Arduino•4mo ago

nano serial chip broken?

Heyas! I got a free nano, I don't know the history other than someone clipped off the ICSP header pins (presumably to make it fit better in a pedal or something). It powers on. It has never been detected as a serial device. The cable I'm using works fine for other USB data hardware. I suspect the CH340C chip is fried but have been poking the nano to see. I've read forum posts that say to never use the ICSP header pins to upload sketches after burning a new bootloader - why is this? If we shouldn't load sketches via ICSP after burning a bootloader, what do we do next so that we eventually CAN load sketches? If the CH340C is fried, is this bricked? What might some good next steps be? Thanks! Here's what Ive done and the results Before doing anything, the PWR, RX, and TX lights were constantly on and the L (built in LED) was flashing once when pressing reset, and then L is off. I used this tutorial and a MEGA as the programmer board https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/articles/4841602539164-Burn-the-bootloader-on-UNO-Mega-and-classic-Nano-using-another-Arduino I burned the bootloader; and then PWR, RX, and TX lights were constantly on and the L was flashing three times when pressing reset, and then L is off. I burned "old bootloader" (by selecting it in Tools->Processor after selecting the nano as the target board in step 7); and now the PWR and RX lights are constantly on, and the L is flashing a heartbeat constantly. TX lights only while holding reset. In both cases the bootloader burned without any errors. I hooked up pins 7,8,9 to LEDs as suggested in the comments of the sketch. The first time burning happened VERY fast (less than 500ms) and without time to notice any of the data lights I hooked up flashing. The second time it took about 1 second and the blue data light was flashing.

flashing_old_bootloa...

flashing_bootloader....

18 Replies

AnonEngineering•4mo ago

the TX and RX LEDs are controlled by the CH340, if they are always on I'd suspect the CH340 is fried

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•4mo ago

Ok, thanks for the insight!

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•4mo ago

https://www.instructables.com/Overview-the-Arduino-sketch-uploading-process-and-/ It does seem like the issue with using ICSP to load sketches is just that it bypasses / wipes the bootloader. So if the serial is broken I can probably still use it as a non-serial device, and toss sketches on it via ICSP. Will try that tomorrow 🙂

Instructables

Overview the Arduino Sketch Uploading Process and ISP

Overview the Arduino Sketch Uploading Process and ISP: You can upload software to an Arduino using two methods. You may hear about the two methods commonly called ISP programming and FTDI or serial upload. I recommend learning about and becoming comfortable with using both methods. When I was getting…

AnonEngineering•4mo ago

unless the CH340 is erroneously pulling the Atmel328 pins around, but a good experiment to run!

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Good news, programming over the ICSP pins is working. Have successfully loaded the Blink example onto my (slightly broken) nano, using my Mega as an ISP programmer 🙂

AnonEngineering•3mo ago

ok, thanks for the update. the CH340 takes USB data and converts it to "TTL" levels, same as the ICSP connector wants, so you have a functioning board with a bad "USB to serial" converter chip

AnonEngineering•3mo ago

if you get one of these you can go back to flashing over USB

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Nice. Its a UART right? Could I get two and have one be a host port? 👀 Just thinking out loud 😄

AnonEngineering•3mo ago

yes, the pins give you UART, it won't operate as a host you might have to lift pins on the CH340 as it connects directly to arduino TX / RX hardware serial pins, ICSP is SPI

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Hmm yeah. Regardless of the trials, fun project 🙂

AnonEngineering•3mo ago

good on you, almost no one runs such experiments 🙂

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Well. Many folks here are children who just want to pass their class. 🤷‍♀️

AnonEngineering•3mo ago

very true - "Here's how to approach this..." - "Just gimme code bro!"

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Hmm so I resoldered the ICSP nano header and now I'm getting errors. I also had incorrectly tried with GND and MOSI swapped so maybe I fried something.

 "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

 "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

Bootloader:

"C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

"C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 -e -Ulock:w:0x3F:m -Uefuse:w:0xFD:m -Uhfuse:w:0xDA:m -Ulfuse:w:0xFF:m

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed chip erase: uploading error: exit status 1

Hmmm... also same when trying to program my Leonardo. So maybe my Mega is broken after having the wrong pins? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong that I did correctly before 🤔

Sketch uses 3956 bytes (13%) of program storage space. Maximum is 28672 bytes.
Global variables use 149 bytes (5%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2411 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2560 bytes.
"C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -V -patmega32u4 -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 "-Uflash:w:C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\arduino\sketches\E40B4D0A757067E524B690D9F3C2D4D5/Blink.ino.hex:i"

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed programming: uploading error: exit status 1

Sketch uses 3956 bytes (13%) of program storage space. Maximum is 28672 bytes.
Global variables use 149 bytes (5%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2411 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2560 bytes.
"C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude" "-CC:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -V -patmega32u4 -cstk500v1 -PCOM4 -b19200 "-Uflash:w:C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\arduino\sketches\E40B4D0A757067E524B690D9F3C2D4D5/Blink.ino.hex:i"

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\tuuli\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : stk500v1
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 19200
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\\.\COM4": Access is denied.


avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed programming: uploading error: exit status 1

OH nope I just had two Arduino IDE windows open, so one was using COM4. Yup and now ICSP programming works again with my Nano as target too.

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

https://tenor.com/view/bruce-buffer-ladies-and-gentlemen-we-are-live-live-ufc-mma-gif-25761115

Tenor

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Interestingly, the Leonardo bootloader took quite a while (maybe 30 seconds) to burn in again after my ICSP programming test

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Ooof ok and now Leonardo isnt showing up as a USB device / on a comm port anymore 🤦‍♀️ https://wiki.keyestudio.com/Ks0248_keyestudio_Leonardo_R3_Development_Board Its one of these so. I see theres lots of interesting posts about Leonardos and their bootloaders sooo.... will go read those.

Ks0248 keyestudio Leonardo R3 Development Board

Tuuli 🎹🎸🤘OP•3mo ago

Ah. It was my USB cable. That cable is now tagged with a "crappy cable" note. 🙂 All is well again.

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nano serial chip broken?

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