Could I have fried the atmega?

[ignotus]

Hi

I went to try out the new firmware, and now I've got a fragmented display and random behaviour. Right after flashing it -write successful -, it kind of works for a short while, but then goes haywire and stops working at all.
The thing is, I had the iscp cable plugged in for a short time before plugging in the usb - could this have fried the atmega?

I feel pretty dumb at the moment.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Cheers!

[dmitri]

Can you verify the firmware?
Can you re-flash it?

[ignotus]

Yep, verify in ponyprog says 'OK' and I can reflash it... everything seems alright...

[dmitri]

Can you re-flash it with a firmware you had in it before?

[ignotus]

That's one of myreasons for feeling dumb - I formatted my PC recently and the old .HEX file got erased... you wouldn't happen to have a previous release yourself, or anyone else?

[dmitri]

Is this the version you had before?

[ignotus]

Yes, it's the one, but I get the same results... I think the atmega is damaged.

[dmitri]

I see three ways to find the problem.

1. Test you Atmega chip in another board.
2. Test another Atmega chip in your board.
3. Check all connections, wires. Test for short circuits. This one is a hard way.

[dmitri]

For the future - bootloader is a safest way (electrically) to update firmware.

[ignotus]

Just tested with an atmega16 you once wrote firmware for me to try out, and the same... aarrrgghh! looks like I'll have to go the hard way... I'd better go get a magnifying glass...

Thanks for the help!