Connecting arduino to mac problem

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gilch727
 
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Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by gilch727 »

Purchased the Adafruit ARDX - v1.3 Experimentation Kit for Arduino (Uno R3) (v1.3) approximately a week ago. Just received the kit including the arduino uno R3. After installing the most current arduino software to my mac (running OSX 10.8.2) I have been unable to get the arduino software to recognize the usb port as a serial port option. When i plug in the board, i get a solid green and yellow light....I read online that the yellow light was supposed to blink as part of a preinstalled program. I have since installed the arduino software on another mac and also a windows based laptop and have had the same serial port issues. I was really interested in the arduino uno because of it's "plug and play" features when using the arduino software. Do you have any suggestions?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Launch the Arduino IDE, click on the Tools menu, then head down to the item named 'Serial Port'. When your Arduino is plugged in, do you see a couple of items starting with '/dev/tty.usbserial' and '/dev/cu.usbserial' ? Those are the ports that handle the connection.

Also check the 'Board' item to make sure 'Arduino Uno' is selected.

gilch727
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by gilch727 »

I selected "Arduino Uno" in the Board item. The only options I get when I plug the board in under "Serial Port" is /dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync, /dev/cu.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync, /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem, and /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Modem

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Okay, so far not so good..

The green LED is power, so seeing that is good. The yellow LED is connected to pin 13 so you can see the microcontroller do something without having to attach extra hardware. The first sketch you run blinks that LED once per second, but I don't remember whether it's loaded into each Arduino at the factory.

The r3 Uno doesn't have a separate chip to handle USB.. that's all done in software by the ATmega16u2. Failure to make a connection could be a sign of corrupted firmware on the device, but that's only one of several possible causes.

This thread in the Arduino forum:

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php?topic=95778.0

shows someone with the same problem getting things to work just by plugging the Arduino into another Mac.

As another sanity check, head over to System Preferences and check the Network pane. Do you see an item named "USB Modem"? The status will be "Not Configured", but that doesn't matter. Seeing the icon means OS X has loaded the driver necessary to communicate over USB.

gilch727
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by gilch727 »

Thank you for all your help by the way. I seem to keep striking out though. I downloaded the Arduino IDE on another mac as well as a PC and have had the same serial port issues. I just checked my network preferences while the board was plugged in and there is no "USB modem" option in the panel. The only options given are wifi, ethernet, firewire and bluetooth.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Hey, that's the debugging process.. 20% experience and 80% bloody-mindedness. ;-)

The fact that you aren't seeing a USB modem icon in the network preferences is a step toward finding a solution.

Go to Applications/Utilities and launch "System Information". Go down to the USB item and see what the report has to say. Then plug in your Arduino and hit Cmd-R to have the program scan the devices again. You should see a new item under whichever bus made the connection. I have an Uno plugged into my MBP right now, and the item in the report is 'FT232R USB UART'.

If nothing appears, double-check the USB driver by plugging any other USB device into the same port.. mouse, keyboard, iPhone, memory stick, whatever. All you want to do is see that USB driver recognize a device.

With all that information on the table, it will be reasonable to assume that the Arduino is borked in some way (probably corrupted firmware) and we'll get you a replacement. Contact [email protected] with a link to this thread, and they'll set you up.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

You should also try a different USB cable. A surprising number of problems like this are caused by the cable.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Good catch.. like so many other people, I forgot that a cable is also an electrical component.

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dr2chase
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by dr2chase »

Never mind, PEBKAC. I would suggest checking that there were not any unusual loads attached to the chop being programmed, if perhaps it has LEDs etc on the same pins used to program it (no reason to suggest this, oh no).

One option is to edit preferences.txt to hardcode that port to an empty string; that seems to get that out of the picture and let avrdude work as expected.
---------

I see the same problem with Arduino 1.0.5 connected to a USBtiny (aimed at a ATTiny85)
instead of using avrdude directly with the USBtiny, which works.
The makefile that works uses off this command:
"avrdude -p atmega328p -c usbtiny -E reset -U flash:w:main.hex "

I suspect some boneheadedness in the Arduino IDE itself.
Note that Arduino 1.0.5 has some old version of avrdude embedded; I am about to try 1.5.6r2 to see if things got better.

OSX 10.5.8
System Report -> USB reports a "USBtiny" connected to the USB.

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jasonk
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by jasonk »

I am having the same issue but it seems its only with all the older boards like Diecimila and Duemilanove. None of them are showing up in the Serial dropdown, just a bunch of bluetooth modem ports. I followed your advice and used the System Information tool in Utilities to see that my mac is recognizing the boards.... its just that Arduino is not picking them up in the menu. I also updated my FTDI drivers, restarted, and still no luck. Can you offer any advice? Is there a way that I can double check my FTDI version or perhaps refresh the bootloader or firmware on my boards? Thanks,

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Can you try a different USB cable?

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jasonk
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by jasonk »

I tried multiple USB cables to no avail. The funny thing is that the board still has a running program on it... its just impossible to upload anything new to it. I'm having the same problem with 3 boards - 1 Diecimila and 2 Duemillanove's. Is there a way to insure that my FTDI driver is up to date even though I already downloaded and restarted? Thanks,

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Is it the same program running on all three boards? Sometimes, a running program can prevent the uploading of a new program. The solution is to press the reset button immediately before the upload begins.

What happens if you press reset? Do the boards show up then?

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jasonk
 
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Re: Connecting arduino to mac problem

Post by jasonk »

Nope each board has a different, old program running on it. I will try that and see if pressing the reset button causes the board to show up in the Arduino Serial Port menu. Thanks!

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