I have an Arduino Mega 2560 and it was working fine until about lunch time when I started getting this error:



avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer


I know it isn't the code I'm running as I tried to load it onto an Uno and it seemed to load without issue. I need to use the Mega as it has more ports, though.

From what I have read this is potentially an issue with the bootloader and is possibly related to the current version of Arduino. I know virtually nothing about the bootloader; all I know is that it is used to upload code to the Arduino (I think...), therefore I have a fear of just messing around with related files unknowingly.

These pages are the ones I've been looking at, but like I said, I don't really know enough to feel comfortable with just messing around with the files.



Mega2560: timeout communicating with programmer....
Upload Timeout Error on Mega 2560 - Not Sure What Changed

I tried uninstalling my Mega totally, then reinstalling it. I also downloaded an older version of Arduino (0022) and neither option seemed to work.

I don't know what to do, or how to change the 'AVR' files if necessary.