Circuit Playground Express not mounting on Mac (but ok with

[BeBopDeluxe]

Hello,

I've been searching through this forum and the interwebs but can not resolve this one:

-->none of my Macs can mount the Circuit Playground Express CPLAYBOOT, although they can load sketches via the Arduino IDE!

I bought the Circuit Playground Express to use MakeCode, so I can teach myself (and my son) how to code. I have the Circuit Playground Express, 2018, ATSAMD21, 48 Mhz.

Here's what I've tried so far:

1-I can get the CPX into bootloader mode: LEDs will turn red, then green + the status LED is pulsing red.

2-I tested 2 USB cables (both work to load sketches via Arduino IDE, so I have no reason to doubt the cables).

3-Using a Windows PC, the CPX showed up as a drive: I updated the bootloader by dragging the update-bootloader-circuitplay_m0-v3.3.0-adafruit.10.uf2 file on the CPX "drive" cf https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-cir ... bootloader . I confirmed that the INFO_UF2.TXT had the new bootloader version (3.3.0).

4-Back on the Macs: I tested on 3 of them: MacBook 2015 running Mac 10.14.6, iMac 2007 running MacOS 10.10.5, Mac Mini running 10.15.3... I only saw CPLAYBOOT once, but it vanished within a second.

5-On all of them I tested each USB ports, with or without a USB Hub. Also tried disconnecting all external HDs.

6-Nevertheless I am able to load sketches on Macs using Arduino IDE 1.8.11 (regardless of bootloader status). I uninstalled + reinstalled + rebooted just in case. Arduino IDE can even give me the board info (TinyUSB stack, CPX appeared the port dev/cu.usbmodem142401):

• BN: Adafruit Circuit Playground Express
  VID: 0x239A
  PID: 0x0018
  SN: 6B9D993E5150465335202020FF131B07

7-: in System Profiler, the CPX is listed under USB as follows:

• CPlay Express:
  Product ID: 0x0018
  Vendor ID: 0x239a
  Version: 42.01
  Serial Number: 6B9D993E5150465335202020FF131B07
  Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Adafruit Industries
  Location ID: 0x1a200000 / 3
  Current Available (mA): 500
  Current Required (mA): 500

So Macs see it as USB, but not mounting. Maybe it's a driver issue...

8-I followed instructions to delete the USB extensions then install chg34X:

• sudo kextunload /Library/Extensions/usbserial.kext
  sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/usb.kext
  installed chg34X via the pkg and via homebrew
  rebooted

9-I also remove any traces of anti-virus software and software from HD manufacturers.

I am stumped. Any suggestions are welcomed. I'm assuming someone ran into this before.

Thanks.

[BeBopDeluxe]

Problem solved!

In case someone runs into this issue, here's the description of the 2 problems:

1-Link to the Circuit Playground Express bootloader is incorrect.

On the following page (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-cir ... er-details ), the link to the Circuit Playground Express bootloader is incorrect (look for the green box name Circuit Playground Express V3.3.0-adafruit.10 update-bootloader.uf2): it points to the Crickit-v3.3.0 bootloader (https://github.com/adafruit/uf2-samdx1/ ... uit.10.uf2).

I found the correct link and used a Windows PC to install it. CPLAYBOOT appeared on the Mac Mini running Catalina, but only once I disconnected one of the external USB hard drives.

2-My MacBook Pro's USB ports can't load CPLAYBOOT

As mentioned in my OP, I can see the Circuit Playground Express is connected via USB (through the Terminal, System Profiler, and even the Arduino IDE) but it would not show up as a drive...

Until I connected it to a hub! CPLAYBOOT is finally showing up. It's not even a powered hub (Ugreen Ethernet/USB hub).

I had tried this before, but since flashed the wrong bootloader, it failed.

t(ツ)_/¯

[V2man]

The latest bootloader file for CPX, update-bootloader-circuitplay_m0-v3.7.0.uf2 is located here https://github.com/adafruit/uf2-samdx1/ ... tag/v3.7.0

INFO_UF2.TXT on CPLAYBOOT drive:
UF2 Bootloader v3.7.0 SFHWRO
Model: CPlay Express
Board-ID: SAMD21G18A-CPlay-v0

[BeBopDeluxe]

Update: I can't get CPLAYBOOT to mount.

It has appeared 4 times so far on my MBP, once on my iMac, but I've tried many things, but no joy.

I read on Discord something about uninstalling DriveDx but that did not change anything.

I also tried on iPad with the Lightning to USB connector: CPLAYBOOT appears every time, but disconnects after 3 seconds. But based on what I've read that's not supported yet.

:-(

I wish there was a way to use Arduino IDE to load the .uf2 programs we made in MakeCode, or an easy way to convert that code into CircuitPython because I read that CPE can connect to iPad with the CircuitPython bootloader.

Not sure what to do...

Any suggestions are welcomed.

And if anyone is trying to fix this, let me know if I can help.

BBD

[BeBopDeluxe]

I think I might have finally found the issue (knock on wood).

As mentioned above, I had gotten rid of hard drives manufacturer utilities and also uninstalled DriveDx (a great software that monitors hard drive health)... But had forgotten that in order to monitor external hard drives, DriveDx asks you to install a third party SAT SMART Driver. Since it's third party, it does not get removed when you uninstall DriveDx.

After searching for DriveDx on the Adafruit forums, I found that other Mac users had similar issues with other boards that would not mount (FEATHERBOOT + PORTALBOOT). I think this is what caused the "CPLAYBOOT" drive not to appear on my Macs.

DriveDx's website provide instructions to remove the driver using the Terminal:

• sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/SATSMARTDriver.kext
  sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/SATSMARTLib.plugin
  (copied from https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx/usb-drive-support)

So far it's been mounting reliably on my MacBook Pro.

In case someone else runs into this issue, here are other things I tried. Since I knew both the Circuit Playground + cables were working (I was able to update the bootloader on a PC and even loaded a MakeCode sketch), I looked for Mac-related issues:

• -tested other USB hubs, with and without power;
  -zapped the PRAM;
  -reset SMC;
  -Booted in Safe mode (hold Shift after reboot);
  -looked at Console logs as I plugged and unplugged (googling some drive-related entries eventually led me to the SATSMART driver).

[danhalbert]

Thank you for pointing out the update-bootloader link error. I've fixed that and updated all those links to v3.7.0.

Also thank you for the DriveDX issue diagnosis! I'll add that to the troubleshooting guide

[BeBopDeluxe]

Thank you for pointing out the update-bootloader link error. I've fixed that and updated all those links to v3.7.0.

Also thank you for the DriveDX issue diagnosis! I'll add that to the troubleshooting guide

----
You're welcome!

BTW this page https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-cir ... bootloader is pointing to v.3.3.0, while the latest version is 3.7.0.

[danhalbert]

Thanks for the obsolete link. I should have a newer version of the bootloader soon that fixes a number of other problems (not related to CPX).

[lentil]

I had a similar issue, but seems to have been caused by SoftRaid.

After SoftRaid uninstall and restart, CPLAYBOOT mounts as expected.

https://www.softraid.com/support/import ... #uninstall