How to flash code using VSCode & platformio on Atmega32U4 custim board

[michbichler]

Hello Dears,

I woul like to flash a working code (tried it out on a leonardo board) on a slef made custum board with a Atmega32U4 Controller with the bootloader fresh from the factory).
Unfortunately just this error message appears:

Do you have a idea, whats wrong here?
best regards,
Michael

[MCUdude]

If it is a custom board, are you using the built-in DFU bootloader that's factory loaded on the ATmega32U4?

Can you paste the contents of your platformio.ini file?

[MCUdude]

It's using the older Avrdude v6.3.

Try replacing upload_flags with this. If you're still getting warnings, try removing -u.

upload_flags =
  -C$PROJECT_PACKAGES_DIR/tool-avrdude/avrdude.conf
  -p$BOARD_MCU
  -cflip1
  -u
  -s

[michbichler]

Unfortunately there is the same error using the new upload flags, even when I remove -u.

[MCUdude]

There's nothing to worry about really. Avrdude 6.3 is only telling you that it's trying to read the fuses (safemode is enabled by default), but a bootloader can't do this.

However, there should be an easy solution to this, disable safemode, which was removed in Avrdude 7.0 anyways.

Can you paste the entire output when you run:

pio run -t upload -e my_board -v ?

I need to see the verbose PlatformIO output to know why safemode is still enabled

[michbichler]

Processing my_board (platform: atmelavr; board: my_board; framework: arduino; upload_protocol: custom; upload_command: avrdude $UPLOAD_FLAGS -U flash:w:$SOURCE:i; upload_flags: -C$PROJECT_PACKAGES_DIR/tool-avrdude/avrdude.conf, -p$BOARD_MCU, -cflip1, -s; lib_deps: SPI, adafruit/Adafruit BusIO@^1.14.1, Wire, adafruit/Adafruit GFX Library@^1.10.1, nkawu/TFT 22 ILI9225@^1.4.5, bblanchon/ArduinoJson@^6.20.0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CONFIGURATION: https://docs.platformio.org/page/boards/atmelavr/my_board.html
PLATFORM: Atmel AVR (4.1.0) > SparkFun Pro Micro 5V/16MHz
HARDWARE: ATMEGA32U4 16MHz, 2.50KB RAM, 28KB Flash
DEBUG: Current (simavr) External (simavr)
PACKAGES:

• framework-arduino-avr @ 5.1.0
• tool-avrdude @ 1.60300.200527 (6.3.0)
• toolchain-atmelavr @ 1.70300.191015 (7.3.0)
  LDF: Library Dependency Finder -> https://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
  LDF Modes: Finder ~ chain, Compatibility ~ soft
  Found 9 compatible libraries
  Scanning dependencies...
  Dependency Graph
  |-- SPI @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\SPI)
  |-- Adafruit BusIO @ 1.14.1 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha\OneDrive\Berglerwerk\Berglerwerk_Github\Pen2.0\Pen2.0_PlatformIO.pio\libdeps\my_board\Adafruit BusIO)
  | |-- Wire @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\Wire)
  | |-- SPI @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\SPI)
  |-- Wire @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\Wire)
  |-- Adafruit GFX Library @ 1.11.5 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha\OneDrive\Berglerwerk\Berglerwerk_Github\Pen2.0\Pen2.0_PlatformIO.pio\libdeps\my_board\Adafruit GFX Library)
  | |-- Adafruit BusIO @ 1.14.1 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha\OneDrive\Berglerwerk\Berglerwerk_Github\Pen2.0\Pen2.0_PlatformIO.pio\libdeps\my_board\Adafruit BusIO)
  | | |-- Wire @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\Wire)
  | | |-- SPI @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\SPI)
  | |-- Wire @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\Wire)
  | |-- SPI @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\SPI)
  |-- TFT 22 ILI9225 @ 1.4.5 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha\OneDrive\Berglerwerk\Berglerwerk_Github\Pen2.0\Pen2.0_PlatformIO.pio\libdeps\my_board\TFT 22 ILI9225)
  | |-- SPI @ 1.0 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha.platformio\packages\framework-arduino-avr\libraries\SPI)
  |-- ArduinoJson @ 6.21.2 (License: Unknown, Path: C:\Users\micha\OneDrive\Berglerwerk\Berglerwerk_Github\Pen2.0\Pen2.0_PlatformIO.pio\libdeps\my_board\ArduinoJson)
  Building in release mode
  MethodWrapper(["checkprogsize"], [".pio\build\my_board\firmware.elf"])
  Advanced Memory Usage is available via "PlatformIO Home > Project Inspect"
  RAM: [= ] 12.4% (used 318 bytes from 2560 bytes)
  Flash: [=== ] 34.2% (used 9808 bytes from 28672 bytes)
  .pio\build\my_board\firmware.elf :

section size addr

.data 110 8388864

.text 9698 0

.bss 208 8388974

.comment 17 0

.note.gnu.avr.deviceinfo 64 0

.debug_aranges 224 0

.debug_info 3857 0

.debug_abbrev 2550 0

.debug_line 1180 0

.debug_str 881 0

Total 18789
(["upload"], [".pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex"])
AVAILABLE: custom
CURRENT: upload_protocol = custom
avrdude -CC:\Users\micha.platformio\packages/tool-avrdude/avrdude.conf -patmega32u4 -cflip1 -s -U flash:w:.pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex:i

avrdude: Warning: USB bDeviceClass = 255 (expected 254)
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9587 (probably m32u4)
avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: NOTE: "flash" memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file ".pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (9808 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.56s

avrdude: 9808 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against .pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file .pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex:
avrdude: input file .pio\build\my_board\firmware.hex contains 9808 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.17s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 9808 bytes of flash verified

avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: Error: "lfuse" memory not accessible using FLIP
avrdude: safemode: Sorry, reading back fuses was unreliable. I have given up and exited programming mode

avrdude done. Thank you.

*** [upload] Error 1

[MCUdude]

This is from the Avrdude 6.3 manual:

-u 
Disables the default behaviour of reading out the fuses three times before pro- gramming, then verifying at the end of programming that the fuses have not changed. If you want to change fuses you will need to specify this option, as avrdude will see the fuses have changed (even though you wanted to) and will change them back for your "safety". This option was designed to prevent cases of fuse bits magically changing (usually called safemode).
If one of the configuration files contains a line
default_safemode = no;
safemode is disabled by default. The ‘-u’ option’s effect is negated in that case,
i. e. it enables safemode.
Safemode is always disabled for AVR32, Xmega and TPI devices.

-s 
Disable safemode prompting. When safemode discovers that one or more fuse bits have unintentionally changed, it will prompt for confirmation regarding whether or not it should attempt to recover the fuse bit(s). Specifying this flag disables the prompt and assumes that the fuse bit(s) should be recovered without asking for confirmation first.

So you should probably try -u instead of -s in your case

[michbichler]

Perfect, there are no error anymore! Thank you so much for your help!

[michbichler]

To make my custom board appear as a COM port in a serial terminal program, I installed the USB Serial (CDC) driver. However, I can no longer flash the board. Do I have to change anything in platformio.ini?