ARDUINO with ATmega8A-PU not working

[Rick Law]

Could he buy an ATmega328P-PU and replace the chip?

The picture in Ebay clearly shows it's a ATMega8A-PU and they say it's "compatible" shady, and for what, 14 cents price difference?

You can find the chip from Ebay for $3 free shipping from china (couple of months to get it?) and hopefully they don't cheat you again. From mouser etc with shipping $10 but your best bet is to ask for a refund and/or dispute.

Jameco is another choice.  The 328's with boot loader is about $5.50 if I remember correctly, and min order is $10.  So get a pair and if it works, you have one for each.  They sell both with and without boot loader.  The one without bootloader is a buck or so cheaper.  So make sure you select the right one and don't just click on the lower price choice.

[amyk]

I'm pretty surprised every time someone says "you need a programmer", when all you really need is a PC with a parallel port and a few wires... the official Arduino site even has a page on how to do it:

http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/ParallelProgrammer

Alternatively, read the datasheet's programming protocol section, wire up a pair of debounced pushbuttons, and with the appropriate hex file printed out or visible on your PC, write the bootloader to it bit-by-bit. Bootstrap an Arduino the "old-school" way.

[Rick Law]

I'm pretty surprised every time someone says "you need a programmer", when all you really need is a PC with a parallel port and a few wires... the official Arduino site even has a page on how to do it:

http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/ParallelProgrammer

Alternatively, read the datasheet's programming protocol section, wire up a pair of debounced pushbuttons, and with the appropriate hex file printed out or visible on your PC, write the bootloader to it bit-by-bit. Bootstrap an Arduino the "old-school" way.

I thought the guy needed a programmer of some sort also.  I didn't know one can do that!  Thanks for pointing it out.  That looks like something fun to try.

Rick

[Zeta]

I'm pretty surprised every time someone says "you need a programmer", when all you really need is a PC with a parallel port and a few wires... the official Arduino site even has a page on how to do it:

http://arduino.cc/en/Hacking/ParallelProgrammer

Alternatively, read the datasheet's programming protocol section, wire up a pair of debounced pushbuttons, and with the appropriate hex file printed out or visible on your PC, write the bootloader to it bit-by-bit. Bootstrap an Arduino the "old-school" way.

Most current PCs/Laptops dond't have a Parallel port, thats why the easiest advice is often to get a cheap programmer.

BTW, op, the ebay listing shows clearly in the pictures that it has an atmega8 as main processor. Your fault for getting the wrong board, on the other hand if the board does not work then ok get a refund and/or drop a bootloaded atmega328 in the socket

[Shobos]

The said they will give full refund within 2 days, altrough they wanted me give just 5 dollars lol I will drop 328P inside because i did a little research and i am not only one who had a 328P board with 8A-PU chip. The board looks actually prtetty nice, 50v caps, male and female connectors, good soldering job on there, nicely placed buttons etc.

[bxs]

The said they will give full refund within 2 days, altrough they wanted me give just 5 dollars lol I will drop 328P inside because i did a little research and i am not only one who had a 328P board with 8A-PU chip. The board looks actually prtetty nice, 50v caps, male and female connectors, good soldering job on there, nicely placed buttons etc.

So you got 2 arduino boards for nothing 

I don't give a damn about arduino but I wanted some Atmel chips and the cheapest way was buying arduino boards  , so I bought I board like yours but with atmega328p, like yours in description it said that have the a 328p but also the Atmega 16U2 but it only have a USB-RS232 bridge, I actually wanted the USB chip to things like keyboards etc.

[Shobos]

What ? i will pop in a 328P chip in those board and i will have fully working 2 arduinos for like 5 bucks.

[bxs]

What ? i will pop in a 328P chip in those board and i will have fully working 2 arduinos for like 5 bucks.

The board itself is OK, just put some 328 chips with bootloader and it will work fine, my board actually came with a 238p chip, just didn't had the USB Atmel chip.

[Shobos]

Yup, thats what i will do ! Thanks for info !

[miguelvp]

Just make sure you put the chip in the right orientation and you'll be ok I think.

[Stonent]

If you're in the US you could probably get a few sample 328 pdip chips from Atmel.

[Shobos]

Sounds awesome but I am from Latvia, i guess ill just buy few (with bootloader ofc) from china, usually parcels from china arrive in ~20 days

[Rick Law]

Sounds awesome but I am from Latvia, i guess ill just buy few (with bootloader ofc) from china, usually parcels from china arrive in ~20 days

Make sure they are indeed 328's.  When I was hunting (before I learned to burn the boot loader), I saw some "good deals" and they turn out not to be 328's - only 8K of flash but otherwise suppose to be exactly the same - probably the exact ones you got now.  And the "real" 328's I found on eBay wasn't that much of a deal.  I ended up getting a pair from Jameco here in the US.

Read the fine prints!

By the way, burning the loader is not difficult particularly if you have a working Arduino.  Well worth learning.  Even if you don't care saving just a couple of dollars per chip, it takes away "the fear factor" by know you can replacement them with bare ones readily.

[Shobos]

Hehe, thanks for info, will try to get some real 328's !

[retrolefty]

Hehe, thanks for info, will try to get some real 328's !

probl

Keep in mind that there is a atmel AVR mega328 chip and a mega328P chip. Minor differences, but they have different signature bytes embedded into them and can cause problems when trying to burn the bootloader from the arduino IDE. The arduino platform supports and uses the 328P version.

[Shobos]

I saw some atmega328p altready with bootloader for 6 dollars, i guess i will get those ! UPDATE: they refunded me ALL money !

[Jarrod Roberson]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301105919701?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 i Dunno why it shows 59 $ price now because I got it for 9,58 dollars.  What i got is this http://imageshack.com/a/img834/4746/keic.jpg

That isn't an Arduino, they should have never called it that, and you shouldn't either.

http://arduino.cc/en/Products/Counterfeit

What you got was a no-name knock-off that claims Arduino compatibility, which isn't.

Get the real deal, they aren't that expensive and the guys in Italy deserve the few $ for their hard work and marketing efforts and promoting the platform and development of the platform.

The saying, "you get what you pay for" was created for a reason.

[retrolefty]

I saw some atmega328p altready with bootloader for 6 dollars, i guess i will get those ! UPDATE: they refunded me ALL money !

 Keep in mind that there are two different versions of the 328p arduino bootloaders, one for the current Uno boards and another for the older arduino 328p board versions. Either will work but you might have to try selecting different board selection options in the arduino IDE, as the baud rate is 'hard coded' in the bootloader and are different for the current and older boards.

[paulie]

That isn't an Arduino, they should have never called it that, and you shouldn't either.
What you got was a no-name knock-off that claims Arduino compatibility, which isn't.

technically it isnt an arduino product because it wasnt made in italy but surely is "100% compatible". too bad cloners who provide an excellent service for bargain hunters are cheated by noobs and derided by brand name fanboys. if they had described it as "original", "genuine", or "vintage" i would agree there was misinformation but they claimed it was 328 compatible which it is and clearly showed an m8 installed which was.

The saying, "you get what you pay for" was created for a reason.

mainly to make it easier to sucker those with more money than brains. which it does.

[amyk]

I saw some atmega328p altready with bootloader for 6 dollars, i guess i will get those ! UPDATE: they refunded me ALL money !

So now you got a free AVR? Put a bootloader on it and use it as an Arduino, or learn to just use a bare MCU.

[dannyf]

UPDATE: they refunded me ALL money !

It seems to me that the seller accurately described the products, and you got 1 (or 2?) aruidno for free.

I assume that

1) you know the right thing to do in this case; and
2) you will do the right thing.

[Shobos]

Two.

I guess they didnt because it clearly said it has 328P chip inside...
And what would be the right thing to do ?

[Rick Law]

Two.

I guess they didnt because it clearly said it has 328P chip inside...
And what would be the right thing to do ?

They were quite clear that it is a 328p compatible in the title, and from the eBay page:
"Package Content:
1 x ATmega328P Version Board
1 x USB Cable"
They didn't say "1x Compatible board with ATMega328P installed"  But they were not clear that it is NOT installed with the ATMega32P - except in the picture.

Frankly, if I am eBay adjuster and I got the complain, I probably rule with the seller.

What remains an open issue is, how compatible is it and when you do get your bootloader-loaded MCU, will it work and how well.

Perhaps once you get it working, subtracting the cost of the new pre-loaded MCU, contact the seller and pay him back the difference, so you got a couple of extra chips you can learn to burn boot-loaders with, and the seller get a hell of a good day knowing there are good people out there - he probably doesn't understand what you are trying to do anyway because many of the sellers are awful with their English.

An alternative is merely donate a portion of the difference to your favorite charity...

Next time when you walk by those donation box/jar, just be a little more generous.

[westfw]

Oh come on.  In this context "compatible" means "not a real Arduino board", which addresses the "counterfeit" vs "clone" argument, but in no way allows for them to ship a board with a Mega8 rather than a mega328.  Unless it actually said "MEGA8 cpu" in the description somewhere.  Pictures don't count, except in the case where the description says "exactly as pictured."

[Tac Eht Xilef]

They were quite clear that it is a 328p compatible in the title, and from the eBay page:
"Package Content:
1 x ATmega328P Version Board
1 x USB Cable"
They didn't say "1x Compatible board with ATMega328P installed"  But they were not clear that it is NOT installed with the ATMega32P - except in the picture.

Frankly, if I am eBay adjuster and I got the complain, I probably rule with the seller.

If you look a bit further up in the description you quoted, you'll also see:

Features:
100% Brand New
Size: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.7cm (L x W x H)
Input voltage - 7-12V
ATmega328 microcontroller
14 Digital I/O Pins (6 PWM outputs)
6 Analog Inputs
32k Flash Memory
16Mhz Clock Speed

They specifically say it's a '328, and the specs are of a device with twice as many PWM outputs & 4x the memory of an ATmega8.