Arduino IDE on Mac suddenly won't upload to Uno, throws errors

Hello, I'm new here, and yes, I have a problem:

Arduino IDE has suddenly decided to refuse to upload any code/sketches, even though it's been working fine since I downloaded it, after I got my Uno-compatible board in an experimenters' kit a few weeks ago.

It was a breeze to set up and worked immediately w/o problems, and I didn't do anything (that I know of) to upset it, though this morning I think my finger brushed the thing with six 'spikes' sticking out of it that sits next to the power LED and reset button and it made the red LED flash briefly. Could that have maybe damaged the components with static charge and be causing this error?(… and, 'yes, I'll be getting an antistatic wrist-strap asap'

The only thing I haven't tried in the troubleshooting doc is to substitute a different and known good USB cable, as I don't have another one with such a small size plug and I live in the Australian bush a long way from civilisation and computer shops. I'll get one if any of you recommend it, given that the power light is on, so there must be some contact at least (the USB is the only thing my Uno is plugged into).

I'm on a Mac Pro running OS X 8.2 Mountain Lion.

I've quit and restarted the IDE several times,
I've deleted the prefs,
I've rebooted the Mac,
I've tried uploading with nothing connected to the board except USB,
I've tried resetting it with the reset button just before uploading,
I've tried different code, including the Blink sketch,
I've tried quitting all other apps (except Finder of course) and running it alone (it's complaining about the USB port being in use all of a sudden),
I haven't changed anything at all since I used the IDE last night (I haven't updated Java, or thrown away and retrieved the IDE app), and everything was working fine then.

I've checked that:
The power LED is on,
The board isn't touching anything metallic (it's sitting in a plastic tray),
It's not plugged into the Mac via a USB hub,
The right board and serial port are selected,
It doesn't need a driver (I'm on a Mac and using a Uno-compatible board),
I'm not running anything that scans my USB ports,
I don't have firewall software that blocks access to serial port (my Mac's inbuilt firewall wasn't blocking the IDE before and I haven't changed anything
),
I've checked that there's a bootloader present,

Here's the error it's repeatedly throwing:

Binary sketch size: 1,084 bytes (of a 32,256 byte maximum)
processing.app.SerialException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
at processing.app.Serial.(Serial.java:171)
at processing.app.Serial.(Serial.java:77)
at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:77)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:174)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:67)
at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1671)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1627)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1599)
at processing.app.Editor$DefaultExportHandler.run(Editor.java:2380)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:680)
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:101)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:174)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:67)
at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1671)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1627)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1599)
at processing.app.Editor$DefaultExportHandler.run(Editor.java:2380)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:680)

Have you tried to redownload the IDE? Maybe there is some problem with it.

Gairlochan:
...
processing.app.SerialException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
...
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
...

Are you sure you have the correct port selected? The logs show you are selecting the Bluetooth Modem.

bbotella:
Have you tried to redownload the IDE? Maybe there is some problem with it.

Thanks for replying and no I haven't. I hadn't thought of it, and it wasn't mentioned in the troubleshooting guide.

But I have now deleted the IDE and unzipped the original zip file, which I know was good because I used it for weeks without problems, and …

Voila! It works now! I spent all day yesterday wrestling with it, and it was something so simple. C'est la vie … and thanks again.

Gairlochan:

[quote author=Louis Davis link=topic=152754.msg1146655#msg1146655 date=1362665036]

Gairlochan:
...
processing.app.SerialException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
...
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port '/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem' already in use. Try quiting any programs that may be using it.
...

Are you sure you have the correct port selected? The logs show you are selecting the Bluetooth Modem.

[/quote]

Well, now that you mention it …

Everything under Tools/Serial Port was a 'Bluetooth something', so I tried all of them and they all failed to work, but in different ways … and there was no other choice.

But there is now that I've reinstalled the IDE. I have USB options in the menu now, and I can upload again.

Hello all,

My Arduino is again refusing to upload, and again the 'Tools –> Serial Port' menu contains no reference to USB. I've reinstalled it again, quit and restarted it, rebooted the Mac etc., and it's still not noticing USB ports. Any ideas anyone?

Make sure it isn't just a bad connection between the cable and the USB Type B connector on the UNO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Types-usb_th1.svg

I had this problem recently and had to replace the USB connector on the UNO because it wasn't making good contact anymore.
Before I replaced it, I had to wiggle it around a little before it would make good contact.

Before you suspect something is wrong with the IDE, make sure the Arduino device shows up under USB devices in the System Profiler.

When it stops appearing, you need to look at system profiler (or system report) to see if it is being enumerated.

Hi,

Upload the latest FTDI Driver again.
restart the Mac
start the IDE
plug the board in
select the Board
the port should be /dev/tty.SerialPort

iSteve:
Upload the latest FTDI Driver again.
...
the port should be /dev/tty.SerialPort

Does not apply to an Uno, which does not use a FTDI FT232 chip.

Thank you all for replying!

James, good troubleshooting tip about using the System Profiler. Again, I can't believe I didn't think of it, but I know now. It took me some tinkering to get the Uno visible in the Sys Profiler, but it's there again now (though I'm not sure what exactly it was that I did which made it show up).

I've been using the IDE for weeks now without the FDTI driver, which I read that the Uno did not need, and which it has indeed worked well without.

iSteve, I'll remember to do things in that order (though it's dev/tty/USBxxx that I need to look for with the Uno).

I have another board as well as the Uno, a Arduino Mega (ATmega1280)-compatible board which came with a quadrupedal robot chassis, and I haven't been able to get that one going despite trying for two days solid, and installing the latest FTDI driver. It has a wobbly USB socket (thanks Louis for reminding me to check) and two brand new USB cables felt very wonky in it, and the plugh and socket on the board got quite warm to the touch, and my Mac started throwing 'USB over-current' warnings and shutting my USB ports down. So I reckon I'll send it back and hope they give me a good one in return.

Thanks again for all your help. I've had a neurological illness for nearly 30 yrs now and my memory and brainpower, amongst other things, have been seriously knocked about and I frequently miss things which are really obvious. I trained as a TV Repair tech way back, somem time before the last ice age (early 1980s), and am usually the one helping other people (heh, mostly my son and my husband) with their technical and Mac problems, so all this new digital stuff is quite a reality check for me. (… and maybe, after all the free tech support I've done, I'm due a bit of help from others for a change . Nice thought anyway …