Arduino Driver Won't Install on Windows 10

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

I've got an Arduino Mega 2560, and am running Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.

From other forum posts, I was able to find troubleshooting steps, but none of them worked.

  • It shows up as an unknown device in device manager
  • Under device details, the hardware IDs shows USB\DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR_FAILURE
  • Searching for driver automatically does nothing
  • manually pointing to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\drivers folder to install the driver gives the following error: "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64 based systems"
  • Arduino is not an option in selecting a driver from installed manufacturer drivers, even though when I installed arduino ide it prompted me to install the serial usb driver
2

Try Disabling Driver Signature Check before installing the driver. Win 10 has this as well. Under win 10 it's under settings => Update & Security => Recovery.

3

Sorry, that's the one thing I forgot to say I already tried. Thank you for the reply anyways though.

Disabling driver signature protection yielded the same error.

I don't think it could be my cable, because it works fine between my printer and computer. I also tried using rear USB vs front usb, and that did nothing to help.

4

Is it an original Mega 2560? Or a eBay/Aliexpress clone?

5

It's definitely not an original. This is my first experience with this type of endevour, I guess I should have paid more attention when I was purchasing it. So my best option right now would probably be to just purchase a new board, one that is an actual arduino?

6

Or find the driver for the chip on the board. Any markings on it?

7

There are no identifiable markings that I see.

1836×3264 621 KB

Unless you're talking about how it says Atmega 2560? But isn't that what's supposed to be on all of them?

8

I figured my WIN 10 problem out. It was a bad board right out of the box!

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=354810.0

9

Similar setup and similar problem.
Win 10 home x64 and mega 2560 clone.

It's not the board because using the 2560 clone board
on a second PC with win 7 x64 there is no problem.

Problem on the win10 PC can also be shown
without any board.

Using device manager, action
"install old generation HW" Install Manually,
Arduino Gemma can be installed (this is to check driver signature is disabled)
but anything from "arduino.inf" fails,
Uno, 2560, etc

10

this is another good way to install missing Arduino mega 2560 drivers
https://vtwood.org/how-to-install/how-to-install-arduino-mega-2560-drivers

11

The OP has CH340/341 chip and needs those drivers (not included with IDE).

@borisff. What are you on about ? The OP is talking a clone MEGA not a GEMMA.

@rohitkhosla The REAL CH340 drivers are HERE not some unknown links.

Also anyone with win / linux machines should ensure they are using USB 2.0 ports for testing purposes until they are sure that any USB 3.0 ports they have are fully compatible.

1 Like
12

I got another Mega about a year ago, and I am 99% sure that I ran it on one of the computers right after I got it, and it was OK.

Tried to use it for a project today and could not get it to work on either windows 10 or Vista. Found another USB cable. Investigated the problem with the bricked FTDI chips. The device manager seemed to be reporting different issues every time I plugged it in.

I tried downloading the CH340 drivers, it automatically installed immediately, problem solved. I couldn't be bothered dismantling the fancy plastic box it is in to see if I can find the actual chip.

So I am now pretty sure that I never actually tested it after I received it.