cannot access device-specs for 'atmega32u4' expected at 'device-specs/specs-atme

Other Hardware General Electronics
5

Hello-
I have the exact same problem ("error: cannot access device-specs for..."), and no threads on this issue appear to provide a resolution. A little background:

  1. I am running Windows 10
  2. I have been using Arduino 1.6.10 forever with no problems.
  3. I recently installed wxWidgets and mingw. I could not compile wxW and got "g++: error: CreateProcess: No such file or directory" error. The wxW forum seemed to point to possible PATH problems, but this problem was never resolved for me.
  4. I mention this because I went BACK to Arduino to compile existing code that worked fine with the unaltered Arduino install, and I suddenly got the SAME "CreateProcess" error in Arduino. Gee, maybe something in Win10 is messing up both?
  5. Following guidance in this and related threads, I interchangeably and repeatedly either backed up or removed the Arduino15 directory in Users\Glen\AppData\Local (does not exist in Roaming directory), and removed 1.6.10 and reinstalled a fresh 1.8.5 (after each attempt).
  6. I now get the "error: cannot access device-specs for..." error, regardless of which board is selected. All boards have proper specs in device-specs directory. I am just trying to compile the default Blink program in the examples/01.Basics directory of 1.8.5.
  7. A related thread on this subject suggested that the guy reporting this problem found a worm on his computer. I therefore scanned my computer with both Avast and TotalAV, and I have no viruses, worms, etc.
  8. Therefore, this is NOT a problem with the IDE install. This is NOT a problem with the Arduino15 directory. This is NOT a problem with whatever board is selected, since they are all in device-specs.
    Several years ago, I had a different computer with Win7, with both Arduino and wxW/mingw, and had no problems with either Arduino or mingw/wxW. This points to something in Win10 that is messing up both.
  9. Do I need an environment variable for Arduino that is somehow not getting set? Do I need something in (or removed from) PATH that is wrong?

PATH=C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files (x86)\Pololu\Maestro\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client;C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files\IronCAD\2016\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\TDM-GCC-32\bin;C:\TDM-GCC-64\bin;C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;

  1. Do I need to register something in some registry somewhere? Do I need to set permissions on something somewhere?
  2. Could this have to do with the fact that BOTH programs use g++, and they are somehow stepping on each other?
  3. exact verbose error message:

Arduino: 1.8.5 (Windows 10), Board: "Arduino/Genuino Uno"

C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\arduino-builder -dump-prefs -logger=machine -hardware C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware -tools C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\tools-builder -tools C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -built-in-libraries C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries -libraries C:\Users\Glen\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:uno -ide-version=10805 -build-path C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_231726 -warnings=none -build-cache C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_cache_738028 -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\examples\01.Basics\Blink\Blink.ino
C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\arduino-builder -compile -logger=machine -hardware C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware -tools C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\tools-builder -tools C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -built-in-libraries C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\libraries -libraries C:\Users\Glen\Documents\Arduino\libraries -fqbn=arduino:avr:uno -ide-version=10805 -build-path C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_231726 -warnings=none -build-cache C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_cache_738028 -prefs=build.warn_data_percentage=75 -prefs=runtime.tools.avrdude.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.avr-gcc.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -prefs=runtime.tools.arduinoOTA.path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr -verbose C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\examples\01.Basics\Blink\Blink.ino
Using board 'uno' from platform in folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr
Using core 'arduino' from platform in folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr
Detecting libraries used...
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avr-g++" -c -g -Os -w -std=gnu++11 -fpermissive -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-threadsafe-statics -flto -w -x c++ -E -CC -mmcu=atmega328p -DF_CPU=16000000L -DARDUINO=10805 -DARDUINO_AVR_UNO -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\variants\standard" "C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_231726\sketch\Blink.ino.cpp" -o "nul"
Generating function prototypes...
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avr-g++" -c -g -Os -w -std=gnu++11 -fpermissive -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fno-threadsafe-statics -flto -w -x c++ -E -CC -mmcu=atmega328p -DF_CPU=16000000L -DARDUINO=10805 -DARDUINO_AVR_UNO -DARDUINO_ARCH_AVR "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino" "-IC:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\variants\standard" "C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_231726\sketch\Blink.ino.cpp" -o "C:\Users\Glen\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_231726\preproc\ctags_target_for_gcc_minus_e.cpp"
avr-g++: error: cannot access device-specs for 'atmega328p' expected at 'device-specs/specs-atmega328p'

avr-g++: note: devices natively supported: ata5272 ...... at90usb82 at94k m3000

avr-g++: note: supported core architectures: avr2 avr25 avr3 avr31 avr35 avr4 avr5 avr51 avr6 avrxmega2 avrxmega4 avrxmega5 avrxmega6 avrxmega7 avrtiny avr1

avr-g++: note: you can provide your own specs files, see http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Spec-Files.html for details

exit status 1
Error compiling for board Arduino/Genuino Uno.