CPX Board not recognized

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jpeterswa
 
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Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:58 pm

CPX Board not recognized

Post by jpeterswa »

Hello,
Please help me troubleshoot an issue in which, after working fine for several weeks, my Circuit Playground Express board is now not being recognized by the Arduino IDE. I have the SAMD boards installed in the boards manager, and I can sometimes select a port, but it just says 'COM11' and no longer 'Circuit Playground Express on COM11'. Uploading a sketch to the board fails with the error "Couldn't find a board on the selected port". I have tried pressing the reset button on the board, updating the bootloader, unplugging and replugging in the USB connection, and restarting the Arduino IDE, all without success. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Jennifer

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: CPX Board not recognized

Post by Franklin97355 »

Are you using windows or apple? is the CPX recognized by the computer and have you tried a known good data cable? What does the CPX light do when you plug it in?

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jpeterswa
 
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Re: CPX Board not recognized

Post by jpeterswa »

Thanks for your response. It's Windows. The CPX ready light lights up green when I plug it in, so the board is not dead. Reset button click and double click also are responding appropriately. Yes, I have a known good cable that has been working for quite some time and already tried subbing with another known good cable. This is the third board to have this problem with this computer/Arduino IDE combination so I don't think it's an issue with a random short on the board or something. When I plug in the USB, the windows message is something to the effect of "the last USB device you plugged in was not recognized". I've also tried restarting the computer.

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adafruit2
 
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Re: CPX Board not recognized

Post by adafruit2 »

jp, its unusual - these boards dont tend to fail. are you trying different USB ports, like direct to the computer? USB C ports are also a bit of a pain.

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jpeterswa
 
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Re: CPX Board not recognized

Post by jpeterswa »

I have a solution!!
Posting for the benefit of others who may experience this same problem in the future.

BOTTOM LINE TO SOLVE: In the Arduino IDE, click the right arrow (upload) to upload a piece of known-good code. It will first compile. When it's done compiling, it will begin the upload. At that point, double-click the board's reset button (the small circular button in the center). It will successfully upload and there will be no issue with the port or recognition. This fixed the problem for three boards that were having this issue.

Some more troubleshooting background. I had tried different USB ports and different computers to rule out a hardware issue with the laptop. Since putting it into bootloader mode solved the issue temporarily (a second or two), I tried the above and it worked.

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