9. Upgrading firmware

The firmware of the Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2.x is the program that runs inside the programmer itself. The programmer has field-upgradeable firmware that can be updated when bug fixes or new features are available.

Most users should not need to upgrade the firmware. We only recommend upgrading the firmware if you know that your programmer has an old version of the firmware and that a newer version of the firmware has a specific change that you want.

Firmware versions

• Version 1.00: This is the original version.
• Version 1.01, released on 2016 Jun 20: This version makes the measurements of the voltage on VDD and VCC more accurate.
• Version 1.02, released on 2018 Mar 23: This version adds support the new Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2.1. This version contains no important changes for the Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2, so we do not provide a download for it.

Checking your firmware version

To determine which firmware version you are currently using, connect your programmer to your computer via USB and run the Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2 Configuration Utility. The firmware version is displayed in upper left corner. Alternatively, you can run pavr2cmd -s.

Upgrade instructions

To upgrade the firmware, follow these steps:

1. If you have not done so already, you will need to install the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility, a command-line utility that supports firmware upgrades for several Pololu products. This program is also known as “p-load” because that is the command used to run it from a command prompt. Use the links below to download and install p-load:
   • Windows: Download and install the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility (p-load) for Windows (1MB msi).
   • Mac OS X: Download and install the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility (p-load) for Mac OS X (87k pkg).
   • Linux: Download the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility (p-load) for Linux (x86) (478k xz) (which works on 32-bit and 64-bit systems) or the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility (p-load) for Linux (Raspberry Pi) (478k xz).
2. Download the latest version of the firmware here:
   • Firmware version 1.01 for the Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2 (38k fmi)
3. If you changed any of the programmer’s settings in the configuration utility or with pavr2cmd, record your current settings because the firmware upgrade process will reset the settings.
4. Close the Pololu USB AVR Programmer v2 Configuration Utility and any other programs that might be using the programmer.
5. Open a command prompt and run the following command, replacing filename with the full path to the firmware file that you downloaded:

   p-load -w "filename"

   For example, if you are using Windows, and your username is Casey, and you saved the firmware to your Downloads folder, then you could run:

   p-load -w "C:\Users\Casey\Downloads\pgm04a-v1.01.fmi"

6. When you run the command above, the Pololu USB Bootloader Utility should take care of everything needed to upgrade the programmer’s firmware.

If you run into problems during a firmware upgrade, please contact us for assistance.