Unable to flash Arduino UNO Q

Development Tools Arduino Command Line Tools
1

When powering up the Arduino Q, the Arduino logo swirling animation goes forever and the board never shows up for either the App Lab or the IDE.

Since it never shows up in the App Lab, I moved onto the flasher CLI to flash the board.

I have followed the instructions at https://docs.arduino.cc/software/app-lab/configure/flash/ as well as various troubleshooting suggestions found elsewhere.

When I put the board in EDL mode using the jumper on the JCTL pins furthest from the USB connection, the display changes to the USB logo. I do put the jumper on without the board being powered.

Then, running "arduino-flasher-cli flash unoq" under MacOS and Apple silicon (I have tried two different computers) with the cable connected directly to the computer, it downloads the new version (20260528-558) and then generates the following dialog:

Checking board size and image version. Please connect the board in EDL mode.
error flashing the board: could not read the board's partition table: exit status 1
waiting for programmer...
qdl: bulk write failed: Input/Output Error
configure request failed

Glad to try any suggestions and thanks.

2

Make a simple check and it is: connect the board to the PC using USB-C data cable and check that the board is assigned a COM Port (IBMPC + Windows). If not, the board is in trouble.

3

That would suggest that Linux has not fully booted. After a couple of minutes or so of the swirling Arduino logo animation, there should be a heartbeat animation showing that Linux has booted and the board is ready.

That would suggest that a board is either not going into EDL mode or is not being detected as being in such. You are sure that the jumper connection is secure?

You mention MacOS, but which OS version are you using?

I discovered recently that anything above Ventura now appears to require that USB-C devices be approved for connection. Possibly such approval needs to be granted for the OS to be able to communicate with the board and see it as a connected USB device ?

4

The meaning is not fully clear!

Are UNO Q and Ventuno Q devices not plug-and-play devices, which means that when they are connected to the PC, they will be immediately recognised and a COM port will be assigned? Are they USB or COM devices?

5

I am using recent Apple silicon on both a design studio desktop and a macbook air. MacOS is current: Tahoe 26.6.2.

Interestingly, on the desktops, what I found is all USB devices are allow. If you follow the "approved for connection" link above, the "Accessories" option is not present on desktop systems. However, it is on the laptop. I enabled all usb devices on my laptop and found the same problem.

However, I did learn if you issue this command in a Terminal session:

ioreg -p IOUSB -w0 | sed 's/[^o]o //; s/@.$//' | grep -v '^Root*'

a list of all usb devices returns. When I do that on my desktop, a device named QUSB_BULK_CID:0420_SN:2B6C7AF8 shows up in the list when I connect the Arduino Q. That give me a little hope that it is not a brick.

I am as sure as I can be that the jumper is correct. I have used multiple jumper wires just in case. I am jumping the last pins JCTL pins furthest away from the usb connection.

I agree that the current state of the board never completes the linux reboot. The swirling animated logo never stops (waiting an hour).

I have found that the usb logo on the Arduino Q display confirms it is in EDL mode and I have found other places say that this confirmes it not in EDL mode.

I am happy to try any suggestion. That was a good idea to at least see if the USB device is known, which it is.

Thanks.

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6

I admit the jumper question was unlikely. As you say, the two furthest pins need to be shorted which is pretty straightforward and is easily done with a DuPont female to female wire. By comparison, on my board when I short those two pins and connect the board to my laptop with a USB-C to USB-C cable, I do get the USB "pitchfork" symbol on the matrix.

On my Linux machine, the board comes up with the following ID in EDL mode:

 Bus 006 Device 004: ID 05c6:9008 Qualcomm, Inc. Gobi Wireless Modem (QDL mode)

In normal operation it comes up as:

Bus 006 Device 005: ID 2341:0078 Arduino SA UNO Q - Uno2Gb02

But in normal operation the USB device appears only once Linux system on the UNO Q has fully booted and is up and running which is indicated by the pumping heart animation.

Can you get the vendor ID (vid) and product ID (pid) of the plugged in board on your Mac? Does it match the above, i.e. vid 05c6 and pid 9008 ?

Windows prompts for a firewall configuration change and on Linux it is also necessary to add permissions to access USB devices, so it seems not unreasonable that the Mac would also require permissions to be set.

Another possibility is that the USB cable is faulty, intermittent or not capable of supporting data as @GolamMostafa points out. Some cables are charging only.

One other reason for the board not fully booting is that it does not have sufficient power. Has it ever booted fully before? The requirement is for a USB cable capable of supporting and and a computer USB port capable of providing a minimum of 3A of current. A modern USB-C port should be capable of delivering that but older USB A ports may not be. A cheap USB cable may also not be capable of supporting the required current.

7

Regarding the cable, I got an Arduino brand cable and have the same problem.

Here are the USB identifiers with the jumper in place:

QUSB_BULK_CID:0420_SN:2B6C7AF8@08320000 <class IOUSBHostDevice, id 0x1001f3c3d, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (10 ms), retain 22>

without the jumper:

QUSB_BULK_CID:0420_SN:2B6C7AF8@08320000 <class IOUSBHostDevice, id 0x1001f3cc5, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (9 ms), retain 22>

Regarding power, I am attaching the Arduino Q to a port on the front of an Apple Design Studio system. The specs say it is 5v and 3 amps.

Just for kicks, I tried flashing if from windows. Got the exact same error messages.

It has been booted before and used lightly for a few months. The problem seemed to start when I download a sketch through the IDE. It ran, but I think that is when the problems started. Not super sure about that. I have also been working on a project using the Uno R4.

When I got the cable I also got another Arduino Q. I was apprehensive, but tried to flash the new board. It command line tool failed to flash with:

Checking board size and image version. Please connect the board in EDL mode.

error flashing the board: could not read the board's partition table: signal: abort trap

waiting for programmer...

Entity: line 3: parser error : Extra content at the end of the document

" />a>ost="1" S
failed to parse firehose response

Fortunately, the board still booted to the heartbeat after this error. The new board also updated in the app lab.

I am out of ideas with this first board.

8

If you have a IBMPC + Windpws system, you can see how the board behvaes there!

9

Thanks for posting the identifiers, however I am not sure what the Mac is reporting here in those two outputs (perhaps another Mac user will know). There seems to be no recognizable vendor ID or product ID in that output, although I do note the change in "id".

My advice at this point would be to contact Arduino Support via their online form.

10

Really appreciate all of your help. I will contact support.