Unable to download to PYGAMER Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[cosmoscowboy]

I have a new adafruit PYGAMER, with the latest bootloader:

UF2 Bootloader v3.10.0 SFHWRO
Model: PyGamer
Board-ID: SAMD51J19A-PyGamer-M4

In the past I have been able to download a MakeCode Arcade game onto it, but it seems to have stopped working. I have tried numerous times using Microsoft Edge or Chrome (on Window 10 Pro). From within the Arcade editor, I can select the hardware, pair with the device, but while it seems to download to the device, I see the pygamer screen go blank for a second, it detaches from the computer, and reattaches itself. Even if I download the uf2 file to the computer and copy/paste it to the drive assigned to the pygamer, it does not work. Oddly enough I see two drives assigned to the device, both with the same letter (D:) I have attached the game I made (arcade-Frogging-Fun-100.uf2).

Is someone able to upload this game to their PYGAMER?
Can someone please help me with this issue?

[adafruit_support_carter]

Was your previous success with using this same PC?

[cosmoscowboy]

Was your previous success with using this same PC?

Thank you for getting back to me on this issue. I can download different .uf2 files to the pygamer, just not the one attached in the support request. I can even upload the latest bootstrapper file, and even the test (arcade-Basic-Hardware-Test-PyBadge_and_PyGamer.uf2).
The previous success was using the same PC. It is a work computer, so I though maybe because we log in through a VPN (Viscosity), that might be causing the problem. So today, I tried my laptop (Windows 8, I know old) updated it to the latest version, and latest version of Chrome, but am still unable to download the game. The laptop is using our wifi at home, so it is not using my work VPN. The laptop does just show one drive with 'PYGAMERBOOT'.

This is the latest version of the game:
https://arcade.makecode.com/45101-41206-37838-76588

I have also attached the .uf2 file

I know that some USB cables do not work, and those that do not work do not show a drive letter. However, after trying many different cables, that do show a drive letter, I started to smell something strange from the pygamer. After that the pygamer did not show the 'bootloader' screen anymore (https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/74992).

It is a strange situation, since I can install the bootloader (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pyg ... bootloader) and different games, just not my game. I hope that something is not wrong with the board.

[cosmoscowboy]

BTW: other people are able to download my game to their PYGAMER, and they also have latest boostrapper and same device:

UF2 Bootloader v3.10.0 SFHWRO
Model: PyGamer
Board-ID: SAMD51J19A-PyGamer-M4

[cosmoscowboy]

At the MakeCode forum, other people have also been able to download my game on to their PYGAMER.
https://forum.makecode.com/t/cannot-dow ... er/3955/24

Can someone help me out with this issue?

[adafruit_support_carter]

Thanks for all the additional information. Good to know the PyGamer at least works.

I'm seeing the same thing, with Firefox 81.0.2. I followed the link to your code, changed hardware to PyGamer, and downloaded the UF2. It does not run.

I am seeing errors in the Web Console though. So it may be related to that. See if you can see the same on your end and supply that information back to this thread:
https://forum.makecode.com/t/cannot-dow ... er/3955/24
This seems like it's more of a MakeCode issue than a PyGamer issue. So the help in that forum is the place to go.

[cosmoscowboy]

Thanks for all the additional information. Good to know the PyGamer at least works.

I'm seeing the same thing, with Firefox 81.0.2. I followed the link to your code, changed hardware to PyGamer, and downloaded the UF2. It does not run.

I am seeing errors in the Web Console though. So it may be related to that. See if you can see the same on your end and supply that information back to this thread:
https://forum.makecode.com/t/cannot-dow ... er/3955/24
This seems like it's more of a MakeCode issue than a PyGamer issue. So the help in that forum is the place to go.

Thank you for assisting again. I have attached more information in the forum thread at makecode:
https://forum.makecode.com/t/cannot-dow ... smoscowboy

What sort of errors did you see in Firefox? Are they the same I was I see in Microsoft Edge?

[cosmoscowboy]

I am still wondering whether there is a slight problem with the PyGamer. I just received the case, speaker, battery and buttons. I can upload the test (https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pyg ... duino-test) and everything seems to be fine. If I pick up the device, I hear a sound from the speaker, I see that the controller moves in all directions around the circle and I see the buttons react as expected.

I just wanted to check whether this is normal behavior. When I plug it in to the computer I see the bootloader screen. If I pull out the usb cable, it stays on. When I press the reset button once, the screen goes black and the lights at the front are all red. When I switch it back on, the screen is still black and the lights are still red. Pressing the reset button one/twice while it is still on does nothing. The red light at the back is flashing. While it is still on, it is only when I plug the usb cable back in that I see the bootloader screen. Removing the usb cable again, the bootloader is still visible. Turning it off/on, same problem as before (blank screen, all lights at front are red).

BTW: I still cannot upload the attached game; either through webusb (MakeCode UI), or just by dragging the downloaded file to the drive letter. Other people in the forums of MakeCode are able to upload it to their PyGamer without a problem. Can someone else please try downloading/uploading the game? Latest version on MakeCode:
https://makecode.com/_bE8cTveDKMyK

[adafruit_support_carter]

Please continue to work with MakeCode for the issue with the game UF2.

The behavior with the test program sounds as expected. When you pick it up, you are likely triggering the accelerometer noise:

If the PyGamer accelerometer is shaked or tapped, it will play a 'coin' sound from the speaker or headphones if they are plugged in

[cosmoscowboy]

I just wanted to check whether this is normal behavior. When I plug it in to the computer I see the bootloader screen. If I pull out the usb cable, it stays on. When I press the reset button once, the screen goes black and the lights at the front are all red. When I switch it back on, the screen is still black and the lights are still red. Pressing the reset button one/twice while it is still on does nothing. The red light at the back is flashing. While it is still on, it is only when I plug the usb cable back in that I see the bootloader screen. Removing the usb cable again, the bootloader is still visible. Turning it off/on, same problem as before (blank screen, all lights at front are red).

Please explain to me why this is happening.

[adafruit_support_carter]

That sounds like a USB cable issue. Make sure it's not a charge only cable. But also, try other USB cables that you know are data capable.

[thescratt]

I had a similar problem to this yesterday with a brand new PyGamer on Windows 10.

I was able to briefly view the contents of the boot drive on my PC, but never able to open any files there or, more importantly, copy across the bootloader update file. It simply hung at 0%. Neither was I able to connect to the PyGamer from the Arduino IDE. Prior to this I have used a bunch of boards with the Arduino IDE. Several feathers among them. And the USB cable I was using was the same. I had installed all of the required support files for Arcada, Adafruit and Arduino for the PyGamer.

I tried disabling anti-virus. Uninstalling and re-installing the IDE, support files and drivers.
All to no avail.

Before I gave up on the PyGamer I tried a MacBook Air, and was immidiately able to update the bootloader to latest with the same USB cable.
I tried to connect the PyGamer to my Windows machine again then and had the same issues. So updating the bootloader did not appear to "fix" what I still think was an issue with my Windows 10 machine.

So I gave up and decided I would just work on Mac with this particular board. I installed the arcada_pygamer_test and was happy with what I saw.

Overnight I remembered a post about chaning the USB port associated with a device on Windows, and also remembered that unlike my previous boards (which had used Port 3) the Pygamer had connected on Port 7. So I thought I'd try to change the Port to 3 just to see what happened...

When I plugged the PyGamer in this morning to the PC to try just that it was running the arcada_pygamer_test and not the bootloader.
To my suprise Windows 10 immidiately recognised it as a PyGamer and said it was ready to use.
It is now on Port 8. I did nothing to change that. It also works with the Arduino IDE now (*kind of - see my edit below).

Not sure if this is of help to anyone, unless you have a Mac or a friend with a Mac! But I thought I would share.

*I can attach to the running process on the pyGamer on WIndows 10 via Port 8, but any attempt to program it sends it back to the bootloader, Port 7, and the upload fails.

[cosmoscowboy]

That sounds like a USB cable issue. Make sure it's not a charge only cable. But also, try other USB cables that you know are data capable.

When I plug the PyGamer into a USB cable, and computer shows it as a drive letter, can I assume that the USB cable is 'data capable'?

Also in my previous post I was more concerned whether the device is working properly. If I turn it on, the screen is blank and all lights at the front are red. When I plug it into the computer, I see the bootloader screen. When I pull out the usb cable from the device, the bootloader screen is still displayed. Great, I know that the battery works. However, when I turn it off and back on again, the same issue what I first describe happens; blank screen & all lights red.

Is this normal?

[cosmoscowboy]

@thescratt
I am not sure how to change the port number on my Windows 10 machine, I will have a look around. Are you saying that when you were able to change it to port 3 that the device starting working, well better? Otherwise I might try your advice and use a laptop with MacOS. Thank you

[thescratt]

ShareX_Xc6eirzJIE.png (75.2 KiB) Viewed 260 times

You can change the port in Device Manager. See above.

I changed the port for the bootloader to 8. It still shows the same issues unfortunately on PC. Works fine on Mac.
The arcada_pygamer_test app connects on 9 and I can talk to it from the arduino ide on both Mac and PC.

I think this is related to accessing the drive with the bootloader, and plan to post again about this with more info and some questions for adafruit.