My son and I are attempting his first kit (12-in-1). I have having issues getting the IDE to recognize the board. When I go to tools, the Uno board is selected. When I try to select any port (it is currently connected via USB), the port option is grayed out and you can't select it.
I have updated the software for the boards and libraries. Under the device manager, I expected to see an unknown hardware under ports but nothing listed.
Currently using Windows 10 home edition. I have tried all the USB ports and different cables with no luck.
Any ideas?
The error code when attempting to compile is below.
Archiving built core (caching) in: C:\Users\ERINSH~1\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_cache_260924\core\core_arduino_avr_uno_5005b2103051647f355a19029d277612.a
Sketch uses 2182 bytes (6%) of program storage space. Maximum is 32256 bytes.
Global variables use 52 bytes (2%) of dynamic memory, leaving 1996 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\.\COM1": The system cannot find the file specified.
Nothing happens in the device manager when the board is plugged in or unplugged. I moved it around to different USB ports on the laptop with no changes.
So you plug it in, but get nothing in device manager, and no "ka-bing" noise like windows makes when you plug in hardware?
That leaves only a few options:
Cable is bad. I'm pretty sure some of those "kits" are shipping with defective cables that have very high DOA rate, since we get a crazy number of people posting with this problem being fixed by switching to a known good cable.
You're using USB 3.0 ports, and the computer's USB 3.0 interface has backward compatibility issues (this was extremely common in the early days of USB 3.0, less so now, but still not unheardof) - if the computer only has USB 3.0 ports, try sticking a USB 2.0 hub in between the board and Arduino - this usually fixes the USB compatibility issues.
Board defective (very unlikely, but not impossible)