Heads up that I’m not well versed in much terminology, nor do I have a lot of experience with programming boards. I’m an exhibits manager who barely knows how to upload the code for one of our interactives.
I cannot upload code to the board because of the programmer is not responding error. I have the SparkFun Serial Enabled LCD Kit whose product page states I should choose Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328 for my board setting, but Arduino IDE 2.3.6 seems to require choices for both the board and processor (via Tools > Board and Tools > Processor) instead of the entire board choice including “w/ ATmega328”. In any case, I’ve confirmed the proper port is selected, as well as board and processor. I’m using the FTDI Basic Breakout 5V board, and am pretty sure the cable (USB to USB mini) to my laptop works because the Device Manager shows when the device is present or absent. I’ve tried this from all 3 USB ports on the laptop.
This exact process worked last year when trying to upload this code to another board of the same model, same setup. The only thing that changed was going to Windows 11. I’m not sure if this would have created this issue? However, if I look at Tools > Get Board Info, its type is labeled Unknown. I’ve read other threads that say this isn’t necessarily indicative of the issue because others have uploaded to a board listed as unknown. And I’ve looked through my computer’s board.txt files and found the definitions for the “Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328” board.
I’m at a loss. Not sure what else would prevent the upload. Many thanks for any help!
Yep, Win 11 breaks things. It sounds like the Win11 driver isn’t asserting the DTR pin correctly. You might try instilling the official FTDI driver and see if that clears things up.
That’s normal, most boards won’t return anything and the older FTDI based boards didn’t have board info enabled.
Worst case, you might need an older computer with Windows 10 or earlier but give the official drivers a shot first.
Any board with a FTDI, CH340 or Prolific USB to serial device on it for programming. The board info function in the IDE was never programmed to interrogate those devices and even if it was, those boards were never setup to respond to an interrogation. Most non Arduino branded boards won’t respond and a few Arduino branded boards won’t respond.
Not so much an age thing, they were either developed before the board Info feature was added to the IDE or they don’t respond to interrogation, or the IDE doesn’t have them in it’s database. (It’s a pretty useless feature)
Boards with native USB connectivity will have a know USB VID and PID that the IDE can see and will show up under board info.
You might also try an older version of the IDE, those seem to better support ther earlier boards.
1. Manual Reset
Sometimes Windows interferes with the auto-reset timing.
Press and hold the Reset button on the board.
Click Upload in the software.
Wait until the status bar changes from “Compiling” to “Uploading…”
Immediately release the button.
2. The Loopback Test:
Remove the FTDI board from the LCD kit (keep it plugged into USB). Use a wire or paperclip to connect the TX pin directly to the RX pin on the FTDI board. Open the Serial Monitor in Arduino and type something. If the text echoes back to you, your computer and FTDI tool are working fine, and the issue is definitely on the LCD board side.
You can add your own reset button (see image below), or just hold a jumper wire between the ground and reset pins as indicated and pull the wire once the IDE starts uploading.
Another potential issue is perhaps a previous load clobbered the bootloader which would keep it from responding. You could try connecting an AVR programmer using the port that looks like ::: just above the .com in Sparkfun.com. This may not be necessary - just trying to throw some ideas out there.
I tried selecting another programmer through the Tools menu, but the output window still says “using programmer: arduino” no matter which name I choose. Is that supposed to change?
Until someone suggested trying another, I had never selected a programmer. “Burn Bootloader” is a selection under Tools, and I’ve never tried that. I’ve only used the arrow button that denotes the Upload command.
The link you sent is the exact process I’m trying, unfortunately.
I already have a wire soldered into the ground, but I pressed a paper clip between it and the reset after I clicked upload and before the status showed it as actually uploading–no difference.
Your second suggestion is too complex of terms for me, not sure what you’re saying unfortunately. This is a brand new board, so I’m not sure it would have a previous load.
The last suggestion I have is maybe wipe the drivers currently on windows and try to re-install (run as admin)…if that doesn’t work we can work on replacements :-/
