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[on:]

Hi,

I just got an Arduino Nano.  It's labeled "v3.0" on the board "Mega328P" on the AVR chip.  Selected the correct device in the Tools > Board menu, "Arduino Nano w/ ATmega328".  When I plug it in, extra serial ports do NOT show up in the Tools > Serial Port menu (just the Bluetooth devices are shown there), and the "L" LED on pin 13 is flashing red continually, several times a second.  The "Pwr" LED is green, and the Tx and Rx LEDs never flash.

I'm new to the Arduino, but I've been using an Arduino Uno successfully for 3 weeks now.  I figured that the Nano should be equally easy to use, just plug in the cable to the USB port and Cmd-U to upload.

Is there anything I'm missing, anything that I should do to use the Nano that I don't have to do with the Uno?

I got a short USB cable with the Nano, have also tried a different cable, neither of them worked.

I'm using the 1.0.1 IDE on Snow Leopard.

Thanks in advance for any advice...
Bruce

[Reply #1 on:]

Red?  You may have a faulty Arduino (though not very faulty; just got the wrong LED); it's supposed to be amber.

As for your connectivity problems, try a different USB port; that often works.  Or just try rebooting the IDE, or the computer.

[Reply #2 on:]

Tried restarting my Mac, tried restarting the Arduino IDE; tried plugging the cable in to each of the two USB ports on the Mac...no help.

Looking at this more closely, I can see the Rx and Tx LEDs do flash briefly when the Nano restarts; the Tx LED does flash red.  Perhaps this is how this board is built, red LEDs were used for the Tx and Pin 13 LEDs?

Responses to other postings from people with problems uploading to their Arduino mention that sometimes the manufacturer has left a test program on the board that makes the LED flash.  Maybe that's what's happening here, there's a test program that is making the LED flash rapidly?

If so, the chief problem is that the board doesn't show up as a serial port in the Arduino IDE.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to debug this problem?

[Reply #3 on:]

I think that many cheap Chinese copies sold on eBay have red LEDs.

[Reply #4 on:]

If so, the chief problem is that the board doesn't show up as a serial port in the Arduino IDE.  Anyone have any suggestions on how to debug this problem?

Return it to eBay or Amazon and buy a Genuine Nano.

The Nano uses a FTDI chip, so you must install the FTDI drivers in order for OSX to recognize it.
http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

[Reply #5 on:]

@James: Thanks, I think that's it!  I don't have the driver installed for the FTDI chip.  Been spoiled working with the Uno!  I'll install the driver tonight and see how it goes.

@perhof: yes, I bought this board from Hong Kong on Amazon.  I'll ignore the red flashing LEDs if I can get it to work OK!

Thanks everyone for your help!