Blink No Longer Accepting Uploads

ExpoExe · December 30, 2019, 8:19pm

So I finally got to start playing with my devkit and have run into a few issues. I’m a hardware newb so I’m not so great at troubleshooting it. 5 of my 6 Blinks included with the devkit seem to be functioning properly. The Blinks accept the examples uploaded through the Arduino IDE and can teach and learn games with each other. One of my Blinks is not playing nice.

I was able to upload the example ButtonGym initially, but now I am getting failed uploads. This Blink can teach others ButtonGym, and can learn new games to play with his friends. But here is the error output when trying to upload via Blinks Fast Programmer (image for readability along with text):

Error Output

     System wide configuration file is "/Users/name/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"
     User configuration file is "/Users/name/.avrduderc"
     User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

     Using Port                    : usb
     Using Programmer              : usbtiny
     Setting bit clk period        : 5.0

avrdude: usbdev_open(): Found USBtinyISP, bus:device: 020:004
AVR Part : ATmega168PB
Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
PAGEL : PD7
BS2 : PC2
RESET disposition : dedicated
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :

                              Block Poll               Page                       Polled
       Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
       ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
       eeprom        65    20     4    0 no        512    4      0  3600  3600 0xff 0xff
       flash         65     6   128    0 yes     16384  128    128  4500  4500 0xff 0xff
       lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
       hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
       efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
       lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
       calibration    0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
       signature      0     0     0    0 no          3    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

     Programmer Type : USBtiny
     Description     : USBtiny simple USB programmer, https://learn.adafruit.com/usbtinyisp

avrdude: programmer operation not supported

avrdude: Setting SCK period to 5 usec
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.

avrdude done. Thank you.

An error occurred while uploading the sketch

I have another issue I noticed with this Blink. Not sure if it is related or not. If not I can make a separate post about it. One of the IR emitters seems to be non-functional. The Blink cannot teach via this face, and when playing ColorByNeighbor, it does not cause Blinks to update when attached to that face.

Please let me know if any more details are needed

jbobrow · December 30, 2019, 10:57pm

Great post @ExpoExe,

Very helpful, and believe it or not, I have a feeling the bad IR signal on a single face is related to the inability to program. Below is a chart showing the face IDs with relationship to the Blink. Which face has the problem communicating? We’ve bricked a couple of Blinks (not many) but more than one, and this is most likely a sign that we need to send you a new one.

       0
    _______
1  / <===> \  5
  //:::    \\      <-- Bottom View of Blink
  \˙˙˙˙^˙˙˙˙/          ::: = ISP pins
2  \ __‰___/  4        Face 0 is at the top, then increments counter-clockwise 

       3

ExpoExe · December 30, 2019, 11:18pm

The issue is with face #3, going by your diagram @jbobrow

bigjosh · December 31, 2019, 4:25am

Yep, IR3 is connected to the MOSI pin on the programming interface, so likely a manufacturing defect with that trace, LED, or pin on the CPU.

jbobrow · December 31, 2019, 8:10am

We’ll get a replacement sent your way, ASAP.

ExpoExe · January 18, 2020, 8:49pm

Got my replacement and will be sending the defective one back. Thanks guys!

Dudepants · July 13, 2020, 1:16am

did this issue get resolved with the new blink? I see this identical error on two blinks in a row, now.