Portenta X8: Problems with USB connection to MacBook M4 Pro

Official Hardware Portenta Family Portenta X8
1

Hello,

I received yesterday my new Portenta X8. I was connecting the Portenta X8 to the USB port on my MacBook M4 Pro (running macOS Tahoe). The Portenta X8 was not shown as USB device.

This morning I installed the Portenta X8 to the Portenta Mid Carrier, connected a USB docking station to my Mac and used a USB-C-to-USB-A cable. That setup worked initially. I was able to see my Portenta as USB device, it was shown after adb devices. I was able to access it with http://localhost:8080 and could setup the WiFi connection.

But after a reboot of my Mac I am facing the same problem as yesterday. The Portenta X8 is not shown anymore as USB device. Since I have configured the WiFi I can still access the Portenta X8 with ssh. However, without the USB connection I can't upload anything with the Arduino IDE.

Note: I work also with Portenta H7, Nicla Vision, UNO R4 Wifi and other boards and never faced this problem with the USB connection. Seems to be a Portenta X8 related issue.

Does anyone have an idea how to fix the problem with the USB connection on my Mac in order to have a reliable USB connection?

Thanks for any help!
Matthias

2

I have the same issue with one of my Portenta X8 boards. I can ssh into the board when it is connected to the wifi but the adb usb connection does not work. It does in fact work for my other Porteneta X8 board.

3

I contacted the Arduino support and got a refund. I had no chance to get the Portenta X8 working properly via USB.

4

If you use one of the Portenta X8 boards connected to a carrier board there is a bug where if you don't have a micro sd inserted the "adb" port will detect the Portent X8. Disconnect the Portenta X8 from carrier and try again. Also, get a micro sd card so the issue will not happen. I have 2 boards with 2 of the same carriers 1 with sd and 1 without, then I noticed it. Try if you still have the board.

adb kill-server
adb devices

It is very annoying and frustrating but the learning curve is rough.

Also you will have to create a container to view the data from the the Arduino sketch. You also, "push" or scp the container containing the firmware (Arduino sketch) and python code. You can't view (Serial.print()) your data through the IDE anyway only via the RPC from the M4 --> linux then RPC read and print the data via the python code.

5

I still have the X8. I have the Portenta Breakout Carrier and the Mid Carrier from the Portenta Proto Kit. I tested all combinations, but it is not working.

Using a USB-C to USB-C cable - device is even not shown in System Information as connected to USB.
Using a USB-C to USB-A Cable and USB Docking station - device is shown in System Information as connected to USB. However, device can not be accessed via Arduino IDE and no adb device is shown.
Using the different carriers, with and without SD Card and with different USB cables and USB ports at my MacBook also wasn't successful.
I think I will give up with this board.

6

Try this code. I use it to force a connection. Make sure to replace with your actual username.

cd "/Users/<username>/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/tools/adb/32.0.0"
./adb kill-server
./adb devices

Also, make sure your Portenta X8 is not connected to the any carrier boards and use USB-C to USB-A cable.

7

Ah - ok, this is working now. I was now able to connect via localhost:8080.
I am also able to flash the Blink example via Arudino IDE 2.
My usual adb is sitting in /opt/Homebrew/bin/adb (Version 36)
Thank you cpinnock00!

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