2 uno's an 1 mega stopped working and RX led is blinking

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I have here 2 arduino uno's and 1 arduino mega. I have not used them for a while and now they are not working. As soon as I connect one of the arduinos to the computer the RX led starts flashing very fast and also I can't upload code because it comes up with the error message: avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "arduino": The system can't find the specified file.

Problem uploading to board. See https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/sections/360003198300 for suggestions.

I have tried several things but I can't figure out what is wrong. Hopefully someone can help me.

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Which operating system do you use and which Arduino IDE ?

Do they make a new COM port ?
You know they are clones and that the usb-serial chip is not officially supported by Arduino ?
Download the driver for the CH340G here: http://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/CH341SER_EXE.html.

I suggest to buy at least one official Arduino board or donate some money to Arduino https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Contribute

3

Are you sure it is the RX let, it sounds like a serial flood where you are constantly send data to the serial port as fast or faster then it can send it? Can you test it on another machine?

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First I used the arduino web editor on a chromebook with chromeOS. When that didn't work, I tried it on a laptop with Windows using the latest Arduino IDE and the same thing happened there.

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I also have an original Arduino Uno, but I am already using it in a project and needed another Uno, so I also have a few Clones.

@gilshultz: I am sure it is the RX light that is flashing. I've tried it on both windows and a chromebook, but the same problem with both.

I tried again and found out that the flashing also happens when I power the uno's through the usb port with a powerbank.

6

If you have access to a scope put a probe on the RX line and determine if it is active or passive. If it is active, which the LED indicates, you will need to determine what is causing it to go active. Is it at a steady state and not showing data you may have a bad ground.

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IF you press and hold the reset button; does RX still flash ?

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After a friend of mine, who knows a lot more about this, tried some things, he managed to get them working again.

Thank you all for your answers!

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