Failure Uploading to a Nano

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Having spent approximately a day trying to figure things out and troubleshoot, I have become an official member of the "Can't Upload to my Nano" club.

My computer is a MacBook Pro with the MacOS High Sierra operating system. I have been working with Unos and have had no problems. So the Mac works and the Arduino IDE software works.

I bought a Nano and it would not upload. I did some searches and tried some things and had no luck. So I bought another Nano – this time from my local electronics store, not Amazon – and I had the same results. So I went searching again, this time with more vigor and rigor.

Here is what I have done to date:

  • Tried two different Nanos for two different retail sources (albeit, both boards are most likely from China)
  • Checked and tried both the current and old Nano ATmega328P bootloaders
  • Tried multiple USB cables
  • Reinstalled my Arduino IDE software
  • Learned about the CH340 chip and downloaded the driver via GitHub
  • As suggested by the error message, I have visited the Troubleshooting Guide, but to no avail.

The error message (shown below), as far as I can determine, refers to a missing file – .avrduderc – that apparently is supposed to alter or configure the avrdude file. I tried to search this out, but most of what I found was pretty arcane and all of it was pointed towards Windows or Unix (Linux?) operating system.

I certainly hope someone will be able to help me. I would gladly buy a Nano directly from the Arduino site if I thought that would do the trick. But with the lack of success with the CH340 driver and the cryptic error message from the failed upload, I currently have no faith that would do any good.

Many thanks for your time, effort, and help.

Arduino: 1.8.7 (Mac OS X), Board: "Arduino Nano, ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)"

avrdude: Version 6.3-20171130
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "/Users/donaldsimmons/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/avrdude/6.3.0-arduino14/etc/avrdude.conf"
         User configuration file is "/Users/donaldsimmons/.avrduderc"
         User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping

         Using Port                    : /dev/cu.usbmodem1411
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "/dev/cu.usbmodem1411": No such file or directory

avrdude done.  Thank you.

Problem uploading to board.  See http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting#upload for suggestions.
2

Can't help you as I'm not a Mac user; just a fyi.

AggieDad:
The error message (shown below), as far as I can determine, refers to a missing file – .avrduderc – that apparently is supposed to alter or configure the avrdude file.

avrdude is the program that reads the result of the verify process (a hex file) and sends it to the Arduino.
.avrdude.rc is a configuration file for the avrdude application; if that file does not exist, the system wide configuration file is used.

AggieDad:

avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "/dev/cu.usbmodem1411": No such file or directory

But with the lack of success with the CH340 driver and the cryptic error message from the failed upload, I currently have no faith that would do any good.

The error message is pretty clear if you know what to look for :wink: You have the wrong communication port selected.

If the/dev/cu.usbmodem1411 is the only option in the IDE, this might just be the default setting if you never selected anything else. Do you have other options under tools->port?

If you disconnect the Nano, wait a little (or restart the IDE), is that port still there in the IDE? If yes, it's not the Arduino and you have a driver problem.

There are commands like dmesg and lsusb in the Linux world; I think the Mac also has them. If so, run them after inserting the Nano and see what the commands reveal.

3

Sterretje,

Thanks for your reply.

The error message is pretty clear if you know what to look for :wink: You have the wrong communication port selected.

If the/dev/cu.usbmodem1411 is the only option in the IDE, this might just be the default setting if you never selected anything else. Do you have other options under tools->port?

If you disconnect the Nano, wait a little (or restart the IDE), is that port still there in the IDE? If yes, it's not the Arduino and you have a driver problem.

No, the error message was not all that clear ::slight_smile: as I am a retired math teacher just messing around with a post-retirement hobby. Unfortunately, there was no other port option (for the Nano) on my MacBook.

However, your response gave me a big clue and I went to my iMac desk computer – newer, bigger, more powerful, etc. – and there, lo and behold, I found a second port option. Bingo! The upload worked perfectly. Thank you!

I probably won't try to figure out how to add a port to the MacBook as I only need the Nano for its small form-factor and can do my sketch on the Uno first.

Thanks again!