Re: [avr-chat] AVRISP Upgrade - 1.0F to 2.04 in AVR studio 4.12

[Gary Douglas]

It's too bad that the firmware is scrambled.  I've got an STK500 that 
would happily upgrade the unit if possible ( maybe someone from Atmel 
would be gracious enough to send a file my way - since I do buy a fairly 
large pile of parts from time to time ;-)).

The lock bit issue is possible- and kind of scary.  If this is the case, 
I would think that my only choice is an ISP update from the STK500. 
I'll try to connect to it with the STK tomorrow to see if any unusual 
lock bits are set.

Which 6 pins are ISP?  Mine actually has a 6 pin header on it internally 
(Just behind the 10pin the tether connects to) , but I assumed that was 
for programming another AVR, not the ISP itself.

I appreciate everyone's help.  I suppose I could just buy another (at 
the $30  price) and not waste time, but it's annoying to have a tool 
that doesn't work, and I could use it right now!

Regards,

Gary






Graham Davies wrote:
> Gary Douglas wrote:
>
> > I have an AVRISP that ... I am trying to upgrade it from
> > V1.0F to 2.04 with no success....
> > The unit is failing verification after programming in all cases.   It
> > does come back after, but continues to report a 1.0F version.
>
>
> Here is a wild guess.  I'd appreciate any opinions on this.
>
> Recently it has been discovered that AVR Butterflies become unprogrammable
> in certain circumstances that are may relate to erratic power.  The symptom
> is verification failures in AVRProg.  What is happening is that lock bits
> become set, preventing writing to Flash in the application section.  Atmel
> suspect that due to power fluctuations, the MCU is losing its way and ending
> up in the part of the Flash loader (Atmel call it a bootloader) that
> programs the lock bits.  They have re-released the Flash loader without this
> capability.
>
> Now, most AVR Flash loaders are derived in some way from application note
> AVR109.  This is true of the Butterfly Flash loader.  It is also true of my
> AVR ICE-Cube.  I am getting field failures of a fraction of a percent per
> year that are due to lock bits becoming mysteriously set.  I thought I had
> the fix when I caught wind of the Butterfly thing, but when I went back to
> the source of my Flash loader, I see that I already thought of this and
> disabled the programming of the lock bits that affect the application
> section.  I've just tested the hell out of it and my modification is sound.
>
> So, what I'm saying is:
> a) Maybe the Flash loader of the AVRISP is derived from application note
> AVR109.
> b) Maybe the AVRISP is suffering from the same problem as the Butterfly and
> my AVR ICE-Cube.
> c) Maybe it isn't as simple as a stray instruction pointer wandering into
> the wrong part of the code.
> d) If you do manage to rescue your AVRISP, it would be really interesting to
> know if any lock bits got set.
>
> Graham.
>
>
>
>
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--
Gary Douglas
Manager - Network Products

Pathway Connectivity Inc.
Unit 103, 1439 - 17 Avenue SE
Calgary, Alberta
Canada. T2G 1J9
+1.403.243-8110 x43
www.pathwayconnect.com