Newbie q: Arduino and serial port

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi,

I probably need to appologize first for a stupid question I think I am a bit stuck.

I am using Windows 7 as a platform. In normal mode Arduino serial port comes up normally without any problems and I can download SW to the board. The board is Leonardo.

The problems start when I try to reflash a ESP8266 based wifi shield. According to the instructions the Arduino board should be in reset mode and the serial connection should then be directly to the shield.

The problem is that the serial port vanishes once I hardwire the Arduino to reset. No com ports will be available after that.

I am suspecting that the problem is behind the keyboard and is caused by lack of understanding. In any case I would appreciate some help here. Should there be a serial port popping up in the Windows side when the Arduino is in reset mode? Or if it should not pop up then I assume I am doing something wrong on the programming.

With best regards

Erkki

2

First off please supply a direct link to the ESP you are using as there are so many variations.

Some shields will interfere with regular USB communications but may have jumpers or switches to get around that or you might have to remove the shield to program the Arduino then re-insert the shield.

3

I suspect that the usual approach is based on the principle that you use the usb-to-serial adapter on the Arduino board. Unfortunately for you the Leonardo does not have that as it's a native usb device.