status of the TXO pin on the Aduino?. Will it be High or low?

According to me it should be high, since the TXO is an active low out put? also when i rest, will this TXO pin pulse?

Can some body verify this and let me know. After hearing from u only i can decide my action plan wheter to replace the chip or not.

pl help

ashta

ashta:
Thank you very much eric, for the detailed reply. Thanks for your concern and efforts in replying to me.

Pl see my* comments*.

  1. I am using FT232RL, http://www.rhydolabz.com/index.php?main … b587fce57f

  2. The board ( Arduino Pro Mini 328, 16Mhz, 5V) has a built in rest switch. I am not doing any thing extra. The voltage for the 328 is fed from the USB and i have measured it and is 5V. Rest is working since when i press it the Pin is pulsing.

  3. What i want to know is when the Ardino is connected thru FT232RL tp PC(windows7) and in adle mode,

what is the status of the TXO pin of the Arduino board?. According to me it should be High, aince this is an active low signal from Aduino, and being and out put it shold be high.

can u update me on this on a working board. Baed on ur feed back, i want to decide whether to replace the IC or not

thanking you once more

ashta

thanks once again

ashta

esklar81:

ashta:
Thanks.

But i have connected VCC, GND also apart from TX and RX. also it is 5V version.

did some more research on this.

  1. TX on Arduino is an o/p

  2. Rx on Arduino is an Input.

  3. Tx on the Ft232 is an Input. (Atleast the one that i have)

4.Rx on the Ft232 is an O/P ( Atleast on the one that i have)

The above have been confirmed thru schematics as well as physical multimeter checking and also thru Oscilloscope.

Hence Arduino TX will have to go to Ft232 TX

and

Arduino RX will have to go to Ft232 RX.

I had initialy connected the other way.

You are certainly not the first person to fall victim to “serial dyslexia”, the strange behavior of some designers to labels their inputs as “TX” and outputs as “RX”. The excuse usually given is that they believe it is better to label a port for the thing to which it connects than to label it based on what it is.

ashta:
Next step: Disconnected the TX and RX from Arduio, and looped it. and under Arduino 0022- Tools - serial monitor. typed some letters and saw that these are echoed… confirming that the Ft232 is working fine.

Which FT232 are you using?

ashta:
Then, checked the TX pin of the Arduino (Isolted from Ft232) and found that the level is low in idle condition. Since TXO is an out put and active low, in idle condition this has to be High In active. Tried to Pull up this line and it was getting pulled up. So it looks like that there is a problem in this pin.

How are you managing the “reset” function on the Arduino? I took a brief look at [a tutorial for this board and found some discussion of how to connect automatic reset for programming and a configuration change you need to make in the IDE for this board.

ashta:
This is my observation as of now and looks like the Arduino 328 chip has gone bad.

Pl comment on the above observation

Although having the RX and TX lines swapped, as you did initially, will certainly keep the device from communicating, there is no obvious reason to believe that would cause damage. I suggest you confirm that you’re doing everything described in the tutorial before concluding that the hardware has failed.

You could also check the voltages at the ATMega chip’s Vcc, RESET, and SLEEP pins. You should be able to capture the reset pulse during the download sequence with an oscilloscope.

Good Luck,

Eric[/quote][/quote]](http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoProMini)

7

Ashta,

I had the exact same problem on my breadboard Arduino. I know how frustrating it can be. I think that I found a solution. At least it worked for me. First, make sure that your software is current. Avrdude should be at least version 5.10 and Arduino-IDE should be at least 0019. I am using 0022. This software is set up to use the DTR pin on the FT232R converter to send a reset pulse to the 328 before it starts uploading a sketch. Connect a 0.1 uF capacitor between DTR on the FT232 and the Reset pin on the 328. This will give you the right duration for the pulse.

With this modification, my uploads have worked every time. Good luck.

Tom