Pololu USB AVR - Manual (Page 49)

8. Troubleshooting
This section helps solve problems you might have using the Pololu USB AVR programmer.
If the computer fails to connect to the programmer:
• If you are using AVR Studio 5 or Atmel Studio, make sure that your programmer has firmware version
1.07 or later. Using a firmware version prior to 1.06 will result in an error message in the Output tab
that says “The signature of the attached tool is AVRISP_2, which is unexpected” and
“Atmel.VsIde.AvrStudio.Services.TargetService.TCF.Internal.Services.Remote.ToolProxy+ToolContext”, and a
dialog box that says either “Unable to connect to tool STK500” or “AVR Studio was unable to start your debug
session”. See
Section 9 for information about determining your firmware version and upgrading.
• If you are using AVR Studio 5 or Atmel Studio and programming with the F5 key does not work, then click
View > Available Atmel Tools. This will open the “Available Tools” window. Make sure that there is one
and only one STK500 in the list and make sure that the COM port number matches the COM port number of
the Pololu USB AVR Programmer Programming Port, which is displayed in the Device Manager. If there are
multiple STK500 entries, right click on them and select “Remove” to remove the extra entries.
• Make sure your programmer is connected to your computer via a USB A to mini-B cable. If the programmer
was previously working and has since stopped, try closing all programs using the programmer (the configuration
utility, the SLO-scope client, and the Atmel Studio Device Programming dialog), and cycle the power by
unplugging it from your computer and then reconnecting it.
• If you are in Windows, make sure you have installed the drivers the programmer needs to operate. Section
3.a describes how to install the drivers in Windows.
• Is the programmer’s green USB status LED on? This is the LED next to the USB mini-B connector. If this
LED is blinking slowly, then your drivers are not properly installed.
• If you are in Windows, can you see your programmer listed in the Device Manager? The Device Manager
should show three devices: under “Pololu USB Devices” should be “Pololu USB AVR Programmer”, and under
“Ports (COM & LPT)” should be “Pololu USB AVR Programmer Programming Port” and “Pololu USB AVR
Programmer TTL Serial Port” and there should be no error symbols on the icons representing these devices.
• If you are in Linux, check that /dev/ttyACM0 and /dev/ttyACM1 exist. If they do not, see the section below.
• Your computer will only let one program at a time have a given COM port open. If you are connected to
your programmer’s programming port using another program, such as a terminal or a second instance of Atmel
Studio, you will not be able to connect to that same COM port with your programming software. Please make
sure you do not have any terminal programs connected to your programmer’s programming port. If you have
multiple versions of Atmel Studio running, make sure that you have closed the ISP programming dialogs in all
of them. When the ISP dialog is open, that instance of AVR Studio has an open connection to your programmer’s
programming port.
• If you are using AVR Studio 4, try connecting to your programmer’s specific COM port instead of selecting
the “Auto” option, which attempts to locate the port automatically. Some versions of AVR Studio 4 fail
to automatically detect programmers on virtual COMs port that are too high (e.g. above COM9). If your
programming COM port is too high to select from the connection dialog box and AVR Studio 4 does not
automatically detect the programmer, you will need to reassign the programming port to a lower virtual COM
port. You can do this by opening the properties dialog of the “Pololu USB AVR Programming Port” (found in the
“Ports (COM & LPT)” section of the Device Manager) and clicking the “Advanced…” button under the “Port
Settings” tab.
If the programmer has problems connecting to the target AVR:
• The most common cause for this problem is an incorrect connection between your programmer and your
target device. If the ISP pins are misaligned between the programmer and the target AVR, the two will not be
Pololu USB AVR Programmer User's Guide © 2001–2014 Pololu Corporation
8. Troubleshooting Page 49 of 54