Hi sorry if this is a newb question but I find Arduino support to be pretty useless. I own several other boards that all work fine in my environment (MEGA, Uno). So when I got my Portenta Machine Control I assumed it would be similarly easy to work with. I powered it using an external 24V power supply (no indication from the manufacturer on current limitations / config). When I power it on I get the 24V LED solid green, the 12V LED solid orange and the 3V3 LED solid red. If I hold the reset button and release I only get a flash on the LED on the ethernet port. No recognition of the device on USB. No bluetooth or wifi... pretty much seems like a brick sent from the factory but I have yet to get an official response on of this is the case. Anyone with any experience with this? Where is the LED status documented? Does it matter which of the two 24V power in pins or which of the two ground out pins I used for the power supply?
I guess I am useless, good luck!
Sorry are you saying you work for support and have no answer? Then yes your response is useless. It should not be hard to determine if a board is DOA. If you work for support what is the procedure to validate the board is working before it ships?
not sure if I want to get involved in this...
but try some different USB cables? there is a lot of bad ones around
it seems like the board is working, take the plastic cover off the end of it and look in, there should be a glow of the Portenta H7
there is lots of info around about those status LED (RGB)
Thanks for your input, I tried the cable method and across both PC and MAC platforms. Any idea where the LED status are documented. I have searched and asked Chatbot GPT etc... I will try the opening the case next.
a double press on the reset button does wonders too
I'm not sure where I found those LED status, but a fading green is what you want
Thank you for the link and suggestions. I have verified that my Uno's are recognized by the USB drivers on both Mac and PC, I have replaced all my USB cables to the Portenta (and still not USB found). From the link you provided (steps below) it suggests when I power on the unit the 24V LED should come on and then fade? My comes on and never goes out so the double click procedure is not viable. Anyone know why the 24 V Green LED would stay on or can verify its normal operating procedure is to light green then fade? I feel like the Portenta is hung and not getting to USB initialization.
- Press and release the reset button on the Portenta H7 .
- Wait for the green LED on the board to turn on.
It does this almost immediately, but you do need to wait for it. - While the green LED is still on (it only stays on for one second so you need to be somewhat quick), press and release the reset button again.
- You should now see the green LED pulsing, which indicates the bootloader is running.
If not, repeat the process in case you didn't get the timing quite right.
The double reset causes the bootloader to run until the board is reset normally, powered off, or an upload is done.
The LED on the H7, you have to open up the casing for that (not the 24V led on the top)
The 24V led on the top will always be on when 24V is coming in
the board should also work without the 24V
just in & outputs will not work, but for debugging and loading programs i leave the power unplugged
it should power up trough the USB(only the 3v3 light will come on)
Thanks for the help. Got the micro-USB to respond on an older USB A port on an old laptop I found. I am assuming it's the USB-A port causing the problem. Same cables and PC ports work on my Uno and MEGA.
From the manual:
3.18 USB-A Connector
Transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps.
It can be used both as a host and as a device.
ESD protection.
3.19 Micro-USB Connector
The Half-Speed USB interface of the Portenta board is connected to the micro-USB connector of the Portenta
Machine Control.
It can be used to program the Portenta board via a micro-USB cable.
It can be used to power the Portenta board while the 24V power supply is off.
ESD protection.