AVR Freaks

Programming a uC on a breadboard is fine, you just need to get all of the necessary connections made, and make sure your programming interface is correct.

Have you drawn a schematic of your micro and the connections you need to make?

You should do so if you haven't done so already.

Then post the schematic diagram here so others can check it.

Also, as mentioned above, post a good photo of your setup.

JC

 "Soundcard oscilloscope to check serial activity?"

Have a look at https://www.zeitnitz.eu/scope_en

(it goes up to 44ks/s -> you can see a 4800/9600(distorded) signal

It is very cheap (no extra hardware, everything is already in your PC); however, if signals are too high, it might break yourPCs sound card)

I had a look at your broad beard; two things worried me (though the Tx->Rx issue ki0bk hinted is a mistake I always do) :

your avr should get supply from both sides,

with decoupling -100 n- capacitors -see Doc JC's broad beard.

A couple of thoughts:

As dbrion mentioned, you need By-Pass caps.

Place a 0.1 uF cap from Vcc to Ground, and from AVcc to Ground, close to the micro's pins.

You need these for reliable operation.

Next, it doesn't matter at all, but as a general rule one would use the power rail with the Red line for the Vcc rail, and the one with the Blue or Black line as the Ground rail.

If you use the "standard", and use it consistently, it will help you in the future.

On breadboards that do not have the colored lines you can use whatever layout you desire.

Notice on the photo I showed above that there is a piece of tape that shows the power rails: +3, Gnd, the breadboard, Gnd, +3.

So the outer rails are the Vcc rails, the inner rails are the Ground rails.

Again, it doesn't matter which you use, as long as you are consistent, and don't make a mistake!

I've learned, after years of breadboarding, to label the rails as the first thing I do.

Next: Know that the two red power rails and the two blue power rails are NOT connected to each other.

YOU have to jumper the two V+ and the two Ground rails together, if you are making Vcc and Ground connections on both sides of the breadboard.

This is in addition to jumpering the two ends of the power rails.

Finally, REMOVE all of your Reset circuitry.

I can't tell from your photo, but it isn't clear that you have it wired up correctly.

The micro has an internal pull up resistor on the Reset\ pin, and you don't need one, (at least for now).

Also, if you have the wrong sized capacitor on the Reset\ line then the programmer can't program the chip.

It will work fine without the cap, (at least for now).

Finally, (really, this time), develop good habits early.

A good habit / best practice is to draw a schematic diagram for every one of your projects.

They don't have to be fancy, you can draw it on the back of a napkin if you wish.

If, however, you pick a software package to draw them with, then you can copy and cut and paste, etc., to make future schematics even easier and faster to draw.

There is a Thread about schematic and PCB layout software.

There are advantages to having a schematic drawing package that is integrated into your PCB layout package.

You can worry about that later.

If you don't have another package on hand go to ExpressPCB and download their ExpressSchematic program.

It is free, it works well, and it will get you started.

Being old school, I draw lines that "jump" over other lines if there is no connection.

My old brain is used to doing it that way, and it is much easier for me than looking for a big dot if they connect, and the absence of one if they don't connect.

As you wire up your breadboard you can highlight each connection on a hard copy.

When every connection / part is highlighted, you know you haven't overlooked any connections.

An example of a M168 schematic is shown.

Not as fancy as some others, but functional, and a huge step over not having one at all.

JC

Please ignore the two "errors" on the schematic.

The Micro / GLCD's By-Pass Caps connect to +3V, not +5V, (copy / paste error!).

The GLCD's LED backlight connects to the Mega168, not to an Xmega...

Edit:  Mention the schematic errors

The Arduino resets the ATmega328 using the DTR signal.  If you are using the Arduino Bootloader, this is critical.  See this post.