Defective Flora or Operator

[kkolbo]

I spent six hours tring to talk to my first Flora. I could not get it to show up in Arduino. Specifically I could not get the comm port to show.

First I tried Linux and followed all the instructions for making it Adafruit friendly. I even updated software. No luck.

Then I broke out the Windoze box. I installed the drivers and the Arduino download from Adafruit. Some times it would say it had put it on a comm port and then pop up an unrecognized USB device error. (OS) Then Arduino would not show any comm port except number three and that wasn't where the Flora was.

I tried three sets of cables, just in case. I sacrificed a chicken and went looking for a spotless lamb, but this is Orlando so no luck. I just drank the rum instead and went to bed.

This morning I thought, geez, you bought two just in case. Try the other Flora, stupid. Both computers recognized the second Flora with no problem and the Flora accepted sketches without issue. The amber leds flashed happily when receiving new data.

My current assumption is that the first Flora is defective, but possibly I have not said the magic word.
Have you run into similar situations and if so, what can I do? It is too small to use as a coaster and too expensive to throw away.

Keith Kolbo
Orlando, Florida

[adafruit_support_bill]

I tried three sets of cables, just in case. I sacrificed a chicken and went looking for a spotless lamb

I'm surprised. The chicken usually works for me.

It is too small to use as a coaster and too expensive to throw away.

It is big enough to handle a shot-glass, but if you take your rum straight from the bottle, even a Mega is bit on the narrow side.

If the other one is working fine, it is likely you got a bad one. Contact [email protected] with a link to this thread and ask for a replacement Flora.

[kkolbo]

Thank you. I have emailed support. The chicken normally works for me too. That's when I knew I was in the weeds.

Keith

[kkolbo]

Crud,

Grab me a chicken and douse me in rum. Find me an untouched maiden.

I took out the second Flora from its baggie today to start working with the pixels. This is the one that both computers recognized and I could make the red LED flash at will. Now it is doing the same thing as the other. Neither computer will recognize it. The first time I plugged it in tonight, the data lights flashed but it still did not show up. I tried again and now only the green led comes on steady and the red one flashes. Windoze says unrecognized USB device and Linux just ignores it.

Could I be doing something stupid enough to be killing these Flora's? I never had a green thumb, or wallet. Since I have not sent it any distressing code and I have kept the rum away from it, the only things I can think of are, it sits on a piece of cotton cloth on the table.(thinking that is a bad material) Moist in Florida so no static to speak of, but could the VBATT current have made it to another pad killing it? Could my fingers have accidentally bridged pads killing it? Could I simply be fight the evil spirits?

I am just learning the black art of electronics and could be making really stupid mistakes. Any ideas on this? While components fail very early if they are going to, I just find it hard to believe that this one failed that fast without my helping die. I don't want to risk buying another until I figure out how I am killing them.

One more thing, I have metered what I know how to do. The VBATT to GND is 4.8V, The 3.3V is correct to GND, and all the other pads are off since I can't command them to go HIGH.

[adafruit_support_bill]

Hmmm. Make sure that you are swinging the chicken in a clockwise motion over your head while chanting the magic words.

Am I correct in assuming that you are powering these via the USB cable only and that the tiny on/off switch is in the ON position? If you press the reset button after connecting the cable do you get any recognition from the computer?

[kkolbo]

You may have found the problem. I was waving the chicken up and down.

Yes I have been powering from the USB. The switch did not make any difference in either position. When I press the reset switch, the windoze computer dongs for a disconnect and then again says Unrecognized USB device. No data indicator led activity.

I just tried everything again, hoping they had sobered up overnight, but alas, they are still not talking.

When the one was working it was a thing of beauty; easy to program and such. I wish I was a guru and could find what is wrong so that I could tell what I did to kill them. Maybe I only killed one. Just not sure now.

They say that the one common element in all your failed BANNED is you.

[adafruit_support_bill]

When I press the reset switch, the windoze computer dongs for a disconnect and then again says Unrecognized USB device.

That is somewhat of a good sign. That implies that the processor is alive at least. Try re-installing the driver. If it refuses, uninstall the existing driver than re-install.
http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoLeonardo

[kkolbo]

The driver did not solve it, but the link talked about a spell where you hold the reset button while pressing upload and then release it once the IDE says uploading. The good Flora now behaves for Windoze and works normally now. On Linux you have to use the reset button spell for each upload.

Thank you master. That is much better!

Keith

[adafruit_support_bill]

Great! Double rum rations for all!