Programming Arduino with FTDI fails - please advise

This is driving me mad. I have successfully programmed many sketches in the past. Since then I have upgraded the IDE to 2.0.3 on my Windows 10 machine. I use a DSD Tech FTDI USB to TTL adapter. If I link RX to TX and run PuTTY it echoes back what I type (Ctrl-E returns "PuTTY").

I then remove the link and connect the adpater to a Pro Mini and PuTTY displays:

Initializing SD card...
Card failed, or not present

This will be from the existing sketch in the Arduino which I want to replace with a new one.

So I close PuTTY and start the IDE. It detects the COM port and I select Arduino Pro or Pro Mini. When I try to upload the Blink sketch I get these errors:

Using Port                    : COM4
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x07

avrdude done.  Thank you.

Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

I tried another Pro Mini and got the same result.

Any suggestions gratefully received!!

Mike

Did you connect all 6 pins of the FTDI adapter?

To my knowledge there are known issues with FTDI and IDE 2.0. You can dig through these forum search results: Search results for 'ftdi #software:arduino-ide-2-0' - Arduino Forum

I could not straight away find it on github: Issues ยท arduino/arduino-ide ยท GitHub

Yes, there is a bug in Arduino IDE that causes uploads via FTDI FT232R chips to fail with an "Access is denied" error when Serial Monitor is open:

@solderingiron please make sure to close the Serial Monitor tab before uploading if you have Serial Monitor open:

215050213-e6c41c1a-0eae-448a-ae91-f2acefedf793

However, the bug mentioned above will never cause the error you shared:

So there is some other problem.

@solderingiron did not get an "access denied"; that's why I'm not sure if it's the same issue.

I agree that it is different. However, there is the chance of a "problem stack", where if Serial Monitor is open, solving the "not in sync" error will only get @solderingiron to the "Access is denied" error. So I think it is a good idea anyway to close Serial Monitor even though it won't solve the "not in sync" error.

Not denying that :slight_smile:

No I only connect VCC, GND, TXD and RXD. RTS and CTS aren't connected.

Mike

For upload over USB, you need DTR (of the adapter) connected to reset of the Arduino. If you don't, you have to manually reset your board at exactly the right time. I'm surprised that you never encountered it in the past.

The DSD Tech adapter doesn't have DTR, only RTS and CTS. I've just tried programming with a Sparkfun FTDI breakout board and that works, so clearly there is either a problem with the DSD or my memory ... :woozy_face:

However I'm certain I've used the DSD for this before because I have a drawer full of 3.3V Pro Minis and the DSD has selectable Vcc, while the Sparkfun is only 5V.

Mike

Try RTS in that case.

Yes that worked! Thank you so much.

Mike

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