More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

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RogerInHawaii
 
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Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:27 am

More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

Post by RogerInHawaii »

I've been having problems with the Adafruit ItsyBitsy 32u4.

I have a simple sketch that simply causes it to send out a message to the Serial Monitor. I compile and upload the sketch and it appears to simply DESTROY the ItsyBitsy.

I purchased TWO more ItsyBitsys. I purchased a brand new micro USB cable, on the off chance that it was a problem with cable.

I connected one of the new ItsyBitsys to the new cable and plugged the cable into my computer, where I'm doing the sketch development using the Arduino IDE.

When I connect the ItsyBitsy to the computer my computer (a Windows computer) responds properly to it being connected by making the standard connection sound and by displaying a momentary notice that it has successfully connected as a new COM Port 6. I also have the Windows Device Manager up and can see that it, too, shows the newly connected and recognized COM Port 6. So far, so good.

I go to the IDE and select to Upload. It starts up and succeeds in compiling the sketch. When it starts to do the Upload it SEEMS to do the upload but the IDE shows

"Error opening serial port "COM 6"

I look at the diagnostic messages of the IDE and it shows...

Sketch uses 3538 bytes (12%) of program storage space. Maximum is 28672 bytes.
Global variables use 165 bytes of dynamic memory.
Forcing reset using 1200bps open/close on port COM6
PORTS {COM6, } / {} => {}
PORTS {} / {COM7, } => {COM7, }
Found upload port: COM7


WHY did it force an open/close of COM6??

Doing so appears to have only succeeded in CLOSING COM6. And then it indicates that it FOUND COM7.

And when it forced that close on 6 and open on 7 Windows reported that it now DOES NOT RECOGNIZE what's connected to COM7!!!! It's no longer recognizing that the ItsyBitsy is properly connected!!! Windows says that it's an UNRECOGNIZED DEVICE. The Windows Device Manager no longer shows ANY COM Ports. NEITHER COM6 NOR COM7.

From additional information out put by the IDE it SEEMS that MAYBE it somehow succeeded in actually sending the sketch out to the ItsyBitsy . . .

Code: Select all

Connecting to programmer: .
Found programmer: Id = "CATERIN"; type = S
    Software Version = 1.0; No Hardware Version given.
Programmer supports auto addr increment.
Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=128 bytes.

Programmer supports the following devices:
    Device code: 0x44

avrdude: devcode selected: 0x44
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
and later...

Code: Select all

avrdude: writing flash (3538 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.28s

avrdude: 3538 bytes of flash written
but even later . . .

Code: Select all

Error opening serial port 'COM6'.
And in the Tools section of the IDE it's showing NO PORT, neither 6 nor 7.
No Port.png
No Port.png (16.32 KiB) Viewed 161 times
But WORST OF ALL !!!! When I now disconnect the ItsyBitsy from the computer and then PLUG IT BACK IN, Windows no longer recognizes it as an ItsyBitsy. It says that it's an unrecognized device. It no longer shows up, after plugging it back in, as a COM Port. The Red LED on the ItsyBitsy now DOES NOT BLINK when I plug it in.

Clicking the reset button on the ItsyBitsy causes nothing to blink on the ItsyBitsy but causes Windows to think a new device has been connected but is not recognized.

Double-clicking the reset button on the ItsyBitsy causes the LED on the ItsyBitsy to fade in and out and then turn off (no subsequent blinking) and again causes Windows to think a new device has been connected but is not recognized.

All I keep getting is this:
Malfunction.png
Malfunction.png (40.28 KiB) Viewed 160 times
Whatever the upload to the ItsyBitsy did it resulted in the ItsyBitsy no longer being recognizable by Windows as a COM Port. It is now USELESS.

I tried this entire procedure with the OTHER ItsyBitsy that I had just purchased and the exact same thing happened I now have THREE totally useless ItsyBitsys.

TOTALLY USELESS ItsyBitsys

It appears that the attempt to upload a sketch to it caused the ItsyBitsy to LOSE it's ability to respond to being plugged in, and when Windows queries the newly connected device the ItsyBitsy is unable to respond, it's unable to tell Windows that it's an ItsyBitsy, and as a result Windows flags it as an unrecognized device and does NOT assign it as a COM Port.

ONE LAST NOTE

I AM able to connect an Arduino Mega to my computer and upload and run this very same sketch to it. My computer fully recognizes the Arduino Mega. It's only the ItsyBitsys that it has fatal problems with.

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RogerInHawaii
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:27 am

Re: More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

Post by RogerInHawaii »

I'm thinking the following may well be a cause for this problem. When compiling my sketch an error is reported, not in my sketch but in code that's part of the libraries that are referenced, and it's in USBCore.cpp, the code that, via software, handles the USP communications:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino\USBCore.cpp:245:9: warning: 'c' may be used uninitialized in this function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
  return c;
If that variable 'c' is uninitialized but may be used even with initialization, it's likely that sometimes the RANDOM value that happens to be in it causes some kind of error to occur.

Maybe someone should look in to that. At the very least CORRECT the source code and provide an update that assures that the 'c' variable is never used without initialization.


I've also noticed that there are a whole LOT of reports of this kind of problem with the ItsyBitsy. That seems to me to imply that the problem is not with the people who use it, but with the ItsyBitsy itself.

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RogerInHawaii
 
Posts: 65
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Re: More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

Post by RogerInHawaii »

YOIKS. After days and days of diagnosing I appear to have found the problem. MY problem. There are two versions of the ItsyBitsy, one for 3 volts and one for 5 volts, each one operating at a different speed. I ordered the 5 volt version. One thing you have to do in the IDE is select which board your sketch(program) is intended for. Apparently I inadvertently selected the 3V option.

Now that I've properly selected the 5V version, it all works.

I'm willing to bet that this may well be a cause of similar problems for other programmers as well.

Adafrut might consider emphasizing this point on their page that discusses the COM Port problem.

https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing- ... aq-2704880

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RogerInHawaii
 
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:27 am

Re: More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

Post by RogerInHawaii »

Another suggestion for reducing the possibility of this kind of error.

Maybe make each of the two versions of the ItsyBitsy on two different colored circuit boards and name them correspondingly, so that they would be, perhaps, an ItsyBitsy BLUE and an ItsyBitsy RED, and those names would appear in the menu of boards that can be selected from in the IDE.

Heck, this approach could be applied for any kind of Arduino that comes in different basic voltages, BLUE ones and RED ones.

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TomHumbleAndHandsome
 
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Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:38 pm

Re: More problems with ItsyBitsy 32u4

Post by TomHumbleAndHandsome »

OMG Roger In HI - I've been trying to figure this out for days. THANK YOU.

As you can see from my image (I hope it uploads, I'm new at this), the list of devices shows the 32u4 feather at the top. I selected that because I assumed (we know what that stands for) that the 32u4 devices would be grouped together. And since I saw no others following immediately...

Unlike you, who at least got down to the right board (albeit the wrong voltage), I was way off. I'm not sure what a feather is anyway but live and learn.

If making mistakes makes you smarter, I must be a genius by now.

Thank you
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