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Re: [avr-chat] "double check connections"
From: |
Julius Luukko |
Subject: |
Re: [avr-chat] "double check connections" |
Date: |
Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:51:16 +0200 |
User-agent: |
KMail/1.9.6 (enterprise 0.20070907.709405) |
On Tuesday 13 November 2007, Marge Coahran wrote:
> I am using several STK500s with ATmega8515L chips to teach assembly
> language in a computer science course. Today two students got the
> error (below) from avrdude. As best I can tell, the serial port
> connections are correct and solid. Can this error also mean something more
> ominous, say that something on the chip or the board just got blown?
>
Hello all,
I am sorry, but I don't have the right answer to your problem, but similar
experiences.
We have used STK500+STK501+ATMega128s several years (5 or so) now in a student
laboratory. We have had many problems similar to yours with the combination.
We have around 100 students yearly, so the use is quite demanding. As of now
I think that only two ATMega128s have actually been damaged and it seems that
in some processors the A/D converter or USART0 might have been damaged.
In some cases I have been able to communicate to the STK500 with AVRStudio,
which might report that you have an old firmware version and suggests to
upgrade it. I have done so and after that there hasn't been any problems with
programming the chip with avrdude. Sometimes swapping STK500s and STK501s has
also helped, I don't know why, but it has.
Time seems to correct the problem sometimes, so don't through the board or the
chip away. Check again after a month or so. The problems seem to be bigger
when the humidity is low (in winter time here in Finland) and therefore ESD
is more of a problem. We haven't had any ESD protection in the lab, but now
we are in the process of improving it. The coming winter will tell if the
situation is any better.
Julius
--
D.Sc. Julius Luukko
Laboratory of Control Engineering and Digital Systems
Lappeenranta University of Technology, FINLAND
phone:+358-5-621 6713, fax:+358-5-621 6799, www: http://www.ee.lut.fi