Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

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asher813
 
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Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by asher813 »

I am working with the Feather M4 Express, along with the Prop Maker Featherwing, Servo/PWM Featherwing, and the Featherwing Tripler, as part of the Bell AVR competition. When I connect the M4 to my computer with a micro USB cable, the LED light next to the micro USB connector continuously flashes yellow, and device manager does not recognize anything in the ports. I am supposed to quickly press the reset button twice, and it says that the LED should briefly flash red before turning solid green. However, whenever I double-tap the button, the LED continues to flash yellow and the M4 does not go into bootloader mode. I have attached pictures of the M4 plugged into the computer alone, as well as it being attached to the tripler.
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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

The yellow LED is the charge indicator and will flash randomly when there is no battery attached. So that behavior is expected.

For now, leave the Feather M4 out of the tripler. When you double press the reset button, do any other LEDs on the Feather come on? Or is the yellow charge LED the only one the is lighting up?

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asher813
 
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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by asher813 »

Only the yellow charge LED is lighting up.

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alpierce
 
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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by alpierce »

Might want to verify that your USB cable is a data cable and not charge only. If It’s not a data cable it will display exactly the symptoms you are seeing.

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Actually, for this board and bootloader, it will light up the other LEDs even if USB is bad. They'll be red instead of green to indicate an USB issue. However, no LEDs is indicating a issue with the bootloader itself.

Is this a new Feather M4? It is behaving like this out of the box?

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asher813
 
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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by asher813 »

No, we have had it since august, it had worked correctly before but we haven't touched it for awhile. I will order a new feather M4, also I believe I am using a data cable, I plugged a controller into the same computer using the same cable and it was recognized as a device.

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Re: Feather M4 Express does not go in to bootloader mode

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

Unfortunately it sounds like something has happened and corrupted the bootloader on that Feather. Or since it has been used, there may be some other kind of damage. Yep - best course of action is to assume that board dead and replace with a new one.

Try out the new one stand alone first, just to be sure it arrives OK, before attaching it to other hardware. Make sure double reset puts in bootloader. And upload some basic sketches, etc.

If you want to try and recover that other Feather, could attempt the process documented here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-progr ... -m4-wiring
But it does require some additional hardware (a programmer).

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