Yes of course. It'll be a while before I have a sketch ready though. I just thought I should be able to see Arduino in computers devices list. Aha , good news I've successfully uploaded a sketch, so it is working.
One step forward , two steps back. I thought I'd got the nano up and running. I thought I'd uploaded a sketch involving a Hall sensor. The Hall sensor was working sure enough, but probably all on it's own. The nano has a constant green Led and a flashing red. I now realise that this might be the pre-loaded blink sketch. The nano employs a type B mini USB connector and these are less common. I only had one such cable, so I cannot swap out. My thinking is that the cable is faulty. Why else would there be no reference to the nano in desktop control panel. You plug something in and the PC asks it what it is, if it doesn't get a satisfactory reply it posts unidentified device. Am I on the right track here? New cable ordered.
Hi,
Yes, if the on board LED is blinking, which is the code that goes on when the bootloader is programmed, after you have uploaded another code, then yes it sounds like the Nano is not USB connected.
It should come upon the control panel, so it it looks like a dodgey cable.
Tom... 
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If it didn't upload the code, the IDE should have reported an error. 
It did report an error but not one which was comprehensible. The first sketch I thought I'd uploaded, I had in fact only compiled. Will put things on hold now until the new cable arrives.
Well, an error (as distinct from a warning) means failed upload.
New cable, same problem. Main computer has established relationship with nucleo board on Comm 8. That board is rarely connected to it but a Usb serial device pops up there whenever ardunio connected. On spare computer (windows 7 also) It shows up the ports section as unidentified device. Hours of work and research on this reveals nothing (with the exception that Windows 7 is troublesome.
Here's the error on upload:
Arduino: 1.8.15 (Windows 7), Board: "Arduino Nano, ATmega328P"
Sketch uses 936 bytes (3%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes. Global variables use 9 bytes (0%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2039 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes. avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00 An error occurred while uploading the sketch
Should I throw the Nano out and buy a more expensive version, or are there any useful suggestions ?
There are different Arduino nano boards.
Give please a link to the seller's website with your Arduino Nano or a good photo of the bottom side of the board.
Hi,
Does your tool tab look like this?
The WiFi101 list may not be on your tab, that is not needed for this application and ofcourse the Port will probably different.
Tom...
Pretty much so Tom.
Your board has USB to Serial Chip: CH340C.
Did you install appropriate driver?
How to Install CH340 Drivers.
In the article, the link to which I gave you, there is a Windows 7/10 section. Just download CH341SER.exe and install the driver.
There should be the following in Device Manager.
I have several Arduino Nanos with CH340G. They all work well on Windows.
Nope no luck I've already tried that with the same program downloaded from manufacturer's site. When I run the programme it returns the mysterious message "the drive is successfully preinstalled in advance" and nothing happens. I'm now trying on my other Windows 7 desktop and downloaded. I get a serial USB port on comm 3 but no mention anywhere in device manager of an Arduino or CH30. Is it worth buying a genuine Arduino nano and trying again? Same error when trying to load sketch.
Another thing I've noticed (and don't know whether this is significant). According to device manager ( and I've been wrestling with this for hours) I have USB serial ports on both Windows 7 computers, but both apparently FTDI. Port 8 on the 64 bit that I use daily and port 3 on the 32 bit spare. The PC I generally use, has a port 8 relationship with a Nucleo board, though it's not used now. That board is bluetooth linked with a phone and works fine. It seems my PC thinks the nucleo board and port 8 are still together , but then it hasn't been told otherwise. That might explain an infatuation with port 8 (Arduino and Nucleo boards are similar devices). That doesn't explain why spare 32 bit Windows 7 PC isn't playing ball.
And did you perform Uninstall and Install as instructed?
Click the "Uninstall" button first. Then click on the "Install" button.
If this does not help, manually find all the files that start on the CP341 and delete them, then reinstall the driver.
Thanks for getting back. Yes, but hours ago and my short term memory isn't great. I'm 71. I'll try again.
Something along the lines of there being no device when uninstall pressed, same message before on clicking install. Back to where I was 10 minutes ago, serial USB port on com 8. FTDI!
It doesn't matter what the port number is. There are usually 4 real COM ports in a desktop computer (COM1-COM4). The laptop may not have at all. Arduino with CH340 connects to a computer via a USB socket as a virtual COM port.
Each USB port has its own number, and Windows assigns a new virtual port number to each device connected to a USB port.
When I plug my Arduino Nano into different USB sockets I get COM8, COM9, COM12, COM13, etc.
Importantly, if the driver is installed, then we will get the USB-SERIAL CH340 (COMx) in the device manager.
Take USB Device Tree Viewer V3.7.1
and you will see all information about USB ports and all connected devices. It's free and better than Device Manager.