since this is for an Arduino I just want to add a possibility to the list of answers here of the controller itself being placed oppositely on the Arduino, this can be dangerous for the controller which may get zapped but in my case it only gave the out of sync error and couldn't upload any codes. So just check if the notch on the IC is in the right direction (you can cross check with images of board online, for example the controller notch should point towards edge of board for Arduino Uno)

P.S. Thanks to the stupid Stack Exchange rule of low reps not being able to comment, but being able to answer that something this silly can be an answer.

There is also the possibility of the the controller itself being placed the wrong way in the socket on the Arduino. This can be dangerous for the controller (which may get zapped) but, in my case, it only gave the out of sync error, preventing me from uploading code. 

So just check if the notch on the IC is in the right direction (you can cross check with images of board online). The notch on the Uno's controller should point towards edge of board.