SainSmart Melzi

I have just recieved my sainsmart melzi board. i have yet to connect it to ANYTHING ie. stepper motors/hot end/heated bed

i have however

Switched the jumper to usb
attached the cable


i had also got usb drivers which recognize it as a com port now.

however my led flashes at a consistent rate is this normal?

also when following the steps mentioned in the mendel pdf it says to use arduino 1.0.5 included. i have done that i have all the files and have got to the part where i assume i upload firmware to it ( pardon if i am using the incorrect term) it included me opening marlin.ino

which i did. also to set the board type to melzi 1/atmega 1284p

now i get this error in orange when i click the upload button

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

What is going on here do the steppers etc need to be connected?

i have the correct comport setting and the light even momentarily goes off during this sequence almost like it gets a request and interupts the light im puzzled

That error means you are not connecting to the board, this link covers what you need in addition to upload the firmware - [reprap.org]

That was the set of instructions i was following. also. the reprappro website has changed significantly apparently as the links posted in many of the reprap pages only lead to the homepage now

Did you select the board in the Arduino IDE?

yes i have and still nothing =/ this is my first time diving into the world of 3d printing. and so far its pretty discouraging

I'm not familiar with the Melzi, but am wondering if there is a jumper on the board that prevents the firmware from being overwritten in a production device that you need to change so that you can flash it?????

Did you ever figure this out. I've been having the same problem with no luck.

Quote
mit Smith
Did you ever figure this out. I've been having the same problem with no luck.

Yes I forced a partial PayPal refund on sainsmart. The board doesn't have a bootloader installed which means it will never communicate with usb.

It at this pint will only communicate via isp device. Sainsmart is a pain to deal with for refunds. Just force PayPal on them. And hopefully get a large partial.

Because they describe the item as having a bootloader. And it arrives without one. That means it arrived not as described. PayPal will do their best as it's part of their buyer protection

On another note after I burned a bootloader onto it 2 of the axis didn't work. So it was pretty dead.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2014 02:44PM by WOOK111.