BasicMicro - Forums

OK, so you start programming a Nano IC. It gets to the Verify window and announces it couldn't verify an address, usually quite low, like 0004 or 0006.

I have just discovered that if you don't have the proper part specified in the selector you will get this message. I had swapped out a Nano18 for a Nano40, and failed to (blush) change the selector. I got the verify message above. Resetting the selector to Nano40 fixed the "problem".

We all make mistakes. I get paid to announce mine.
kenjj (Basic Micro)

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

I double checked and i have the nano18 selected (and am using a nano18), but am still getting that error...

Just to verify, the nano usb programmer should be using the FTDI 2.4.6.0 driver (driver date 3/13/2008)??? I just want to make sure that's not my problem.

I have successfully used that until BasicMicro came out with their latest custom driver. Get this at their Nano Downloads section. Install it according to the directions in the Nano Dev Board data sheet, also available as a download, if you don't have it already.
kenjj

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

Ok, now i'm using the "BasicMicro Communications Port 2.4.6.0" still giving me the "error verifying...". It seems to do fine up to that point. Says "programming" 0-100% then once it gets past the 100% and starts the progress bar over gives the verifying error.

What are you running the Nano on? The Nano Dev Board? If not, double check your wiring.

At one moment, I had a Nano18 that was unfindable, and the Nano28 and Nano40 had verify errors. The FTDI USB chip on the Dev Board was reprogrammed, and all three chips worked again. I have an earlier version of the Dev Board. See the thread about Nano problems I posted here for instructions about returning items:
http://forums.basicmicro.com/viewtopic.php?f=443&t=8937

Give it a read when Nano problems come up.
kenjj (BasicMicro)

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

Just using a regular old breadboard with the NanoUSBtoSerial adapter. It's all wired up correctly. I also tried it on a couple different nano18s.

I don't seem to be having any trouble connecting to the nano or anything. The only problem appears to be when it's about done programming. Up until that point it seems to connect and talk fine.

So i assume i then just need to try reprogramming the Nano USBtoSerial deally then? How do i go about doing that? Thanks!

One other possibility occurs to me: Which compiler are you using? You should be using Atom5.3.1.5. If not, download and install it, then try it. That will cover all the possibilities *I* can think of.
After that, if one Nano fails, send that one Nano back. If they all fail, everything is suspect. It will ALL have to come back. Programming the USB chip, if needed, will have to be done in the shop. Contact support@basicmicro.com and follow the procedure outlined there in the recent "Nano Problems" post of 6/25/09.
Later,
kenjj (BasicMicro)

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

yep, i'm using 5.3.1.5. I get the same problem on all 5 of my nano 18's. Given that is the case, I would assume it's probably a problem with my nano usbtoserial programmer, as it's not likely obviously that all 5 nano's would be defective. Thanks for your help.

Point taken. Probably the serial programmer. However, we can't say the Nanos didn't get damaged in the process, so we should suspect and look at ALL the parts you have.
At this point you contact support@basicmicro, report the particulars of your situation, mentioning this thread for reference. That will start the process where you send the parts back for test/repair/replacement.
Later!
kenjj (BasicMicro)

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

Ok, got my nano's and usb programmer back and I'm still having the same "verifying xxxx" error.

Am i just being stupid here (here's some pics of my setup for my 'hello world' program):

It seems to connect ok. When I go to system setup and "find devices" it finds the nano ok on the correct port. And when I hit the "Terminal 1" tab and set the baud rate and hit connect / disconnect, everything seems to be fine there. When i click to program, it goes through the "programming" progress bar fine and then eventually gives the verifying error after it's gotten to the 100% on the programming part. At the build output part, it even says "Programming Complete" at this point, but I'm getting nothing back from the nano, so apparently it's not really programming it correctly.

I've double checked the voltage. The resistor between the reset pin to +5 is a 10K as specified in the data sheet.

I'm using Windows Vista Business 32 bit. I've also tried such things as uninstalling the IDE and re-installing. Tried different versions of the USBtoSerial driver. Set the BasicMicroIDE to start as administrator. Tried setting it in Windows XP compatibility mode. Tried uninstalling BasicAtomIDE Pro software and then re-installing the BasicMicroIDE just to make sure there wasn't some sort of conflict going on there with that version of the software being installed on the same machine. I've also setup the driver just as it says to do in the datasheet. For fun, I even selected the nano28 instead of 18 in the IDE, just to see what would happen. I got an "error writing" message that time about half way through programming

Anyways, I'm stumped.

Too bad Hiskey. Did you get anything back from BMicro about what they found when they tested the parts? Oh yeah! Love them pics! keep 'em coming!
Everything looks like you set this spot on according to the Nano18 data sheet. Too bad they forgot the capacitors. You need them to keep the innards of the part well supplied with current while it is punching electrons into the FLASH.
You see, you need two capacitors in every microprocessor circuit. You need a polarized electrolytic where the power supply comes in if you just have wires coming in from a supply. Go to Radio Shack (or a well equipped parts/junk box) and see what you can find in a cap that's about 4.7 uFarads (the "u" means Micro) up to, say, 10 uFarads, with a working voltage from 6.3 Volts (if it's a regulated 5V in) to 16 Volts. Just be sure the working voltage on the cap is higher than the Volts in from the supply. On the cap you'll see something like 47/10. That's a 47uFarad/10 Working Volts part. Put this cap on the power connections close to the Nano. THESE ARE POLARIZED PARTS! Observe the band on the side with the negative indicators. This goes to GND of the power connections.
The other cap is a 0.1 to 0.33 uFarad part. These usually look like tiny yellow or orange beads with leads sticking out both ends. You should bridge this across the Nano IC, Vss pin to Vcc pin (pin 5 to pin 14). These don't have a polarity, they go either way.
And that takes care of the hardware concern. I still don't know if your USB settings are right. However, first put those caps in the circuit and let me know if it works.

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kenjj
http://blog.basicmicro.com/
http://kjennejohn.wordpress.com/

ha, you're awesome!

(the 10 uF capacitor did the trick )

Here's something very interesting about this issue. I was programming away (probably programmed the thing about 20 or 30 times successfully). And then suddenly it started giving me the verify xxxx error again. I hadn't touched the circuit side of things, just modified very slightly some code that used the eeprom (just changed the read/write location from 1 to 2) and modified a little bit of code elsewhere (just changed a for loop from "to myValue" to "to (myValue -1)". That's when it started giving me the "verify" error again. I tried changing things back and it still gave me the error.

I then went back to trying to program in my "hello world" program instead of my current code (as i was suspecting it might have something to do with the size of code and thus perhaps the length of time it is taking to verify. My code is 4340 bytes). The "hello world" programmed fine. So then i started cutting a bit of code out of my bigger program to see if it would program. I tried this for a few hundred bytes less and it was still giving me the error; nothing i changed between the successful programming and the verify error programming was that big, so I decided this couldn't be it.

So then, i just tried a different tact, trying various "bigger" caps. I went all the way up to 1000 uF and it was still giving me the error.

So finally, I thought "well it must be something I added in my code from the last time, and I'm just not remembering correctly". So something in my code maybe doing something during the verification step that's causing the problem (i really, have know idea if that was right, just my thought process to try the fix that actually worked).

So, what fixed it finally? I just added a "Pause 1000" as the very first line of my code. And that worked. I took it out and added it a few times just to verify it would always work with the "Pause 1000" and always give me the error without it. And sure enough, it seems to.

I then, just for fun, took out the capacitor and tried programming with the "Pause 1000" to see if it would work with that and without the cap (on the "hello world" small program). And no dice. So it definitley needs the cap no matter what. But clearly something I added in my code caused it to stop working, even with the cap, unless i have a Pause in there as the first line.

And just for the record, as my code is right now, I narrowed it down so that the Pause has to be at least 232. At 231 it gives me the error every time, at 232 it programs fine every time. I thought maybe this might be tied to code size, but that appears not to be the case from testing. (the "Pause 232" time works even when I add a few hundred more bytes of code).

I also tried adding a bunch of variables and constants to see if that would force me to up the time, but nope. The Pause 232 works every time. So whatever it is that is causing the verify error even with the huge 1000 uF cap needs a 232 millisecond pause to not cause the error in verifying.

Anybody know what's going on here?