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Posted:
Jul 31, 2012

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Bot1398
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When starting with microcontrollers you are likely to face some problems in
programming your microcontroller and there is nothing more frustrating than
wasting hours to find the problem and still not be able to. I have worked with
different types of microcontrollers like The Arduino , PCAXE , PIC microcontrollers
etc and each time I started with off with a new family of microcontrollers there used
to arise a problem which took me hours and sometimes days to find out what the
problem exactly was , so I have come up with a list of problems you are likely to
face while programming a microcontroller.

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Heres The List:

1] Check The Power Supply
When I was trying to program a PICAXE microcontroller it always used to show a
error that unable to program I tried to solve this problem and then I finally came to
know that my power supply was not appropriate. I was using a wall adapter at first
when I replaced it programming started taking place smoothly. My programmer
required external power supply

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2] Selecting Correct Serial Port

In the programming software that you are using you need to specify the port to
which you have connected your programmer to. I have failed to program my PIC
microcontrollers because I didn't select the correct serial port.

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3] Installing Drivers
Before being able to use your programmer you need to install the drivers
necessary for the functioning of the programmer. When you connect the
programmer for the first time it will automatically install them but if it doesnt
download it from the internet. While programming the arduino it did not
automatically install the drivers I had to specify the locations of the drivers.

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Reasons (/tag/type-id/keyword-Reasons/)

Microcontroller (/tag/type-id/keyword-Microcontroller/)
Problem (/tag/type-id/keyword-Problem/)
Troubleshooting (/tag/type-id/keyword-Troubleshooting/)

PICAXE (/tag/type-id/keyword-PICAXE/)
4] Pull Ups
Many microcontrollers require pull ups in their circuit before they can be
PIC (/tag/type-id/keyword-PIC/)
programmed like the picaxe microcontroller requires 10k pull up resistor at the
Arduino (/tag/type-id/keyword-Arduino/)
5 Reasons
You otherwise
Are Not
Ablea error.
To Program
serial pin to getWhy
programmed
it shows
Many other A Microcontroller by
Bot1398
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microcontrollers
too require pull ups they might 1 or several.

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5] The Programming Software Is Not Detecting The Microcontroller

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This again is a problem with your power supply check your power
supply
again and I Made it!
again connect the programmer to the computer and now it should detect it but if it
still doesnt detect it there might be a problem in your programmer.

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6 months ago

Reply

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I came across a problem with Atmel ATTiny micro that, as

supplied, had its flash bits set for High Voltage
programming, so could not use normal programming. Had to
use special programmer to reset flash bits.

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diy_bloke (/member/diy_bloke) . drmpf (/member/drmpf) 5 months ago

Reply

That's really a drag. Fortunately the ones I got always could be programmed
with regular programming.
Only once did I have an attiny13 that unfortunately got programmed with a
wrong oscillator frequency and subsequently didnt respond anymore.. Built a
simple HV programmer (1 transistor-6 resistors) especially for that, which
did the trick. Have not used it since, but it came in handy :-)
With regard to uour point 5. I am not sure if that is always the PSU,
sometimes it is just a bad connection and not seldomly one has selected a
wrong setting in the programmer
Flag

keesv1 (/member/keesv1)

So a part you refer to is just a low quality board. Personally if

think the arduino is

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a year ago

Reply

a bit of a low budget thing; if you see what they make with it, i
prefer ti-boards, especially the audio boards with the new
newwer dsp's and their free software pwork amazing. But
pricewise you can't compare it , only the arduino is a board
which i used 12 years ago at the university written in assembly
or c(++), and assembly may be a a lot of work to do something
you can right in c code in 2 minutes... great to learn how it works
. But on a large scale pls don't use it:) .....
Biut arduino offers in a basic form not a lot ..... It costs nothing,
but a ti module is about 250 euro but they explain it perfect and
you don't get ripped of by hifi companies
Flag

jenniferr3 (/member/jenniferr3)

2 years ago

Reply

what are the possible reasons for microcontroller programmer

failure?
Flag

marselle001 (/member/marselle001) . jenniferr3 (/member/jenniferr3)

Reply

a year ago

1- Power Supply .
2- Serial / USB interface damaged aka (maxim232, ftdi,atmel).
3- Microcontroller it self damaged , or write enabled due to the
wrong fuse .
4- wrong programming (wrong use of sleep instruction , rare ).

Flag

opadave (/member/opadave)

4 years ago

Reply

Well done and well thought. I wish had been this proficient at
13. I agree about power supplies...that's usually where I have
problems.
Flag

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