Tiny AVR programmer takes several attempts to program ATtiny45

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1

Using the Tiny AVR programmer on Win7 system with Arduino 1.8.12 IDE. Some sketches will upload on the first try with no problems, other more complicated sketches sometimes do not run correctly after upload. The IDE does not generate any error messages but the ATtiny45 does not execute the sketch properly.

Sometimes I have to “burn the bootloader” before attempting to upload the sketch and then the ATtiny45 will execute the sketch properly. Other times it will take multiple attempts of burning the bootloader and then uploading.

I am using the ATtiny45 and the internal 8 Mhz oscillator. I purchased the ATtiny45 ICs from DigiKey and initially tried using them in the factory configuration but all of my timing waveforms were off by a mile. Selecting the internal 8 Mhz oscillator resolved this but now getting it to program correctly is a challenge.

2

I’m also having trouble with Tiny Programmer. Getting verification errors when attempting to upload:

avrdude: verification error, first mismatch at byte 0x0040

0xff != 0x04

avrdude: verification error; content mismatch

I’ve noticed from this and other forums that this is not a new issue but no one has offered up a solution. Is it possible that the Tiny Programmer is half-baked? I’m using ATtiny45, Arduino IDE 1.8.12 running on Windows 7, clock set to 8MHz (internal).

3

Do you have a stable power supply and have you used decoupling capacitors and a pull-up on the reset on the ATtiny45?

4

The power supply is whatever comes off the USB port - would assume it’s clean. Decoupling capacitors and pull-up on reset have no effect with regard to this issue. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that if I unplug the Tiny Programmer from the USB port and then re-plug, I fairly consistently get one successful upload; subsequent attempts go back to verification error. I would like to know if someone at Sparkfun is looking into this issue. I can’t consider any more purchases if the products don’t work.

5

That programmer has been around for a while. There aren’t any complaints of this issue in the reviews so I think this is a one-off issue. I would double check that the USB connector is clean (as well as the computer port) and there aren’t any other programs interfering with the USB port.