I've not been on this forum in a long while, having gone inactive due to health problems.
But I now have a new computer, MAC Mini, running Catalina, and downloaded the version 1.8.10 of the Arduino IDE. I have established communication and download capability with an Arduino Mega 2560, so I know that I have an electrical connection from the Arduino IDE. But when I connect the Nano 33 to the same physical port, the IDE doesn't even find the port. My guess is that I need a driver from somewhere, but the IDE gives no indication of that.
Hi jrdoner. I'm sorry to hear about your health problems and Nano 33 IoT problems. I hope we can at least help you with the latter.
Make sure the USB cable is fully inserted into the jack on the Nano 33 IoT and your computer.
Some Arduino boards come with their pins inserted in a black anti-static foam. This foam is conductive, so you need to remove it before using the board.
You may have a damaged, defective, or charge-only USB cable. Try a different cable.
I have used an assured good cable, the board is not lying on anything that might short circuit it, and just once, when I plugged it in, the MAC assigned it a port. I managed to download one program, then the port went away, never to return.
I have seen many comments on the internet about similar difficulties with the 33. But I haven't found any references to a fix. It would seem that there must be a driver conflict, probably curable by a download from somewhere.
OK, that indicates a different approach. Try this:
Press the reset button on the Nano 33 IoT twice quickly. You should now see the onboard LED pulsing, which means it's in bootloader mode.
Select the Nano 33 IoT's port from the Arduino IDE's Tools > Port menu.
Select File > New from the Arduino IDE's menus.
Select Sketch > Upload from the Arduino IDE's menus.
The upload should complete successfully and you should still have a port for the Nano 33 IoT.
Explanation of the problem
The tricky thing about the native USB boards like the Nano 33 IoT is the CDC serial port is created by the USB code running in the background of your sketch. This means that a bug in your sketch can break the USB code or prevent it from working, causing you to lose the serial port. Here's a minimal demonstration sketch that will do this:
// Prevent the Arduino IDE's sketch preprocessor from automatically adding an #include directive for Arduino.h
#if false
#include <Arduino.h>
#endif
// Override the core library's main function:
int main() {
return 0;
}
Troubleshooting your sketch
After recovering your board by following the instructions above, if you upload your original sketch and find that the port disappears again, you know it is caused by something in your code. It may be a bit of a hassle to track down what in your sketch is causing it, but at least now you will know how to recover the board from this condition with the double reset trick.
I have tried the double press of reset button, and the Nano goes into bootloader mode. Still, the MAC does not assign it a port. I have two 33's and this happens with both, so it isn't a defective unit. I even try this over on the Windows 7 side of my MAC, same result. I might try upgrading to Windows 10, but other than that, I've no further ideas, and the Nano's at this point are expensive paperweights.
I have a nano 33 sense. It works without any problems. But the IoT version is really shitty. I bought two of them and there might by a systematic problem. If it is first time plugged in it is recognized and drivers are installed. Then if I try to upload the standard blink program with arduino IDE it fails and a connection to the board is not possible from this time on. The "double-reset trick" leads to a com disconnect and the COM connection is lost for ever. Reset, reconnect, nothing works. It's really frustrating. I am using Windows 10. As I said, with the "Sense" it is no problem. But the IoTs both failed with a upload-error.
magooie:
If it is first time plugged in it is recognized and drivers are installed. Then if I try to upload the standard blink program with arduino IDE it fails and a connection to the board is not possible from this time on. The "double-reset trick" leads to a com disconnect and the COM connection is lost for ever. Reset, reconnect, nothing works. It's really frustrating. I am using Windows 10. As I said, with the "Sense" it is no problem. But the IoTs both failed with a upload-error.
Sounds like you forgot to select Tools > Board > Arduino Nano 33 IoT before you uploaded.
magooie:
As I said, it works without any problems with the Nano 33 Sense.
That doesn't prove anything. If you have Tools > Board > Arduino Nano 33 BLE selected and you upload to a Nano 33 BLE Sense, then I wouldn't expect any problems. But if you have Tools > Board > Arduino Nano 33 BLE selected and you upload to a Nano 33 IoT, it corrupts the bootloader on the Nano 33 IoT and results in exactly the symptoms you described. I'm just guessing the problem, but I'm not aware of any other way to brick the Nano 33 IoT simply by uploading to it.
magooie:
And for this it has to be selected. Otherwise it would not have worked.
I don't understand what you mean by that. Please provide more details.
I have used an assured good cable, the board is not lying on anything that might short circuit it, and just once, when I plugged it in, the MAC assigned it a port. I managed to download one program, then the port went away, never to return.
I have seen many comments on the internet about similar difficulties with the 33. But I haven't found any references to a fix. It would seem that there must be a driver conflict, probably curable by a download from somewhere.
I have the same problem, tried Win7/Win10/Mac Air with no luck!
Port always disappears when upload begins!
Yes, so hard to upload sketch to Arduino NANO 33 IoT!
I received UNO/Arduino Ethernet Shield/UNO WiFi/Nano 33 IoT/Due from Arduino US a couple of days ago, the test results on Win7/USB3.0 are as below:
1.UNO WiFi
On Arduino IDE, choosing board "Arduino UNO WiFi Rev2", WIFININA imported.
sometimes fails while uploading.
2.Nano 33 IoT
On Arduino IDE, choosing board "Arduino NANO 33 IoT", WIFININA imported.
almost fails while uploading every time, PORT went gone while upload begins.
Or warning/error messages appear after uploading.
3.the others are easy to upload.
4.Tested sample WIFININO ScanNetworks without change, the 1st time of upload was OK, the 2nd time was with Error Message:
Sketch uses 23664 bytes (9%) of program storage space. Maximum is 262144 bytes.
Global variables use 4956 bytes of dynamic memory.
Atmel SMART device 0x10010005 found
Device : ATSAMD21G18A
Chip ID : 10010005
Version : v2.0 [Arduino:XYZ] Apr 19 2019 14:38:48
Address : 8192
Pages : 3968
Page Size : 64 bytes
Total Size : 248KB
Planes : 1
Lock Regions : 16
Locked : none
Security : false
Boot Flash : true
BOD : true
BOR : true
Arduino : FAST_CHIP_ERASE
Arduino : FAST_MULTI_PAGE_WRITE
Arduino : CAN_CHECKSUM_MEMORY_BUFFER
Erase flash
done in 0.615 seconds
Verify 23664 bytes of flash with checksum.
Verify successful
done in 0.032 seconds
CPU reset.
An error occurred while uploading the sketch
Error while setting serial port parameters: 9,600 N 8 1
Although error message as above, sketch was SUCCESSFULLY uploaded and works! Confused!
Besides, sometimes halts while uploading, or PORT gone!
Couldn't find a Board on the selected port. Check that you have the correct port selected. If it is correct, try pressing the board's reset button after initiating the upload.
Same here. NANO 33 IoT arrived today. Very disappointing.
Mac System Report / USB first saw to as NONO - note the spelling of NANO. So I updated the firmware - ie reloaded the same software 1.3. Then it correctly reported it as a NANO.
However, I'm still loosing the serial port. Only switching off and restarting brings it back - till the next time.
EA7KIR:
Same here. NANO 33 IoT arrived today. Very disappointing.
Mac System Report / USB first saw to as NONO - note the spelling of NANO. So I updated the firmware - ie reloaded the same software 1.3. Then it correctly reported it as a NANO.
However, I'm still loosing the serial port. Only switching off and restarting brings it back - till the next time.
I'm running macOS Catalina 10.15.4 and cannot see my Nano 33 IoT in the ports. I double checked my UNO and saw that perfectly.
I've installed Board Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.6 as well as the Libraries for wifinina. I've tried resetting the board as well as the fast double click on the reset button and still cannot see the port for the Nano.
I saw some recommendations for installing different drivers for the USB port but that post is old and only for older versions of macOS.
toomuchkurl:
I've installed Board Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.6 as well as the Libraries for wifinina. I've tried resetting the board as well as the fast double click on the reset button and still cannot see the port for the Nano.
Does the "L" LED start pulsing when you do the double reset?
Make sure the USB cable is completely plugged into both the Arduino board and the PC.
You may have a damaged/defective or charge-only USB cable. Try a different cable.
Both LEDs light when plugged in, green stays on and orange blinks. It also does the fade blink when after double pressing the reset button. I get the same results from all USB slots on my computer.
Appreciate the help and comments, but I just tried 3 different cables in both of my USB ports and nothing. Same issue - blinking lights but cannot see the Nano on my computer. Also, tried all three Nano's and none worked. I think it would be hard for three nanos and three cables to all be damaged...