AVR Programmer, good choice?

[DylanBizarro]

Hello,

So I have recently started to learn C++, and program micro controllers, so I bought a pocket AVR programmer from spark fun electronics, and of course, it was defective. It would not connect to the microcontroller, and I had all the drivers working and all that, and I even tried another computer. The tech support will refund my order they said. So now I am thinking about buying this programmer.

http://www.adafruit.com/product/46

Does anybody recommend this, or another programmer? Also, has anybody gotten an AVR programmer to work on a mac? I prefer OS X and would like to have a mac in my little electronics lab.

 

[Gryd3]

Hello,

So I have recently started to learn C++, and program micro controllers, so I bought a pocket AVR programmer from spark fun electronics, and of course, it was defective. It would not connect to the microcontroller, and I had all the drivers working and all that, and I even tried another computer. The tech support will refund my order they said. So now I am thinking about buying this programmer.

http://www.adafruit.com/product/46

Does anybody recommend this, or another programmer? Also, has anybody gotten an AVR programmer to work on a mac? I prefer OS X and would like to have a mac in my little electronics lab.

A while back there was a Driver update on windows machines that zero'd the Device ID of counterfeit FT232 devices that are commonly used in programmers and Arduino devices. Only windows machines with the faulty drivers will corrupt the device, but once corrupt, the device will no longer function even on other machines.
There is a fix. By using an FTDI tool you can manually write the device ID back to the chip and use it again.
Perhaps this is a counterfeit chip that someone simply plugged into an affected windows machine?

*Note that this faulty driver was corrected with another update... but only if the user of the machine actually applies this update.

I realize your on MAC.. but that could be a possible excuse for the fault you are having if a previous person was unaware.

 

[DylanBizarro]

A while back there was a Driver update on windows machines that zero'd the Device ID of counterfeit FT232 devices that are commonly used in programmers and Arduino devices. Only windows machines with the faulty drivers will corrupt the device, but once corrupt, the device will no longer function even on other machines.
There is a fix. By using an FTDI tool you can manually write the device ID back to the chip and use it again.
Perhaps this is a counterfeit chip that someone simply plugged into an affected windows machine?

*Note that this faulty driver was corrected with another update... but only if the user of the machine actually applies this update.

I realize your on MAC.. but that could be a possible excuse for the fault you are having if a previous person was unaware.

Oh, I'll take a look at the update then and see if the programmer will work with it afterwards. I use windows for the AVR board, and mac for main work tasks. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Gryd3]

Oh, I'll take a look at the update then and see if the programmer will work with it afterwards. I use windows for the AVR board, and mac for main work tasks. Thanks for the reply.

Note that the corrected update will not restore the function of a counterfeit FT232 chip... it will only prevent the OS from bricking additional devices :s
To restore the function you need to manually rewrite the Device ID into the FT232 chip with a tool from FTDI..

The workaround for this driver update is to download the FT232 config tool from the FTDI website on a WinXP or Linux box, change the PID of the fake chip, and never using the new driver on a modern Windows system. There will surely be an automated tool to fix these chips automatically, but until then, take a good look at what Windows Update is installing – it’s very hard to tell if your devices have a fake FTDI chip by just looking at them.

Source : http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch-that-windows-update-ftdi-drivers-are-killing-fake-chips/

 

[BobK]

If I were to buy a programmer for AVR microcontrollers (made by Atmel), I would look at Atmel. They have one for $34.

Bob