7. Troubleshooting
If Your Computer Fails to Connect to the Programmer
• Make sure your programmer is connected to your computer via a USB A to mini-
B cable. If it was previously working and has since stopped, try cycling the power by
unplugging it from your computer and then reconnecting it.
• Make sure you have installed the drivers the Orangutan USB programmer needs to
operate.
• Is the programmer’s green USB status LED on? This is the single LED on the same
side of the board as the mini-B connector. If this LED is not on, you do not have a valid
USB-to-serial connection between your programmer and your computer.
• If you are running Windows, can you see your programmer listed among your Device
Manager’s COM ports? If you expand your Device Manager’s “Ports (COM & LPT)” list,
you should see your programmer appear as “Pololu USB-to-serial adapter”.
• If you are running linux, examine the system messages generated when the
programmer is connected, using the command “dmesg”.
• Your computer will only let one program have a given COM port open at a time. If you
are connected to your Orangutan USB programmer’s COM port using another program,
such as Hyper Terminal or a second instance of AVR Studio, you will not be able to
connect to it with your programming software. Please make sure you don’t have any
terminal programs connected to your programmer, and if you have multiple versions of
AVR Studio running, make sure that you have closed the “AVRISP” programming dialogs
in all of them. When the AVRISP dialog is open, that instance of AVR Studio has an open
serial connection to your programmer.
• If you are using AVR Studio, try connecting to your programmer’s specific COM port
instead of selecting the “Auto” option, which attempts to locate the port automatically.
• Is your programmer’s blue mode jumper selecting for programming mode? If the
mode jumper is missing or is selecting USB-to-serial adapter mode, your computer will
not detect it as a programmer.
• If none of the above work, try connecting to your programmer using a terminal
program to verify that it’s alive. Please see the Configuring Your Programmer for AVR
Studio section for instructions on how you can interact with your Orangutan USB
programmer using a terminal program.
If Your Programmer Has Problems Connecting to Your Target Device
• The most common cause for this problem is an incorrect connection between your
programmer and your target device. If the ISP pins are misaligned between your
programmer and your target device, the two will not be able to communicate. Please
make sure that the ISP pins as numbered in the Module Pinout & Components section
are correctly connected between your Orangutan and your programmer (i.e. 1 goes to 1,
2 goes to 2, etc.).
• Your target must be powered for programming to work. Please make sure that your
Orangutan has power and is turned on.
Pololu Orangutan USB Programmer User's Guide
© 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
7. Troubleshooting
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