No idea what to do now. Techzone MB 1.2 firmware install

Hello, this is my first post on these forums. i have been recently been building a mendel reprap with techzone electronics

i have attempted to install the firmware but have become stuck.

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

is the error message as i try to upload, i think everything is correct (com port etc)


i have tried:

waiting 10 seconds once hitting upload then pressing reset.

pressing reset then hitting upload almost instantly after.

trying different USB ports.

the techzone reprap wiki page is currently a mess and is no help at all.
[reprap.org]


the only thing i think it might be but unable to test is the jumper that was mentioned in non techzone motherboards. i was not supplied with one so assumed not needed. but if it is needed i am not sure where to put one.

I assume its on the row of 10 pins on the right.

any clues?


Thanks.

The way i've found that has worked flawlesly on my techzone mb is to plug the usb cable in and immediately click upload. Here are some other things to check.

Make sure the green led is solid on the motherboard.
Check the cable continuity with a multimeter to make sure all of the pins have good contact through the cable.

Here is a diagram of how i've wired my tech zone electronics. Techzone wiring

I think that might be the problem. but i am unable to check currently i shall update tomorrow.

I had similar problems and it turned out to be a bad ribbon cable between the usb adapter and the motherboard. Have you verified all the pins have connectivity? Those punch down ribbon ends are really tricky to get right.

A stopgap I found to make a guaranteed good connection for testing is to put six jumpers on the six pins of the motherboard and then put the usb adapter's pins into the other side of the jumpers.

I have this setup, went through the same hurdles, so I hope this helps:

1. definitely make sure your cable is made right with the ribbons jammed all the way into the connector, you can't be shy with those things.

2. I know some people don;t have it but my mainboard has a jumper near where the serial cable connects, without that jumper the board doesn;t get power... if yu have solder across 2 points there instead you have a pre-installed jumper

3. TRY the replicator G suite of software, you don't have to keep it, but it will at least give you some peace of mind if it works. My communication problems simply went away when I switched to it. I never have to time my resets or mess with anything it retries till it works. If you try this software you MUST install their firmware as well.

i tried jumpers connected to it directly. and it did install ( i think ) power light on and blinking red light manicly, then blinking at about 2 htz. went to install the extruder software turned the power on, and one of the motors was acting funny so turned off again. now the red blinking light will not turn on again, only the power light on the motherboard.

is it possible to blow out the motherboard if something was wire incorrectly? it was connected to the motors that was powered on. and the extruder.

this is proving rather frustrating

i can;t seem to get the extruder to install either.

do you need to supply 12 volts of power to the extruder for it to install?

I understand the frustration. I take it really slow, and take weeks off whenever I make mistakes.

anyhow...

yes you can blow your mainboard. but lets no conclude that yet.

it IS recommended to have nothing connected when you upload. I have a toggle switch for the power to the rest of the system that I switch off when I'm doing stuff lik that.

USB power should be all you need for the mainboard when uploading. In fact, I don;t supply power to the mainboard at all except through the usb cable.

just in case... you need to connect the cable and usb adapter to the extrtuder board to upload extruder firmware.

Youll need to troubleshoot this methodically and slowly, a piece at a time. keep a log of what works and doesn't so you can logically figure out the gaps.

Also, did you switch to replicatorg ? Like I said it has better communication / retries built in.

Things i have / happened done:

Had issues installing firmware on MB
-connected TTL/USB directly to MB, issue seemed to have disapeared, it seemed to install correctly with blinking red light and then repativly blinking at 2hz.

finished wiring up power supply to stepper drivers / extruder turned them on

1 of the motors seemed to be active and had motor lights blinking so turned off.

disconnected all wires.

attempted to install extruder firmware via 6 ribbon cable from TTL/USB seems to have done nothing no lights on for indication and had sync error message.

connected back to MB and noticed there was no blinking 2hz light anymore. attempted to reinstall firmware with replicatorg (which i have to say is a much better programme to use if some one is not familiar with audrino) and still have failed sync errors.



things i have also tried.
- reset button trick
- plugging in cable and hitting upload instantly

I was doing this whole process tonight again. I forgot to mention it can be very tricky with the reset button.

so 1ft make sure your ttl cable is good, check every pin.

next try various combinations of pressing the reset button on the board and the upload button on the software. What seems to work for most people is to hold the reset button, press the upload button then let go of the rest button.

BTW... on my setup at least the board gets pwer from the usb cable... if you have evrtyhing else unplugged and the usb cable is not lighting the power led something is wrong, most likely the cable or you have it upside down or something.

I have managed to install the extruder fine, i had to turn the TTL upsidedown for it to install correctly using ReplicatorG.

But still no luck with the MB,

It is getting power the other red light is not coming on at all. all the connections are fine.

i think i broke it when i turned the power on from the 12volt power supply when everything was connected together. (stepper drivers + extruder)

is there any sure way of checking if the MB is broken or not?

I wish I could tell you for sure.

you can try with the arduino app, have to install libs for sanguino and select it. It has the same reset button communication quirks as the extruder.

If you lose all hope I'd be willing to play with it if you send it. Can;t lose anything if you think it's dead.

If you live in the UK that would be brilliant. if not i think i'll order another one after a bit more playing around with it.

nope, across the pond.

I've been thinking of going one of the pololu routes like the arduino mega shield. Good luck.

Skoll,

which board do you pick on the Arduino software for the Techzone v1.2 Remix?

I have the green light on and the red light is just constantly blinking. I have not been able to get it to do anything else. My main goal is to upload the 'Blink' example to see if I can get one of the lights to blink at a different rate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FV2P58FmEQ

Sanguino. You have to install the Sanguino files as described in the wiki.