Arduino Uno Port keeps failing or stopping

Good evening.

I recently purchased an Arduino Uno from adafruit, and an LED light kit as well. Following the install guides I got it all set up and it work as it should, however randomly at no set time or while doing any certain thing the board just stops communicating with the Com port/PC.

The board still functions as if I hit the reset it cycles through the colors on the LED's and then the green power on is on, only it is not receiving data from the PC. The software I use all will throw an error. Rebooting solves the problem... When the error occurs Windows shows the com port still working correctly and so I don't feel it is a hardware issue on the PC. Something happening with the arduino but I have no clue what.

I've tried fresh windows installs, running on my other PC's..other...but cannot solve this isssue. I thought I had it solved and had an interference or wiring problem but after 36 hours of working fine..in which I did not touch the compute or board, it randomly stopped again.

I am at a loss.

I run Windows 7 64 Bit and simply have the board hooked up via USB.
H77 Motherboard
i3 3225k
GPU HD 7770

LED are powered by power cable

Thanks in advance..I am really frustrated. Could be bad board?

If you replugging board in computer will it work?

It could be few things:

1 - USB standby on your computer or power options in Windows
2 - Bad or outdated driver for Com bridge
3 - Atmel FTDI chip needs new firmware update

I am very new to this..so bear with me if I am slow or dumb with my answers :slight_smile:

If I unplug the USB cable, the Aruino will send the cycle to the LED's (They flash Red, Blue, Green or some such to show they are working), however the error still occurs that it cannot communicate with the PC. Only rebooting works. One time I was able to get it working without rebooting but I have no clue how I did.

All my drivers should be updated as I downloaded the latest intel drivers for my motherboard.

Atmel FTDI Chip firmware: Not sure what this one means..can you elaborate? :slight_smile:

Any other info I could get that would be helpful?

I can reproduce the same error as well by messing with the board - i.e. touching the contacts and such..so Originally I thought maybe the board was shoring so I had rewired it and put it in a new case..it worked 36 hours and just shut down an hour ago when I was not even in the room.

Also..as far as I know I have disabled ALL power management software on my PC. If it was this..I can't figure out why sometimes it could happen in 5 mins, sometimes 2 days, sometimes an hour.

What application are you using on the PC to communicate with the Arduino?

If you are using the Serial Monitor, that is probably the problem. There have been several complaints on the forum of problems with maintaining connection to the Arduino for extended periods of time using the Serial Monitor.

I would suggest using a different terminal program for extended connections.

TeraTerm:

RealTerm:
http://realterm.sourceforge.net/

Atmel FTDI chip is a small ic next to the USB port on your Arduino board, ether Atmel 8U2 or 16U2. It's responsible for USB to Serial communication as well as uploading the sketch. I know it's been some problems with a firmware on those that caused different issues, unfortunately to fix it you need another arduino board or compatible ISP programmer. There is a tutorial at sparkfun website here:Installing an Arduino Bootloader - SparkFun Learn.

What kind of software are you using? Can you post a picture of your setup?

There is no such thing as an Atmel FTDI.

Atmel and FTDI are two different companies.

Atmel:

FTDI:
http://www.ftdichip.com/

Sorry about confusion about Atmel FTDI, What I meant to say: Atmel micro controller programmed as an USB to Serial converter bridge.

Just trying to help.

All I am doing is using the Arduino for lighting, The error occurs no matter which software I use. I tried Light-Pack (Prismatik) and Ambibox and also the Arduino Processing software..the error seems to happen no matter which I use.

The setup is identical to this here:

I used that guide and the guides on arduino to upload to the Arduino just once..and then using the above software to send the data.

Edit:

Okay it seems simply unplugging the USB cable from the Arduino or PC will also create the same issue. The lights on the Arduino go off and it won't reconnect to the PC. The green power is on but the TX and RX go dark.

Normal behavior is this, when in use the RX orange light flashes with use, if I turn the lights off with software the TX light blinks orange at a steady pace (Standby maybe?)

So when the error occurs it is the same behavior as if the USB cable was unplugged or lost connection.

I've heard odd things about faulty USB Cables..could it simply be a cable that is losing connection..could I Possibly have a bad connector on my Arduino?

Are you using the USB 3.0 ports or USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard?

I would use USB 2.0 ports.

I tried both 2.0 and 3.0, same result...currently it is plugged into 2.0 and the error occured again last night.

It could be simple driver bug in the processing. I can see it's getting color data from processing and sending it to arduino using USB to serial. Is it correct?

Right except I don't actually use the processing software.

When I first set it up it had me upload a couple sketches(if thats the right word) (based on the arduino guides) but after that I don't use the arduino software or processing I use Light-Pack or Ambibox (those send the color data from the computer to the board and to the lights

Others have suggested a USB cable replacement might solve it..that cables can be dodgy and it might be losing connection and thus the PC shuts the com port down until a reboot. I replaced the cable will see how long it stays working this time.

May I suggest to try lower down Com port baud rate, you will have to do it in the sketch and on computer. Also long USB cables might cause issues, if that's the case try to connect through USB hub.

Last thing I would try is to get USB to Com adapter from ebay (they really cheap about $5 - $7), and connect it to serial pins of Arduino UNO so you can use it instead of built in converter.

Let me know what happens.

I think I turned the rate down in windows but didn't know you had to do this on the arduino?

The thing is I never used an actual sketch beause I dont use the processing or anything..I only uploaded one file that adalight said to upload to the arduino. The programs I use do have a baud rate setting in them though.

I tried a powered hub but that hub was so faulty it wouldnt work with any devices..kept shutting out :\

Also my cable was a little long, the one I am testing with is shorter.

As for USB > Serial can you link me to the device you mean? How would you connect direct to serial on the arduino as I don't see a serial port?

THe only things I have uploaded to the board are following the guide above I listed.
I uploaded Blink Example from the arduino files, then it had my do LEDSTream Sketch in processing.

LEDStream is the one that makes the communication from the PC and Arduino happen, if I am understanding correctly. Also it is the one that creates the color cycle when first connected. I think maybe that is the "Sketch" my board is using? I had to change the Serial array here..which is the only thing I had to edit. Baud rate may be in here..I will have to check.

Edit:

I tried lower baud rate in the LEDStream sketch which defaults to 115200 but it would not run at a lower baud rate..just gave me flickering lights..so I had to turn it back..and then it worked again. Will continue letting it run with new cable and see what happens.

Also for my reference how does "uploading" to the board work? Does it overwrite when you upload again or does it keep uploading more data or how does that work? Could I have messed something up when uploading processing examples? Sorry for my newbie questions..learning :slight_smile:

Edit again:

Ah..you mean like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-to-UART-TTL-USB-to-COM-Cable-module-PL2303HX-Converter-/271216893309?pt=US_Parallel_Serial_PS_2_Cables_Adapters&hash=item3f25c95d7d
With pins. I will keep that in mind next.

Right now, testing new cable I have plugged up, then I will move on to the other things. Thanks for your help..I would like to get this going as it is really becoming frustrating to me and my wife lol

BTW I am right down the road from you, in Dallas :wink:

Adapter I told you about looks like this (find good price on ebay):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FTDI-Basic-Breakout-USB-TTL-6-PIN-3-3-5V-With-Free-USB-Cable-For-Arduino-/320907184616?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab78f09e8

Connect it to TX and RX pins of Arduino. (TX to RX and RX to TX)

TX is stands for transmit and RX for Receive.

When you upload sketches to Arduino UNO it will overwrite your old sketches (compiled programs).
Also Processing Sketches only run on computer and won't function on your Arduino board.
To lower down baud rate in Arduino sketch find this "Serial.begin(9600);" in your code and change number to baud rate that you want.
In Processing Sketch it should look something like this "myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);".

Processing Sketch will open Com port at rate specified in the code (ignoring Windows default baud rate).

Hope you can figure this out. :~

Alex_K:
Adapter I told you about looks like this (find good price on ebay):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FTDI-Basic-Breakout-USB-TTL-6-PIN-3-3-5V-With-Free-USB-Cable-For-Arduino-/320907184616?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab78f09e8

Connect it to TX and RX pins of Arduino. (TX to RX and RX to TX)

TX is stands for transmit and RX for Receive.

When you upload sketches to Arduino UNO it will overwrite your old sketches (compiled programs).
Also Processing Sketches only run on computer and won't function on your Arduino board.
To lower down baud rate in Arduino sketch find this "Serial.begin(9600);" in your code and change number to baud rate that you want.
In Processing Sketch it should look something like this "myPort = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[0], 9600);".

Processing Sketch will open Com port at rate specified in the code (ignoring Windows default baud rate).

Hope you can figure this out. :~

Yes I figured it out as I said above changing baud rate made device stop working all together..so I had to turn it back.
Got the error two times in the last hours now...and now when it happens the first LED in my lights flashes all crazy..

:\

Just not sure what is going on.. :frowning:

If you can supply pictures of your setup it would help a lot. Also changing baud rate shouldn't effect anything except the data transfer speed, you definitely got some problem there.

I can take some pics after work..what exactly do you need pics off?

My setup is very basic I have LED powered with a power supply, then 3 wires from the LED going into the Arduino and then the USB cable..that's it..not much to show?

Which pieces do you need pics of?

My wires are sorta open that run from the LED's to the Ardino and I notice that touches them often makes the data change (lights will flicker and cycle colors) Could it simply be a matter of needing to tape those wires up?

Last 24+ hours I left the lights on instead of toggling them off..and they are still running..

From adalight website you can see identically what my system looks like (until I can take pics tonight)

The wires I mentioned above look just like this:
http://learn.adafruit.com/system/assets/assets/000/001/485/medium800/jam-wires.jpg?1343935455

The overall wiring looks like this:
http://learn.adafruit.com/system/assets/assets/000/001/573/medium800/adalight-100.png?1344370386

Wires could cause a problem but not the one that you experiencing. I would bet it's a software that you are using.

Why I think that:

  • Windows still shows COM port in device manager. (Not a Windows nor Arduino UNO)
  • Arduino powers up like nothing happened. (Not a USB power issue)
  • Software service or driver can easily crash or get stuck, only reboot will fix it or killing it manually if
    you know exactly what you are looking for.

I would recommend:

Try on a different windows version like XP 32-bit or Windows 2000 (please don't laugh). Most of software use direct port access driver which is causing some problems on a never Windows version.

Take a picture of your hardware setup.

Also I do remember similar problems with my Wireless USB bridge had. I eventually fixed it by installing latest chipset driver for my motherboard. Just something you can check.

Hope you will solve this, let me know.