HC4x4x4Cube Arduino library for 4x4x4 LED cubes

[andrew]

Very nice, I like how you can also use the jig to bend the legs in the correct place. The I'll get the link for the jig added to the first post of the product thread.

[crashmeplease]

I have created a simple little python helper script for myself to help me write the Matrix_Buffer[] strings.

It is my first Python/tkinter/pygubu script, and writing it helped me learn a few things on the way.

I hope people find it useful.

[HereForTheLEDCube]

^^ Cool stuff!

I just finished my cube (it works yay!), but I'm unable to upload anything to it. This is what I get:

Code: Select all

avrdude: Version 6.3-20190619
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "C:\Users\Rudolf\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM9
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00

avrdude done.  Thank you.

I've tried pressing the reset button just as uploading begins, or a bit earlier and so on. Not once have I managed to upload. I have the "ATMEGA328 U" variant of the chip and I'm running Arduino IDE on Windows 10. I think the error I'm getting tells me I've already dealt with the USB cable driver issues. Have I missed any other step?

[andrew]

The error message is just a generic 'can't program the device for some reason'. So there could be a few reasons why you are getting this.....

Firstly, although you're seeing a COM port for the programming cable this doesn't necessarily mean that the driver is working properly. Unfortunately the driver Windows automatically installs is broken so the first step is to confirm the installed driver is working. You can do this by opening up device manager. Assuming you are using Windows 10 you can open up device manager by pressing the windows key + X and in the menu that opens up select device manager. Then with the cable plugged in located it in the device manager window. It should be listed under something like 'Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COMx)'. Once you have located it check to see if there is a yellow caution triangle next to it. If so you have the wrong driver installed. Yuo can install the correct driver by going to the following forum thread and follow the instructions under the 'WINDOWS 8/VISTA/10 USERS' section in the first post.

viewtopic.php?f=79&t=1815

Edit: If you have trouble replacing the driver for the correct one follow the instructions in this post to remove the incorrect driver:

viewtopic.php?p=7398#p7398


Next, once you have confirmed you have the correct driver installed check that in the Arduino IDE you have the following things set under the 'tools' menu:

Board: "Arduino Nano"
Processor: "ATMega328P (Old Bootloader)"
Port: The COM port for your cable

[HereForTheLEDCube]

Huh. I changed nothing and now it suddenly works. The driver looked good, and I happened to be already using "ATMega328P (Old Bootloader)". I had already tried the first two processor options multiple times.

So that's weird. But thanks anyway!

[andrew]

No problem. It's probably a reset timing thing. You have to get the timing just right. If you plan to a lot of uploading to the cube you may want to consider purchasing a full USB adaptor that includes a DTR pin like the CH340 USB serial adaptor. This will then do the rest automatically for you.