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Hi Chris, it sounds like your problem is that there is a failure in the software that you are using to upload the sketch to the AVR. I'm assuming that you are using the Arduino IDE for this purpose? stk500 is one of the programming protocols that AVRdude uses to communicate with the processor.

Are you using an Arduino board with a USB cable to upload the sketch? Have you successfully uploaded sketches to this board before? If you are seeing a pulsing of D13, that would indicate that your processor already has the Adruino bootloader installed.

Some things to try: You might use a different PC to upload the sketch, it might be possible that there is a driver or hardware problem with your computer. If you have access to different Arduino boards, or can swap a different AVR processor into your Arduino, this might shed some light on the issue.

If you are using a USB-to-FTDI cable, there may be some problem there.

I doubt that it's an issue with the OEM sketch. You can confirm this by attempting to upload some generic Arduino sketch ("Blink" or "Fade") as a test.

AVRdude is really a command-line program, it can run in a terminal window, maybe you can get some insight there. Here's a fairly good tutorial on using it: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/avr/avrdude.html

Here's the results from a Google Search of your error code. Comb though that and see if any of the solutions offered help.

Perhaps someone else here will recognize your error code and have more specific advice. If you find a fix, let us know what it is.

 Hi

Thanks for the advice.

The board is a new emontx v2.0 . As you say, the processor should already have the bootloader as supplied I think - I am seeing the pin13 cycling which gives me some hope I haven't got a major problem.  I'm using a Nanode FTDI usb lead and the Arduino IDE.

This is my 1st upload attempt ( and 1st project build for a v long time!) No access to another arduino yet as I'm waiting on a few bits to finish a Nanode RF. I will try swaping out the processor though as you suggest.

I'd googled the error code but nothing obvious. I wondered whether there was anything specific to the emonTx though?

Also will take a look at the AVRdude tutorial.

Cheers

Chris

 Hello Chris, have you tried uploading to the emontx using the uno option? To do this goto Tools then Board and select Arduino Uno

 Hi Trystan

Yep I checked that the board is set to Arduino Uno before starting. I'm using Arduino IDE 23 on a Mac. Still not sure what the problem is. 

Btw for anyone else building an emonTX a couple of points:-)

1 - You need to use IDE ver 23 as Trystans sketch provided still needs tweaking for ver 1.0

2 - If you use the nanode programming lead be sure to get the drivers from Ken Boaks website - not the FTDI drivers on the arduino site.

Cheers

Chris

Hmm, im not sure then, do you have another atmega you can try? If we can work out whether it is the atmega or the emontx thats causing the issue that would probably be the first thing to isolate.

Trystan

 Hi Trystan

I managed to get it sorted. It looks like the capacitor C1 is faulty - probably my ham fisted attempt to get it to fit broke one of the leads inside the package. 

I think this stopped the reset pin being dropped to 0v when the IDE sent the sketch. Anyway shorting out the capacitor briefly when uploading the sketch seemed to work. Just got a replacement capacitor so will change it later.

Thanks for trying to help - I'm sure I'll be back again with another problem shortly:-)

Chris