Zumo 32u4 - Not able to upload sketches

Hi guys,

I’m using the Arduino 1.6.7 IDE on Windows 10 and recently i’m getting the following error when trying to upload a sketch on my Zumo32u4 :

avrdude: ser_open(): can’t set com-state for "\.\COMXX"
avrdude: ser_send(): write error: sorry no info avail

I already tryed to revive him using the revival section on the user’s guide but the bootloader port is not showing on the device manager, the COM number stays the same after the double reset. I tryed switching ports but i was not successfull. Any ideas on what should i do next ?

Hello.

Have you ever been able to program your Zumo 32U4 using Arduino 1.6.7 on Windows 10 before? If so, did anything in your setup change between when your Zumo 32U4 was working and now? Can you post a screenshot of your Device Manger with the “Ports (COM & LPT)” and “Pololu USB Devices” entries expanded with your Zumo 32U4 connected? Can you describe the LED behavior on the Zumo 32U4 when you first plug it into your computer and when trying to revive it? Which revival method did you use? Did you try uploading a simpler sketch (like Blink) when trying to revive your Zumo 32U4?

- Amanda

Hi Amanda, thanks for your reply.

Yes, I’m using the Zumo for 3 months now. Recently i was messing with genethic algorithms for control purposes and got a malfuntioning sketch uploaded, i was able to revive the zumo using the bootloader-before-uploading method and it returned to normal, i was able to upload several sketches and got no error. A week later (today) i got to work with it again and this error showed up.

I don’t have any “Pololu USB Devices” entries on my device manager.

When plugged the red led will blink shortly and the yellow led will stay at half bright. When trying to revive the yellow led will blink for a few seconds and then shut off but the IDE will stay uploading forever. When i try to upload any sketch on the standard method the yellow led will blink for a few seconds and then the error message shows on the IDE.

I used the bootloader-before-uploading method and uploaded the Blink sketch as suggested in the user’s guide.

Thanks for answering all of my questions and quickly too. It sounds like you tried using the same revival method as you did before but it does not work anymore. Can you turn on verbose output in the Arduino IDE and post the output that you get at the bottom of the IDE after trying to revive and upload the Blink sketch to your Zumo 32U4? (You can turn on verbose output by selecting Preferences from the File menu in the Arduino IDE, and then checking the “compilation” and “upload” boxes next to “Show verbose output during:”.) Can you try programming your Zumo 32U4 using a different USB cable and computer?

- Amanda

Hi Amanda, something really strange just happened. I turned on the verbose option and the first time i tried to upload a sketch it worked. The device was plugged on the COM4 and the upload was successfull but suddenly the COM changed to COM5 and the upload no longer works, with the same error.

I reconnected a few times until i got the COM4 again and the upload worked again. Now the interesting part, this is the output when working :

avrdude: Version 6.0.1, compiled on Apr 15 2015 at 19:59:58
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "G:\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf"

         Using Port                    : COM5
         Using Programmer              : avr109
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 57600
         AVR Part                      : ATmega32U4
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PA0
         RESET disposition             : dedicated
         RETRY pulse                   : SCK
         serial program mode           : yes
         parallel program mode         : yes
         Timeout                       : 200
         StabDelay                     : 100
         CmdexeDelay                   : 25
         SyncLoops                     : 32
         ByteDelay                     : 0
         PollIndex                     : 3
         PollValue                     : 0x53
         Memory Detail                 :

                                  Block Poll               Page                       Polled
           Memory Type Mode Delay Size  Indx Paged  Size   Size #Pages MinW  MaxW   ReadBack
           ----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
           eeprom        65    20     4    0 no       1024    4      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           flash         65     6   128    0 yes     32768  128    256  4500  4500 0x00 0x00
           lfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           hfuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           efuse          0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           lock           0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0  9000  9000 0x00 0x00
           calibration    0     0     0    0 no          1    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00
           signature      0     0     0    0 no          3    0      0     0     0 0x00 0x00

         Programmer Type : butterfly
         Description     : Atmel AppNote AVR109 Boot Loader

Connecting to programmer: .
Found programmer: Id = "CATERIN"; type = S
    Software Version = 1.0; No Hardware Version given.
Programmer supports auto addr increment.
Programmer supports buffered memory access with buffersize=128 bytes.

Programmer supports the following devices:
    Device code: 0x44

avrdude: devcode selected: 0x44
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9587
avrdude: reading input file "C:\Users\Lucas\AppData\Local\Temp\build5c281e472624f5555bda2ad63148d4b1.tmp/Teste_Zigbee.ino.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (10002 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 0.77s

avrdude: 10002 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against C:\Users\Lucas\AppData\Local\Temp\build5c281e472624f5555bda2ad63148d4b1.tmp/Teste_Zigbee.ino.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file C:\Users\Lucas\AppData\Local\Temp\build5c281e472624f5555bda2ad63148d4b1.tmp/Teste_Zigbee.ino.hex:
avrdude: input file C:\Users\Lucas\AppData\Local\Temp\build5c281e472624f5555bda2ad63148d4b1.tmp/Teste_Zigbee.ino.hex contains 10002 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.09s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 10002 bytes of flash verified

avrdude done.  Thank you.

I never used the verbose option but i think that the “Using Port : COM5” is pretty strange.

EDIT:
Even stranger, when it doesn’t work the output shows Using Port : COM4 just before the exception throw.

It is not clear to me why you tried disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable to your Zumo 32U4 until you get the device to appear on COM4. Can you clarify?

Can you try the uploading-before-bootloader revival method to see if that resolves the issue?

If that does not work, can you try enabling the verbose option again when you are unable to upload the program and post the entire output here? You only posted the AVRDUDE portion of the output and not the portion that gives meaningful insight on how the Arduino IDE selects the COM ports on your computer.

It is normal to see the COM port of the A-Star change because the operating system sees an A-Star running its sketch as a different device than an A-Star running its bootloader. You should be able to see the name of the COM port in the Device Manager change when the A-Star is in bootloader mode.

- Amanda

hello Amanda do you have a solution for this problem?

Hello.

I posted my response here where you first described the problem. Please continue the discussion there.

- Amanda