how can I upload a hex file to an arduino uno?

Question

I have a Rostock Max 3d with an Arduino Uno as the controller. The OEM has a firmware version I would like to upload, but it is in the hex file format.

I have looked all over the Arduino IDE, but did not found a way to upload a hex file to the Arduino. I tried using AVRDUDE, but the Arduino only communicates with my PC when I set the "Programmer" to AVRISP. I have uploaded other codes for blink, and hello_world, but haven't been able to compile the firmware source. I was hoping I could just use the hexfile included in the firmware package.

My OS is Linux.

Answer 1

I use a standalone programmer that uploads a .hex file from an SD card via the ICSP interface.

Answer 2

This is essentially the same as @raddevus answer except it is in python code. I am using windows. Set the preferences in the arduino IDE to verbose and upload the sketch you want to upload using the python code. Find the line of code just before it executes the avrdude bit (where it says 'avrdude: Version...'). The code is designed to be flexible in that you can create a function that will feed in different hex files and com ports for different arduinos etc. If you have problems, make sure you get all the apostrophes, speech marks and spaces in the right place and change all the '' in filenames to '/'. I used the arduino blink example here to check it worked.

comport is the COM port that your arduino is on

Sketch is the .hex file path that you can find in normally hidden folder Appdata - you can copy this hex file and store it somewhere more convenient.

in1 is the first part of the line of code up until the P of the part where it says '-PCOM4'.

in2 is the bit that comes after the '-PCOM4' until the location of your file.

cmdIn creates one long string that is then passed to os.system to execute.

import os

comport = 'COM4' # enter your comport here
sketch = 'C:/Users/user_name/AppData/Local/Temp/arduino/sketches/290321875103144FE430B0C8E22741C9/Blink.ino.hex'
in1 = 'cmd /C ""C:/Users/user_name/AppData/Local/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude.exe" -C"C:/Users/user_name/AppData/Local/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf" -v  -patmega328p -carduino -P'
in2 = ' -b115200 -D "-Uflash:w:';
cmdIn = '%s%s%s%s:i' % ( in1, comport, in2, sketch);
os.system(cmdIn)

Answer 3

I recommend looking at the arduino IDE files located at "(install path)/hardware/arduino/avr/" (on windows anyway, I should assume the same on linux).

I am unsure if the following files have the .txt extension on them, but if not use just the file name.

---

Open and look in "boards.txt" and find the associated entries starting with "uno." keeping this file open.

Next open "platform.txt" looking for the entries "tools.avrdude" (the avrdude part comes from boards.txt "uno.upload.tool" entry) and copy into a new text editor the value of "tools.avrdude.upload.pattern" you can fill in the parameters later.

With the command you copied replace the following:

from platform.txt

• "{cmd.path}" = "tools.avrdude.cmd.path"
• "{config.path}" = "tools.avrdude.config.path"
• "{upload.verbose}" = "tools.avrdude.upload.params.verbose"
• "{upload.verify} = "tools.avrdude.upload.verify"

now from boards.txt

• "{build.mcu}" = "uno.build.mcu"
• "{upload.protocol} = "uno.upload.protocol
• "{{serial.port}" = Your serial port (according to research something like /dev/ttyS0)
• "{upload.speed}" = "uno.upload.speed"
• "{build.path}" and "{build.project_name} = path to file you are trying to upload

So with the above set out for me to upload a program to an Arduino uno I would use something like the following in windows:

assuming install path was "C:\Arduino\"

"C:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avrdude.exe" "-CC:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr\etc\avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -carduino "-PCOM1" -b115200 -D "-Uflash:w:C:\MyArduinoProject\build.hex:i"

for linux it could possibly be (I really am unsure):

assuming install path was "/opt/Arduino/"

"/opt/Arduino/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude" "-C/opt/Arduino/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf" -v -patmega328p -carduino "-P/dev/ttyS0" -b115200 -D "-Uflash:w:/usr/MyArduinoProject/build.hex:i"

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The above should work for you, I have previously written my own program to upload a hex file to the Arduino utilizing the above commands and avrdude.

Answer 4

I think you can use this software http://www.mediafire.com/file/tx2l85gsdkpf5d4/HEXtoArduino_V1.0.0.zip/file

Answer 5

I found the definitive answer to this.

1. Start Arduino IDE
2. To to File...Preferences...
3. Turn on Show verbose output during: [X] upload (image 1 below)
4. Upload a sketch to your Arduino Uno
5. I used the sample blink sketch and saw the following (image 2 below):

AVRDude: is used to upload

You want that first line shown in white --- when you expand it you'll see that it is the entire line of code that is used to upload the HEX file of your program to the Uno.

The entire command on my computer looks like the following:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/bin/avrdude -CC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\arduino\tools\avrdude\6.3.0-arduino17/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -carduino -PCOM3 -b115200 -D -Uflash:w:C:\Users\<username>\dev\arduino\STK2UPDI\build\blink.ino.hex:i

I'm going to break this down into a few lines:

First, it's the full path to the avrdude exe. Then it is passing the -C argument with the full path to the avrdude.conf file

c:\longpath\avrdude -C C:\avrdude.conf

Then a bunch of params to set up avrdude properly: -v -patmega328p -carduino -PCOM3 -b115200 -D -Uflash:w:

And finally the full path to the HEX file you want to upload

c:\longpath\blink.ino.hex:i

All You Have To Do

All you have to do is take that extremely long line and replace the full-path to the hex file to be your target HEX file and then run the entire command and you'll see something like what is shown in image 3 below.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3