Can't flash with avrisp mkII in avrdude Version 6.0.1 - linux

Question

I have had problems with this programming board. It is set up correctly seems to be an AVRISP MKII.
I received the following error messages upon flashing with avrdude:
(trusty)chandran#localhost:~$ avrdude -c avrispmkii -p t85 -vv
avrdude: Version 6.0.1, compiled on Oct 21 2013 at 15:55:32
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, h ttp://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/home/chandran/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : usb
Using Programmer : avrispmkii
avrdude: usb_open(): cannot read serial number "error sending control
message: Connection timed out"
avrdude: usbdev_open(): Found AVRISP mkII, serno: [unknown]
avrdude: usbdev_recv_frame(): usb_bulk_read(): error submitting URB: No
such file or directory
avrdude: stk500v2_recv_mk2: error in USB receive
avrdude: usbdev_recv_frame(): usb_bulk_read(): error submitting URB: No such file or directory
avrdude: stk500v2_recv_mk2: error in USB receive
avrdude: stk500v2_getsync(): timeout communicating with programmer
AVR Part : ATtiny85
Chip Erase delay : 4500 us
PAGEL : P00
BS2 : P00
RESET disposition : possible i/o
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 6 4 0 no 512 4 0 4000 4500 0xff 0xff
flash 65 6 32 0 yes 8192 64 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 2 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : STK500V2
Description : Atmel AVR ISP mkII
Programmer Model: AVRISP mkII
avrdude: usbdev_recv_frame(): usb_bulk_read(): error submitting URB: No such file or directory
It is hard to identify the issue since my version of the programming board doesn't have such great documentation.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This bug was causing the problems. I simply reverted to the previous version of avrdude (5.11.1) and it worked. By now there is an even newer version of avrdude (6.3), this bug might no longer be a problem in latest version.
Here are some steps:
Revert to an older version of avrdude either by using sudo apt-get install <package-name>=<package-version-number> OR sudo apt-get install <package-name>=<package-version-number>
Check if it works: avrdude -p <your part name> -c <your programmer name (avrispmkII)>
You might have to specify a port. Use something like ''watch ls /dev/tty*'' to find your device if you get an error like this one:
(trusty)chandran#localhost:~$ avrdude -c avrispmkII -p t85
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "/dev/ttyS0": No such file or directory
avrdude done. Thank you.
Here is what it will look like when you get it right:
(trusty)chandran#localhost:~$ avrdude -c avrispmkII -p t85 -P usb -vv
avrdude: Version 5.11.1, compiled on Oct 30 2011 at 10:37:28
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/etc/avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/home/chandran/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : usb
Using Programmer : avrispmkII
avrdude: usb_open(): cannot read serial number "No error"
avrdude: usbdev_open(): Found AVRISP mkII, serno: [unknown]
avrdude: usbdev_open(): using read endpoint 0x83
AVR Part : ATtiny85
Chip Erase delay : 4500 us
PAGEL : P00
BS2 : P00
RESET disposition : possible i/o
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 6 4 0 no 512 4 0 4000 4500 0xff 0xff
flash 65 6 32 0 yes 8192 64 128 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 9000 9000 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 2 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : STK500V2
Description : Atmel AVR ISP mkII
Programmer Model: AVRISP mkII
Hardware Version: 0
Firmware Version Master : 1.255
Vtarget : 3.3 V
SCK period : 8.00 us
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e930b
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 62
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as DF
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as FF
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 62
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as DF
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as FF
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK
avrdude done. Thank you.
If this doesn't fix your problem, you might want to look at some other solutions:
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/78302/avrisp-mkii-not-reading-device-signature/189488
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/67757/why-does-my-avrisp-mkii-programmer-not-work
AVRISP MKII doesn't work with AVRDUDE on Linux
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/74298/how-does-avrdude-with-avr-isp-mkii-respond-when-no-target-board-is-connected
Good luck!