My Dragon Died

[Beo]

Loved this Dragon AVR programmer. Haven't used it for a while, had upgraded to Win10, and now can't get AVR Studio to recognize it. Dragon board lit up for a while but now nothing. Updated AVR studio and can't get it back. Still debugging to see if I can bring it back from the dead, but maybe it's time for a new programmer / dev board.

Any recommendations? Another Dragon?

Probably a PIC crowd in here

[Transmogrifox]

Get rid of Windows.  Typical Micro$oft driver nightmare is what it sounds like.
A little googling says you're not the only one with this problem:
http://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/atmel-studio-stopped-seeing-avr-dragon-possibly-win-10-update-related?page=all

Good chance there is nothing wrong with your Dragon.  Boot Ubuntu from a USB stick and you can probably use it.  That will prove the Dragon is ok but now you have a Windows driver hell to pay.

Better yet, get rid of Windows and start using something that doesn't make everything worse when you upgrade. Maybe you should convert your AVR into your AVR development platform

[Beo]

I don't disagree, but I haven't done much with Linux at all. Another learning curve. And I'm very familiar with AVR studio. I might give this a try:

https://www.pololu.com/product/3170

I really only need the USB com. I can do all my dev on breadboard.

[Beo]

Messed around with too many variables to know what I did, but I revived the dragon. Many various driver installs. Removed and bypassed the onboard regulator (a known weak link on the dragon). Switched from ISP to high voltage programming. Not sure if this configuration is stable, but so far so good. I ordered the Pololu USB programmer anyway, so at least I'll have a backup.

I read up on the Atmel ICE. Seems to get a lot of kudos as a stable interface. If my programmers give up the ghost, or I get more serious with uC dev, I might pick up one.