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3D Robotics

Reloading the Arduino bootloader

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 9:00pm
If at any point you've managed to crash the ArduPilot code so badly that you've nuked the bootloader, don't worry: you can reload it. You'll need an AVR programmer. The best way to reload the bootloader is with the Arduino IDE, which is pretty straightforward. Just plug in your AVR programmer and select Burn Bootloader/ w/ AVRISP mk II. If you've already loaded AVR Studio, you may get an error in Arduino that says it can't find the USB. That's because of a driver conflict with the AVR Studio driver. Follow this workaround to reload the correct driver. It is also possible to load the bootloader with AVR Studio. Follow these instructions.
Tags: ardupilot
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  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 5, 2009 at 4:38pm
    Can you think of any reason why the bootloader would have been toasted? It's usually pretty robust.
  • paul April 5, 2009 at 4:27pm
    Thanks Chris. Yes I have been through the debugging tips.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 5, 2009 at 4:21pm
    Have you been through ALL of these debugging tips?
  • paul April 5, 2009 at 4:09pm
    From my PC, I get an error from Arduino when attempting to upload the ArduPilot code to the board:
    protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

    From the bits and bobs I have read, I figured the bootloader could be the culprit, but i'm pretty new to this, so I am open to suggestions :)
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 5, 2009 at 8:15am
    Paul, why do you think you need to burn a bootloader on the board? It came with that preloaded.

    But if you have toasted the bootloader somehow, yes, you need an AVR programmer. I've never seen that one you linked to and it does indeed have the wrong connector (it should have a 3x2 connector). I suggest you buy a real AVRISPII
  • Paul April 5, 2009 at 5:03am
    Hi,

    I think I need to burn the bootloader onto my new ArduPilot board.

    I have the FTDI breakout board but it sounds like I need an AVR programmer.
    I found an AVR programmer in the UK, but i'm not sure if it is compatible..
    http://www.virtualvillage.co.uk/items/item.aspx?itemid=4763814&...

    The plug on the other end from the usb looks like it wont fit anything on the ArduPilot board. So my question is, do I need another adaptor of some kind, or is the above Url completely the wrong thing for what I need to do?

    Excellent network here, looking forward to cutting some code for this board.

    Thanks,
    Paul
  • Saiful Azuwan February 21, 2009 at 10:55pm
    Thank you. Good info.
This reply was deleted.