All of a sudden Softwareserial is failing to connect

I had a Nano based sketch working fine.
I went in to change the Vol from 15 to 20 and when I reloaded the sketch I got "Init failed, please check the wire connections'
I did, all were fine, good continuity.
I took another circuit that was working and re-uploaded the sketch and the same result "Init failed, please check the wire connections'
Same thing with a 3rd and 4th sketches.
I re-booted the PC
I re-downloaded IDE
Still all my sketches are now failing with Softwareserial connection?
These were all different sketches that had been previously working fine.
No changes were made, just uploaded them
I'm really at a loss for ideas.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated
Ed

Any details would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry I have lots of code.
All I did was re-upload the sketches and now they are all failing to run
THis is where is gets hung up

DF1201SSerial.begin(9600);
while (!DF1201S.begin(DF1201SSerial)) {
Serial.println("Init failed, please check the wire connection!");
delay(1000);
}

All I can think is SoftwareSerial.h has somehow gotten corrupted?
Ed

Re-install what?
I already re-installed the IDE
I have the
Board set to "Nano"
Processor set to " ATmeg328P'
At this point I'm not sure what to set the Programmer to?
I'm using AVR ISP
What should I be using?

Can you get the blink LED sketch to upload and work?

Did you upgrade some libraries ?

Yes BLINK works
Yes I updated Libraries
I'm really suspecting that SoftwareSerial updated and now it's bugged
I've tried 3 different computers
with three different circuits that were working before I reloaded and then gave the same 'check wiring' error
SoftwareSerial will not connect
I have no problem updating the MKRZero since it's using ArduinoSound
Thanks
Ed

The check wiring is a message generated by your code not getting the correct response from your SD card.
That can be caused by bad wiring, a faulty of badly programmed SD card, or by software serial not working. Of the three software serial not working is the least likely.

As the nano 33 has a virtual serial port it uses then there is no need to use software serial, you can use the UART pins.

Anyway it is best if you post your code, along with a schematic (not Frtizing crap ) of your circuit. Hand drawn will be fine.

I'm not using SD card, using DFRobot-Pro with onboard memory
Using Arduino Nano's, not clones
These were working perfectly and then at 9:15 yesterday I believe the Libraries updated .
Since then NONE of the circuits that were working fine, will not work after a reload
The sketches are all different as I keep a log of each sketch for each circuit.
No changes were made to the circuits
But, they still are not working
I'm sorry why post the code if the code was working fine... no change... now not working?
Ed

OK, I just tried NeoSWSerial and I'm still getting the same error message.
So, I must've messed something up in the IDE??

#include<Wire.h>
#include <NeoSWSerial.h>
#include <DFRobot_PLAY.h>
// Use pins 2 and 3 to communicate with DFPlayer Mini
NeoSWSerial DF1201SSerial(3, 2); //RX TX
DFRobot_PLAY DF1201S;
const int MPU_addr = 0x68; // I2C address of the MPU-6050
int16_t AcX, AcY, AcZ, Tmp, GyX, GyY, GyZ;
int FileNum = 1;
bool movementStarted = false;
bool isRinging = false;
bool Ypositive = true;
bool onTable = true;
bool skipReSet = false;
bool startedRinging = false;
bool movingUp = false;
int inPin = 13; // the number of the input pin-BUTTON OUT
int outPin = 11; // the number of the output pin
int state = HIGH; // the current state of the output pin
int reading; // the current reading from the input pin
int previous = LOW; // the previous reading from the input pin
int maxIndex = 4;

// the follow variables are long's because the time, measured in miliseconds,
// will quickly become a bigger number than can be stored in an int.
long time = 0; // the last time the output pin was toggled
long debounce = 200; // the debounce time, increase if the output flickers
#define Addr 0x53
//in the brackets is the number of elements, i assume for the elements you jut put the filename in
//the first element is referred to as index 0, second as 1, etc.
int noteindex = 1; //what index to refer to, so what note/item from the about array to play?

void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600);
DF1201SSerial.begin(9600);
while (!DF1201S.begin(DF1201SSerial)) {
Serial.println("Init failed, please check the wire connection!");
delay(1000);
/Set volume to 20/
DF1201S.setVol(15);
//Serial.print("VOL:");
/Get volume/
//Serial.println(DF1201S.getVol());
/Enter music mode/
DF1201S.switchFunction(DF1201S.MUSIC);
/*Wait for the end of the prompt tone */
delay(2000);
/Set playback mode to "repeat all"/
DF1201S.setPlayMode(DF1201S.SINGLE);//SINGLECYCLE,ALLCYCLE,SINGLE,RANDOM,FOLDER
//Serial.print("PlayMode:");
/Get playback mode/
//Serial.println(DF1201S.getPlayMode());
Wire.begin();
Wire.beginTransmission(MPU_addr);
Wire.write(0x6B); // PWR_MGMT_1 register
Wire.write(0); // set to zero (wakes up the MPU-6050)
Wire.endTransmission(true);
//PUSH BUTTON CODE
pinMode(inPin, INPUT);
pinMode(outPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.print("startedRinging"); Serial.print(" ");
}

Do you have another Arduino you could use to do a minimal test?

What should the Programmer Selection be?
I have Arduino ISP
Does that matter?
Ed

I have tried 4 different circuits with 4 different Nanos.
All were working fine until I reloaded the corresponding sketches
Thanks
Ed

It just seems suspicious that the alternative library fails too. I'd be inclined to have one Nano send data out of it's hardware serial port and read it on another Nano using soft serial and echo it to the serial monitor.

That's a little above my pay grade?
Everything was working fine until 9:15 Am yesterday and now every sketch I upload fails to communicate. NO CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE SKETCHES.
I've changed cables, computers, nano's DFRobot modules, etc.

Can you maybe post the library sources, then someone can compare them to a known-good version?

If you post your code and your schematic we might be able to understand what is going wrong.
Otherwise if you don’t want any help then why post in the first place.

I don’t give a dam when it was working last, it tells us nothing about your problem except something has changed. We are trying to help you understand what has changed. If you want help you have to cooperate.

I assume SoftwareSerial.h is a part of the Arduino IDE??
I do have a SoftwareSerial-master.zip, but I can't find where I got that.
GitHub - SlashDevin/NeoSWSerial: Efficient alternative to SoftwareSerial with attachInterrupt for RX chars, simultaneous RX & TX

OK, here's my last gasp
I took a finished circuit, actually a bell that plays a recorded bell sound.
It's labeled "C6-6002"
I connected to IDE and ran the Serial Monitor (see below), with MPU-6050 output
I then uploaded the original sketch without changing a thing and
see how the serial monitor output immediately turned into
"Init failed, please check the wire connection" after changing baud to 115200

Something has changed with the upload process?????

I'm about ready to call the whole project a loss.
I was ready to go live on my website with the products, but I can't have this type of longterm performamnce?
Ed

-2504 15436 2756 -823 145 57
-2196 15484 2376 -823 81 57
-2424 15520 2612 -852 16 -4
-2372 15464 2564 -825 -39 -5
-2324 15452 2492 -827 -23 38
-2344 15480 2524 -858 -32 8
-2296 15456 2516 -838 -54 -38
-2452 15504 2408 -854 -28 -13
-2360 15444 2464 -828 -8 -12
-2356 15416 2648 -835 -43 5
-2368 15376 2456 -830 -55 2
-2300 15396 2540 -836 17 8
-2328 15444 2520 -799 14 -8
-2332 15580 2540 -831 -5 -73
-2360 15364 2524 -823 -31 -31
-2412 15480 2596 -⸮}ױl⸮⸮d⸮⸮lױ⸮⸮0⸮⸮⸮⸮⸮m⸮⸮0⸮0⸮0⸮⸮0⸮⸮⸮m⸮⸮m⸮⸮lInit failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!
Init failed, please check the wire connection!

Changed all USB cords....
Same result
Ed