The two main problems you can have with fuse problems.
-
If you use an ATtiny and you put the wrong clock source you end up with a brick. (It is normally possible to get out of this problem by putting an external clock).
-
If you use a bios patch, the mode once installed might appear to work according to the LED, but there is a greater chance that you will end up with a black screen. This is because to intervene at the right time the bios patch needs a fuse configuration, which allows it to intervene very early at the console startup, which the default configuration does not allow.
-
Normally if you don't use a bios patch, or ATtiny the default fuse configuration doesn't really have a problem, on the other hand if you use the bios patches, or an ATtiny, it is necessary to have specific programming.
Fuse problems can sometimes be complicated to diagnose, and also tedious to program and explain how to do it for Arduino IDE.
To avoid all these problems, I created PSNeecore, which is simply a board management library, with the unique feature of automatically configuring fuses correctly. Regardless of the choice you made. As mentioned in the tutorials, you can simply install it in your arduino/hardware/ directory, if it does not exist create it on.
- Windows: C:\Users{username}\Documents\Arduino
- macOS: /Users/{username}/Documents/Arduino
- Linux: /home/{username}/Arduino
And once the Arduino iDE restarts you will be able to access it from. Tools -> Board -> PSNeeCore
For the record, I am giving you here the correct fuse configurations.
| MCU family | High | Low | Extended |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATmega 328/168 | DF | EE | FD |
| ATmega 32u4 | DF | EE | FB |
| ATmega 328PB | DF | EE | F5 |
| ATtiny 25/45/85 | DD | E2 | FF |
If you want to learn more about fuses, go see the Fuse Calculator