Pololu USB AVR - Manual (Page 33)

Error From Last Programming
When an error or unexpected condition causes the programmer to leave programming mode, or fail to enter
programming mode, then the programmer turns on the red LED and records the error code. A description of the error
can be found here. See Troubleshooting (
Section 8 ) for details on specific error messages.
ISP Frequency
The higher the ISP frequency, the faster you can program the target AVR, but the ISP frequency must be less than a
quarter of the target AVR’s clock frequency.
The ISP frequency can be set in Atmel Studio (see Section 3.b.2 ) as well as in the Configuration Utility, but the
frequencies listed in the Atmel Studio user interface do not match the actual frequencies used by the Pololu USB AVR
programmer. The correspondence is shown below:
Frequency Listed
in Atmel Studio
Actual Frequency
Allowed Target
Frequency
1.843 MHz 2000 kHz > 8 MHz
460.8 kHz 1500 kHz > 6 MHz
115.2 kHz 750 kHz > 3 MHz
57.6 kHz 200 kHz > 800 kHz
28.36 kHz
14.07 kHz
4.0 kHz > 16 kHz
7.009 kHz
4.00 kHz
3.498 kHz
1.748 kHz
1.21 kHz
1.5 kHz* > 6 kHz
* This ISP frequency is so low that Atmel Studio times out while attempting to program flash or EEPROM pages, but
it can be used to program fuses and lock bits on AVRs running at frequencies as low as 6 kHz.
An AVR running at 20 MHz or higher (e.g. the Orangutan SV-xx8, Orangutan LV-168, Baby Orangutan, and 3pi
robot) can be programmed at 2000 kHz (1.845 MHz in Atmel Studio), which is the fastest setting.
An AVR running at 8 MHz or higher (e.g. the original Orangutan) can be programmed at 1500 kHz (460.8 kHz in
AVR Studio).
An AVR running at 1 MHz, such as one clocked off of the internal RC oscillator with the divide-by-8 fuse bit
programmed, can be programmed at an ISP frequency as high as 200 kHz (57.6 kHz in Atmel Studio). This is the
USB AVR programmer’s default ISP frequency.
The two lowest frequencies support AVRs with a clock frequency under 1 MHz. The 1.5 kHz setting is too slow to
actually program the flash or EEPROM on your target device using Atmel Studio (it will timeout while attempting to
program the flash/EEPROM pages), but it will still let you set the fuses. Be aware that if you attempt to program flash
or EEPROM at 4.0 kHz, it might take five minutes or longer to program a 16KB of flash, so we only recommend this
ISP frequency for putting small programs on very low-frequency AVRs.
Pololu USB AVR Programmer User's Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
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