I am new to using the esp 32 but its strange I've downloaded all the drivers checked on my device manager it shows that no devices are plugged in i've tried multiple usb cords. any help would be appreciated
Hi! Welcome to the Forum.
Many ESPs have a CH340 chip to make the USB/Serial comms. Have you installed this driver?
Which of the ESP32 board do you have?
Providing your operating system and version might help shed light on whatever's going on. And knowing which ESP32 board you're using might help narrow things down a little. There's an awful lot of different ones out there.
I have an esp32 NodeMCU i think and yes i have installed the CH340 driver
It is a esp32 NodeMCU and I have windows 11 on my laptop
Which ESP32 NodeMCU, exactly? One with a CH340G onboard or a CP2102 on board? A link to the exact board you're using is always useful. Playing 20 questions gets old really fast.
And what does the Device Manager show when you plug the board in?
https://www.takealot.com/robotico-esp32-development-board-2-4ghz-dual-core-wifi-bluetooth/PLID72203100 this is a link to the item and where i bought it i couldnt get an espressif esp32 as i live in south africa and this is the only one i could find. On the device manager when it is plugged in it litterally shows nothing and i sorry i cant dont know and couldnt figure out if it has a CH340g or a CP2102
You may not be able to tell, but now that you've shared some useful information, others can. Your board has a CP2102. It's the square IC just above the USB connector.
I'm not a Windows guy, so I don't know if it's bright enough now to prompt for a driver when it needs to, but, you said you "downloaded all the drivers" so I'm assuming you installed the drivers for the CP2102 at that time.
At this point I'll step aside and let someone knowledgeable in Windows take over. Good luck!
This was an excellent troubleshooting measure. A damaged, defective, or charge-only USB cable is often the cause of an Arduino board not producing a port. These cables may provide power to the board, but not make the necessary electrical connections to the data pins. That results in the board being powered (and thus any power LED that might be present on the board lighting), but not able to communicate with your computer (and thus no producing a port).
If you have another suitable USB device on hand, connect it to your computer via the USB cable you are using with the ESP32 board and verify that the computer recognizes that device.
Make sure the USB cable is completely plugged into both the Arduino board and the PC. It sometimes takes a bit more force than usual to fully plug the cable into the USB socket on a new board.
It is possible for a short or external circuitry connected to the Arduino board to cause it to not produce a port.
Make sure the board is not sitting on anything conductive that could short the contacts on the bottom of the board. Make sure there isn't any conductive debris (e.g., loose beads of solder, strands of wire, or component leads) on the board or on the surface the board is sitting on.
If you have a shield or any external circuitry or components connected to your Arduino board, try this experiment:
- Disconnect the USB cable of the Arduino board from your computer.
- Disconnect any shields, modules, external circuitry, etc. from your board.
- Connect the Arduino board to your computer with a USB cable.
Thanks i tried multiple cables and i bought another one out of frustration and it worked didnt realise there are power only cables
You are welcome. I'm glad it is working now. Thanks for taking the time to post an update with your finding.
Regards, Per