Reprap Motherboard V1.2 Bootloader

[elgin.o]

I'm having some trouble getting the bootloader burned onto my Reprap Motherboard V1.2. I've read the instructions on the Reprap Wiki over and over, but there is just not much information there. The instructions I'm refering to are at (http://reprap.org/wiki/Motherboard_1_2# ... Bootloader). Several Google searches turned up very little about this process and how to diagnose problems when they arrise.

So here's what I've tried so far. I'm trying to use the Arduino software to burn the bootloader, so I installed the latest Sanguino software modifications to Arduino. Now Sanguino appears on the "boards" menu, so I select Sanguino there and then choose the menu option of "Tools -> Burn Bootloader -> w/ USBTinyISP". Then I get an error message, which I sure would be very helpful for me to share with you, but I don't have it with me right now. I will try and get the exact text from the error message when I get home and will add it to this post later today.

My primary question I have now is, do I need to have my Reprap Motherboard powered when I attempt to burn the bootloader? I've built my board to be powered by the reprap usb connection, as shown here http://reprap.org/wiki/Mendel_USB_and_power_connector. Would it be best to use the usb power while trying to burn the bootloader, or is there another method of powering the motherboard while burning the bootloader?

[adafruit_support_bill]

I don't have any experience with this hardware, but the wiki page you linked says:

Before you start, make sure your motherboard is not hooked up to anything.

The photo next to that shows nothing connected except the USBTiny to the ISP header.

[elgin.o]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed in the picture there is nothing hooked up. Thanks for pointing out the verbage about nothing being hooked to it before you start, I hadn't noticed that. Maybe I should post this question in the Reprap forums... Deffinately gonna need to get that error meassage if I hope anyone is going to be able to help me.

[elgin.o]

I figured it out all on my own! The reason that I was not able to burn the bootloader, was because the jumper on the USBtinyISP was not connected. Without the jumper connected, there is no power going to the Reprap Motherboard. Before my first post I had read that it was necessary to power the board in order to burn the bootloader, it just wasn't clear to me how I was supposed to power the board. Now it clear to me that the jumper on the USBtinyISP is the appropriate way to power the board. I connected the jumper on the USBtinyISP, plugged in the USB cable, then plugged the USBtinyISP into the motherboard and instantly the green power light lit up on the Motherboard. At this point I realized that I had done something right, because I hadn't seen any lights on the motherboard before installing the jumper. The only light which I got before was the green light on the USBtinyISP. After that everything went as described on the wiki page, I selected the burn bootloader option and then the red light on the USBtinyISP came on for about 2 minutes, then the red light on the Motherboard flashed a few times and Arduino reported that the bootloader was burned successfully. VICTORY IS MINE!
I also wanted to note that this was done using my Thinkpad T61 running 64-Bit Windows 7. It took awhile for me to figure out how to install the drive for the USBtinyISP, but for the record... It is possible!


Now I just need to figure out how to burn the firmware and I will be ready to test the rest of my boards!