Programming Arduino Bootloader without External Programmer

OH NO!!! You've screwed up and now the Arduino bootloader on your 'duino is gone!  What are you going to do? Go spend money for a programmer??? Well don't! I've got a solution that only requires your 'duino and some wires! So its not the end of the world, it is just a minor glitch in the space-time continuum!!! In just under an hour you can have your 'duino back!***

How?

Well you know those pads near the USB that have the label X3? Well those will become your programmer!!!

Ok, ok. Not everybody messes up, but this will help you if you want to put the bootloader on a new chip, or you actually do mess up.  This setup can even program other AVR's using ICSP.

***The amount of time you will spend is not garunteed to be under an hour, and I will NOT take responsibility if you can't reprogram your bootloader.

!!!This will not work with the Uno or Mega2560!!!

Step 1 What You Need

This programmer requires minimal physical components, only wire, an Arduino, (with the FDTI USB to Serial converter built in, so no Uno, Pro, Lilypad, Mega2560, etc.) and a soldering iron and solder.

However, you will need some programs and files to operate the programmer.***
Below are the included program files.

avrdude-GUI  
avrdude.conf 
serjtag-0.3
The last download wouldn't work so the link is to the page where you will  find it.  You will have to scroll down until you find the link labeled serjtag-0.3.zip.  The mirror site is the one that works. Save all 3 files in one folder where ever you would like, we will get to those in a minute.
***Currenly available for Windows only.All files are virus FREE.

Comments

[FourthDr]

I found this information independently via google searches (http://www.geocities.jp/arduino_diecimila/bootloader/index_en.html) before finding your instructable. This method seems to have a few limitation.

1. Requires soldering (not a problem for me).
2. Only works with the bundled version of avrdude, does not work if you update to latest version.
3. Does not seem to be able to correctly program the new optiboot bootloader used on all newer arduino uno boards. (the reason I wanted to program the chip in the first place was to upgrade my arduino 2009 and mega 1280 boards with optiboot).
4. And finally, does this method work on a mega board? The arduino to arduino programming scheme on the arduino website only works between regular arduinos not with the mega board. Sketch needs to be tweaked??

The method you outline works fine with other bootloader variants designed for the standard arduino boards and with the older original bootloader only.

You might consider updating or creating another instructable that covers upgrading older boards with optiboot.

I'm still trying to find a reliable way to upgrade since I don't currently have an avr programmer.

[Teslaling]

1. Yeah, but its only 4 pins and TRUST ME, it can save you butt plenty of times!!

2. Actually, I didn't have WinAVR installed when I wrote the 'ible, it comes with its own avrdude that is designed to handle the Bit Banged FTDI programmer method.

3. Are you doing everything correctly, because it workes very efficiently for me, in fact, I use it as my main AVR Programmer too. How doesn't it work right? Did you select the right bootloader file? Did you update the fuses? Did you update the avrdude.conf file?

4. Yeah it will work with the Mega. The Bit Banged FTDI programmer doesn't use the Arduino programming scheme. It just programs the chip as a regular AVR that has a bootloader being written onto it.

[FourthDr]

Also, have you a had any success programming the optiboot bootloader onto an arduino 2009 using this method? I haven't. Works fine with other bootloaders like the ADABootLoaderR3_9D15.

[Teslaling]

I've had great sucess with the optiboot bootloader. Actually I'm puzzled as to why it isn't working. I may take that part off if anybody else has problems though.

[FourthDr]

This method does not work on an Uno. The Uno does not have the 4 pin header pads that the adruino 2009 has on it.

I tried updating the the avrdude software that was bundled with the avrGUI and serial-jtag software. If you make any changes to the avrdude.conf file then the GUI doesn't work properly or crashes. I also tried updating the FTD2xx.dll to the latest since that is a really old version and that does not work either. Something must be hard coded into the avrGUI.

If you have the arduino IDE installed, then you have a version of avrdude since that is what it uses to upload to the arduino. It is possible to update that version by copying the avrdude directory from the latest winavr to the same folder as avrdude in the arduino IDE.

[Teslaling]

I think I said that it won't work with the Uno, or Mega2560 (but I will make that more clear.)

Ok, thats strange, about the avrdude.conf file. Again, it works fine for me, no crashing or other problems.

I'm not sure what you mean by updating the avrdude in the Arduino IDE, that has nothing to do, whatsoever, with the avrdudeGUI as it has its own avrdude file.

This is really bothering me now why this isn't working for you, but I'm gonna keep trying to figure it out. :)

[FourthDr]

@gigavolt

I'm now wanting to upgrade the boot loader on my mega 1280. How would this work on that board?

[Teslaling]

It would be the same process, solder the pins, wire them up to the ISP and get the new fuses and optiboot code. Just remember that you can only load 126k of code (i think) instead of the 254k that it says!

If you have any trouble, just let me know and I will do the best I can to help figure it out.

[FourthDr]

@gigavolt

After swapping 328 chips between my first arduino 2009 and a more recently acquired board. It seems the 328 chip is defective in some way. Because I can program both with optiboot ok. But when actually using the programmed avr, the older chip does not operate reliably where as the newer chip does. It's possible the chip had some flaw that was not apparent using the older bootloader. I'll have to pickup some spare 328's on my next order. :-)

PS: How do you edit a comment after it's posted? Seems you can only delete...

[Teslaling]

Yeah, it would seem as if you have a defective chip. My only question is did you remember to change the fuses?? I ran into that problem once. Any code that I put on a chip that had a loop in it within the first 1.5k of memory would get the chip stuck, because i forgot to resize the bootloader (by changing the fuses), so the program kept running that loop in the bootloader making it impossible to upload new code!!!

On another note, having a few extra mircos is always fun because you can do things like make them communicate from across the house to measure temperature and light or control stuff like the TV or lights!!! There is nothing like being able to change the channel to a specific channel the family room TV when you are in your room on the next floor!!!

And yes, it would appear as if you can only delete comments..

[bricabracwizard]

Just highlight your comments, copy, and then repaste them into the same reply you want to, then edit, obviously it will change the date to the current date.

[tech industries]

Great Instructable! Worked right off the bat!

[Teslaling]

It's great to hear that!!! And thank you for letting me know of your sucess!

[rtty21]

I'm just getting started with arduino and I have but one question...
Is a bootloader the piece of software that accepts and stores programs on the ATmega chips?

[Teslaling]

Yes, on the Arduino, the bootloader is what take the info from the Serial line and stores it in the flash memory. What's cool about Arduino is that it doesn't need an external programmer to program. Instead, it uses the USB to Serial converter to program it! Then it can use the same converter to communicate with your computer.

[rtty21]

Neat! Thanks a lot, Man!