Could someone help with a tip? After several hours of trying to work and searching for a solution on the Internet, I am about out of options on why flashing the firmware in my brand new Turnigy 9X won’t work. I tried several guides posted on er9X http://code.google.com/p/er9x/ and th9X http://code.google.com/p/th9x/ and RC Groups and TowerHobbies discussions.I think the problem most likely lies with power supply and/or a USB hub I am using. I cannot connect the Sparkfun Pocket AVR directly to the laptop USB, it won’t let me install the Sparkfun Pocket AVR driver. So I think when I have the laptop connected to the Pocket AVR via the USB hub and the Pocket AVR to the X9, the laptop software cannot “see” the X9 because of the USB hub(?)It’s a “virgin” Turnigy 9X with V2 firmware. I have done the hardware modification as described in both er9X and th9X guides:- by running wires from VCC, GND, MISO, MOSI, SCK, RST on the X9’s circuit board out to a Sparkfun Pocket AVR Programmer. Connected MISO to MISO, MOSI to MOSI, etc- From Acer One Laptop using external powered USB hub connected to Sparkfun Pocket AVR Programmer (Turned on external target power switch on Pocket AVR Programmer)- From Sparkfun Pocket AVR Programmer with factory 10-pin to 6-pin ribbon cable to Turnigy X9’s modded circuit board connections- No batteries connected to the Turnigy X9This is what’s happening:1. When I plug in Pocket AVR directly in the laptop’s USB, only the blue light (power) comes on, the laptop notices it but installed a Windows driver, and won’t let me install the Pocket AVR driver, it says could not find a better match. Tried to install the driver directly from the folder by pointing to it and keep getting “the specified location does not contain information about your hardware”2. So I added a un-powered USB hub and it registered as unknown USB device and was able to install the (unsigned) driver for Pocket AVR on my XP system3. Now the Pocket AVR has one red (stat1) and one blue light (power) on. ( I think “stat2” should turn on if all working fine when reading/writing the code).4. As soon as I connect the Pocket AVR to the USB via the powered hub while the X9 is also connected, the Turnigy X9 turns on to the main screen, shows 4V and beeps every 5 sec or so (I read that this is ok)5. When I run the eePe editor and select USBtiny, etc and execute, it calls for Avrdude to read the EEPROM in the X9, and I get an error message.Avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1 Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override this check6. Avrdude recognizes the Pocket AVR Programmer, but cannot ID the Turnigy X9’s chip.My hardware setup:Acer One Laptop USB portUSB hub with and without external powerSparkfun Pocket AVR ProgrammerMy software setup:Windows XP ProInstalled driver and confirmed that Pocket AVR Programmer showed up in Device ManagerOption 1: eePe EEPROM editor/custom flasher that contains Avrdude as wellOption 2: WinAVR with Avrdude and avrdude-gui_v0.2.0 GUI interfaceThings I have done:- Checked with ohm meter continuity from Pocket AVR Programer’s pins to all the way to Turnigy 9X-s main chip pins for MISO, MOSI, SCK, RST and also VCC and GND on the board (BTW: my Spakfun Pocket AVR programmer had one row of pins incorrectly labeled backwards. I read on Sparkfun’s website that this was corrected in the next batch). I checked this many many times. I am 99.9% sure it’s correct.- Connected Pocket AVR Programmer directly to USB port (laptop would not recognize it). Had to use USB hub and recognized it so I could install driver. Later used powered USB just in case my Acer One laptop power is not enough to power the Pocket AVR and the Turnigy X9.- Made sure target power switch on Pocket AVR Programmer is ON. Later I connected the Turnigy to its own battery and turned the target power switch on Pocket AVR Programmer OFF. I wanted the X9 to have its own power just in case there isn’t enough power from the USB hub to run the AVR programmer.- I tried to run avrdude-gui_v0.2.0 GUI interface inside the WinAVR folder and selected Atmega 64, same Avrdude error messageI tried another larger laptop (Win XP), here finally was able to connect the Pocket AVR directly and had both the red and blue light on, but same message: “ avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1 Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override this checkShould I try on my Win 7 –x64 laptop? I read that the driver installation is a hassle and requires an unsigned driver validation third-party program and a watermark removal program.I would appreciate anyone who can provide some tips. I know there could be a thousand different issues wrong, but I am pretty sure it’s a driver issue.Thank you,Tom
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Honestly, I spent way too long trying to get random issues resolved with various AVR programmers, and realized that I had an extra Arduino laying around. If you have one laying around, and all else fails, try following this tutorial to use your Arduino as an AVRisp programmer. It might take a little b it of configuring pins and baud rates, butit works solidly afterwards. It worked first time for me, and I was able to flash many different versions of the firmware many times on multiple T9x's. I just wired a 6 pin female header to the T9x and made a male header coming from the Arduino.Hope this helps!
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of this error using eepe and the AVR Programmer. I am getting (almost) the very same thing. Using a Turnigy 9x V2, AVR Programer and the latest version of eepe. I plug in the avr programmer, connect to the Turnigy and the programer shows two blue light and a single red. The Turnigy 9x starts to beep at 4 second intervals but when I try to download the chip data from the Transmitter (I want to back it up before attempting to flash), I get the error "Error: unable to locate C:/DOCUME~1/Tom/LOCALS~1/Temp/temp.hex" - the file is there, I can see it. I could place it somewhere more obvious (for example, in the root of C:) but I can't find any preference in eepe to change the default location.
Have checked all my wiring/soldering, that's fine. I even took it all off and started over. Have checked contacts with multimeter and they are fine.
Can anyone suggest solutions or point me in the right direction to get this fixed?
Win XP, normal drivers, SFE Pocket AVR Programmer works just great with er9x instructions. I have flashed many TGY's with that. So check your cabling to TGY and did you power TGY properly from programmer?
This is the error I get:
=================================================================================
Started AVRDUDE
C:/Program Files/eePe/avrdude.exe -c usbtiny -p m64 -U eeprom:r:C:/DOCUME~1/Tom/LOCALS~1/Temp/temp.hex:i
=================================================================================
avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.
Replies
Honestly, I spent way too long trying to get random issues resolved with various AVR programmers, and realized that I had an extra Arduino laying around. If you have one laying around, and all else fails, try following this tutorial to use your Arduino as an AVRisp programmer. It might take a little b it of configuring pins and baud rates, butit works solidly afterwards. It worked first time for me, and I was able to flash many different versions of the firmware many times on multiple T9x's. I just wired a 6 pin female header to the T9x and made a male header coming from the Arduino.Hope this helps!
You are a legend, was pulling my hair out over this.
Just soldered a jumper over the R4 and R7 1k5 resisters and it started to work perfectly. Funny the added protection in the USBtiny caused this.
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of this error using eepe and the AVR Programmer. I am getting (almost) the very same thing. Using a Turnigy 9x V2, AVR Programer and the latest version of eepe. I plug in the avr programmer, connect to the Turnigy and the programer shows two blue light and a single red. The Turnigy 9x starts to beep at 4 second intervals but when I try to download the chip data from the Transmitter (I want to back it up before attempting to flash), I get the error "Error: unable to locate C:/DOCUME~1/Tom/LOCALS~1/Temp/temp.hex" - the file is there, I can see it. I could place it somewhere more obvious (for example, in the root of C:) but I can't find any preference in eepe to change the default location.
Have checked all my wiring/soldering, that's fine. I even took it all off and started over. Have checked contacts with multimeter and they are fine.
Can anyone suggest solutions or point me in the right direction to get this fixed?
It would be much appreciated.
Win XP, normal drivers, SFE Pocket AVR Programmer works just great with er9x instructions. I have flashed many TGY's with that. So check your cabling to TGY and did you power TGY properly from programmer?
=================================================================================
Started AVRDUDE
C:/Program Files/eePe/avrdude.exe -c usbtiny -p m64 -U eeprom:r:C:/DOCUME~1/Tom/LOCALS~1/Temp/temp.hex:i
=================================================================================
avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.
avrdude.exe done. Thank you.
=================================================================================
AVRDUDE done - exit code 1
=================================================================================
When I try to use -F to override the chip ID this is what it says:
=================================================================================
Started AVRDUDE
C:/Program Files/eePe/avrdude.exe -c usbtiny -p m64 -F -U eeprom:r:C:/DOCUME~1/Tom/LOCALS~1/Temp/temp.hex:i
=================================================================================
avrdude.exe: initialization failed, rc=-1
avrdude.exe: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
avrdude.exe: Device signature = 0x000000
avrdude.exe: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
avrdude.exe: Expected signature for ATMEGA64 is 1E 96 02
avrdude.exe done. Thank you.
=================================================================================
AVRDUDE done - exit code 1
=================================================================================