Uploading sketch fails with "Invalid device signature"

The Ubuntu package installs a very recent version of avrdude (5.10) which rules out the explanation given.
Did you go through the troubleshooting page?

http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting#toc1

Eberhard

@Matias Korhonen,

Could you provide the output of these commands, please?
avrdude 2>&1 | grep version
apt-cache policy arduino

Thanks!

matt@foo:~$ avrdude 2>&1 | grep version
avrdude version 5.10, URL: <http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/>

matt@foo:~$ apt-cache policy arduino
arduino:
  Installed: 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3
  Candidate: 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3
  Version table:
 *** 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

hi there,

i just downloaded the arduino-0018 PPA and i'm having the same error message : s

i'm running ubuntu karmic and arduino duemilanove (with atmega 168)

my outputs are:
alejandro@alejandro-laptop:~$ avrdude 2>&1 | grep version
avrdude version 5.10, URL: <http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/avrdude/>

alejandro@alejandro-laptop:~$ apt-cache policy arduino
arduino:
  Installed: 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3
  Candidate: 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3
  Version table:
 *** 0018+dfsg-0ubuntu1~ppa3 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

--------------------------------------------------------------

Troubleshooting (http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting#toc23) has an entry related to this error message but i can't seem to find a workaround yet:

"If you get an error like:

avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
       Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
       this check.

it can mean one of two things. Either you have the wrong board selected from the Tools > Board menu or you're not using the right version of avrdude. Arduino uses a slightly modified version of avrdude to upload sketches to the Arduino board. The standard version queries for the board's device signature in a way not understood by the bootloader, resulting in this error. Make sure you're using the version of avrdude that comes with Arduino (source code)."

thanks a lot for any advice

I don't have a real solution for this, and I also can't test it really because I don't have a Arduino Diecmeiila or Duemilanove.

What I did try today was to replicate the problem with an old Arduino NG board.

I burned the bootloader for "Arduino Diecimila or Duemilanove with Atmega 168" onto a fresh ATMega168.
I was able to upload the Blink-Sketch without any problems. But this board (NG Rev.C) doesn't have the autoreset feature!
Could you try upload a Sketch with manually reseting the board?
For the Blink sketch it should be good enough to click the upload-button and press the Reset-button on the board at the same time. Timing is a bit tight here, try this a few times if it doesn't work.

The workaround to try would be to change the protocol used by avrdude.
For this you have to edit the file /usr/share/arduino/hardware/arduino/boards.txt (as root!).
Look for the section for your board in the file and change the entry

<your-board>.upload.protocol=stk500
to
<your-board>.upload.protocol=arduino

This is a new option in avrdude 5.10 which AFAIK toggles the autoreset of the board.

Could try this with your boards?

Eberhard

hi eberhard

thanks for your quick reply

i tried pressing the reset button at different times but still doesn't work. the RX TX leds blink for a while and then i get the error message.

i also tried uploading to an old arduino NG with atmega8 which has no auto reset and i get the same thing.

i'll try this afternoon to change the averdude protocol and see what happens. i'll put my results here

bye bye

alejandro

@Eberhard,

Right now I'm using Duemilanove with ATmega328 on Ubuntu Karmic amd64 and Arduino package provided through PPA: ti works perfectly!

I'm suspecting that the avrdude shipped with Arduino tarball contains some additional patches.

@alejandro, @Matias Korhonen: Could you test the Arduino tarball released on Arduino website (which should be still contained the modified version of avrdude)?

Alessio

Just tested the Arduino tarball from arduino.cc. Uploaded Blink to my Nano without any problems.

@Eberhard,

The Comment #9 seems confirm that the avrdude shipped with Arduino tarball contains additional patches that upstream avrdude don't contains _or_ that old Arduino Duemilanove and Nano (both with Atmega 168) don't work with a more recent version fo avrdude.

In any case Alejandro and Matias incur in this issue so I mark this bug as confirmed and to low priority (at least for the moment).

i just finished testing the tarball, it also works very well for me

thanks!

alejandro

@alejandro,

Do you already test the alternative avrdude programmer type as requested by Eberhard in comment #6?

Thanks a lot!

hi,

i didn't test that option, doing it right now ...

changing boards.txt file...

testing with duemilanove (atmega 168)...

hum.. it doesn't work but i get a different error message:

avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding

: - S

----------

test # 2: i will try reseting the board manually...

it works!

this is interesting

alejandro

@alejandro, @Matias Korhonen:

Could you do this (I hope) last test:

1) Install this modified avrdude https://launchpad.net/~abogani/+archive/broken/+files/avrdude_5.10-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb or https://launchpad.net/~abogani/+archive/broken/+files/avrdude_5.10-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
2) Change boards.txt, like you have already done, with arduino programmer type (instructions are in comment #6)
3) Try to programming Arduino again (please close and re-open the IDE before)

Thanks for your invaluable help in try to figure out this bug!

Please let me know!

hi alessio,

i installed the new avrdude

and it works very well on the duemilanove (with atmega168) now

----------

testing the NG...

but now i'm getting the error message on this board:

avrdude: Yikes! Invalid device signature.
         Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
         this check.

this is puzzling

alejandro

i just changed boards.txt for the NG in the same way i did for the duemilanove and now both work!!!!

yeah!!

@alejandro

Thanks!

@Matias Korhonen,

Could you do the test (comment #14) and verify, as original bug reporter, that the fix works for you too?
Thanks!

@Matias Korhonen,

Sorry to bother you.

Could you do the test (comment #14) and verify, as original bug reporter, that the fix works for you too?

Thanks!

Sorry for the delay; it's been busy...

I just confirmed that the fix does indeed work for me too.

Thanks a bunch!