Cannot upload to a Nano (possibly a knock-off) anymore

Using Arduino Avrdude, stk500, Bootloader issues
#1

Hello everyone,

A friend and I are working on a little project for a Nano. Basically, it's just a little speaker that plays Africa by Toto.

Previously, when we were working on the thing, I took the wrong cable with me (one for charging your phone). My friend thought that this could happen, so he took a cable with him.

Now I made a basic sketch, soldered some wires to a speaker and uploaded it using the Old Bootloader processor. It worked perfectly: everything uploaded fine and the speaker made some noises.

Now here's the thing: at home, I made the actual Africa by Toto-sketch. But it didn't upload. I got an error: avrdude: ser_open(): system couldn't find \.\COM3.

Now I know what you think: just go to Device Manager, select Ports, etc. But I didn't find the Ports category in Device Manager. Even not after showing the hidden categories.

My specs:
Windows 10, 64-bit, Arduino IDE version 1.8.7, 8GB RAM but another 4 allocated from memory.

Please help,
Thanks in advance,

WalrusGumboot

#2

If you plug in the Nano with Device Manager open, do you see any new device appear?

#3

pert:
If you plug in the Nano with Device Manager open, do you see any new device appear?

Hmm, haven't tried that yet. I'll try in a bit and I'll reply soon. I did hear a sound that you hear when you plug in a USB stick.

#4

OK, then the problem is probably that you need to install the correct driver. Which driver depends on the USB to TTL serial chip on the Nano board. This is the black chip on the bottom of the board. On the Chinese Nano derivative boards, this is almost certainly a CH340. On the official and true clone Nanos it is the FT232. There are a couple other possibilities, but they are pretty rare.

#5

Okay, I'll try it. And thanks for the lightning quick response.

#6