Backpack showing up as unknown device

[sajidivirani]

Hi
I’m helping my daughter with her science project and we’re really stuck. We’re tried almost everything and spent hours troubleshooting but really nothing seems to work.

We have a Nootropic RGB Matrix Backpack Kit and connected it to two 16×32 LED panels. We’ve successfully reached a point where the LED matrix’s light up and show a pattern.

Now the problem is connecting the backpack to the laptop so we can program on it. We’re using the arduino 1.8.2 toolkit, however, when we connect the bakcpack to the laptop (running x64 windows 7), using a FTDI USB cable (all the equipment was gotten from tinkersphere), we get device unknown.

We’ve tried every solution on the internet, but nothing seems to work. We are troubleshooting it as if its an arduino. We see many people have the same problem, but none of their solutions work for us.

With two days to go for project submission my daughter is panicing (so am I but I cannot show it :-), this is my last resort if anyone can help

Thank you much!

[Michael]

The device that Windows needs to communicate with is the cable, not the backpack. The “device” is the FTDI chip in the cable. The problem has nothing to do with the backpack.

Did you install the drivers? If this is the cable you bought, there is a link to the Windows drivers at the bottom of the page: http://tinkersphere.com/cables-wires/135-ftdi-usb-to-serial-cable.html

Here are some other links that may help:
https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=104698.0
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ftdi-drivers

Also, I’m not sure how you hooked up TWO panels to a backpack. I only officially support 1, but if you have 2 chained together, maybe it will work. No promises, though.

[sajidivirani]

Hi Michael,
Thanks for responding.

Here is where i stand, a little further than my last post, but still having issues none the less

I connected the RGB matrix backpack to a single LCD panel (not two based on your input). I have the FTDI cable you mentioned and connected it to my USB port.

Earlier I was getting a Device Unknown under my Device manager –> Ports –> DEVICE UNKNOWN. Now I’m getting USB SERIAL PORT. When I double click on it, I get Manufacturer as Arduino LLC. I assume that is a good sign that my arduino is being recognized on the USB SERIAL PORT. Also when I click on details I see that it is connected to COM4 which corresponds to what I see on the IDE. What I’m not sure is, under the device manager am I supposed to see an ARDUINO driver or USB SERIAL PORT? I’m getting USB SERIAL PORT

(On one occasion, just to try, I tried manually installing the arduino driver on the USB Serial port, by going through the HAVE DISK routine. I got bluescreened, which tells me I dont need to touch my USB serial port)

Next in my ARDUINO IDE, under TOOLS I see COM4. When I do BOARD INFO, I get

BN: Unknown Board
VID 0403
PID 6001
SN: Upload any sketch to obtain it

So I tried uploading a sample sketch. After compiling, the uploading hangs for a long time, and then I get this error

Sketch uses 9160 bytes (28%) of program storage space. Maximum is 32256 bytes.
Global variables use 297 bytes (14%) of dynamic memory, leaving 1751 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2048 bytes.
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 2 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 3 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 4 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 5 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 6 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 8 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 9 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 10 of 10: not in sync: resp=0xc3
Problem uploading to board. See http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Troubleshooting#upload for suggestions.

Note: I have unhooked the second LCD panel in hopes of eliminating that as the problem source, since you mentioned its not supported. I was told by the tinkersphere salesperson that two LCDs daisy chained will work.

I’ve spent incredible amount of time on this, and would really like a positive result after getting this close…thanks again

[sajidivirani]

And forgot to mention. I solved my UNKNOWN DEVICE PROBLEM by replacing the RGB matrix backpack with a brand new one I had purchased as a backup. For some reason, I wanted to rule out any soldering issues.

[Michael]

I’m confused about what you mean when you say “my Arduino”. Do you have an actual Arduino connected to the computer in addition to the FTDI cable to the backpack?

When you try to program the backpack, is it connected to the panel? If so, the panels external power must be connected. You really should program the backpack without it connected to the panel.

[Michael]

Also, you DO need to install the drivers even if it caused a blue screen before.

[sajidivirani]

Hi Michael,
Sorry for the confusion. I do not have any additional arduino connected to my backpack.

My setup is pretty simple. A backpack connected to a RGB Matrix LED panel. From the backpack I’m using the backpack cable you described above, to connect to my laptop. The laptop has Arduono IDE software installed.

THis is what I’m doing.

When I connect the FTDI cable to my laptop, the device manager shows a new device in three places. Why three, I dont know.

First – In other devices, I get an UNKNOWN DEVICE with a yellow exclamation mark
second – In ports (com and LPT), I get USB Serial Port (COM4)
Third – In USB Serial controller section, I get USB Serial converter.

I dont know which ones are correct, but I right click and UPDATE DRIVER in the UNKNOWN DEVICE, selecting the ARDUINO UNO driver that came with the IDE software. At this point, the windows operating system gives me a warning that the driver is not compatible with my hardware, and should I proceed my computer will become slow or unusable, which I do. At this point, the driver installs and the UNKOWN DEVICE disappears from the “other devices” section and shows up under PORTS (COM AND LPT) as ARDUINO UNO COMM6 and still with a yellow exclamation mark. So at this point, I have two entries under the PORTS section in device manager,

Arduino UNO COM6
USB Serial Port COM4

Now When I open the arduino IDE software, COM4 is selected in the tools menu and arduino uno is selected as the deiver. When I upload, the sketch upload takes a long time and then displays the “avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 7 of 10: not in sync:” error.

Its interesting that in the device manager ports section, I see two devices, one on com4 (USB serial port com4) and other on COM6 (the arduino driver I installed)

Not really sure which one is the one that the IDE should be connecting to. The IDE is currently set to COM4 (with not option to select COM6) so I assume its talking to the USB serial port COM 4. But then why am I getting the upload error. Any what is the COM6 showing up for? If the backpack is connected via the USB serial port, shouldnt both show up on COM4

Which port really should the IDE be communicating on?

As you suggested I have disconnected the RGB panel from the backpack when uploading.

As you can see from my questions, I’m totally confused and not really sure how to proceed from this point on.

Thank you

[sajidivirani]

One more thing – in the Arduino UNO COM6, when I double click I see the message

“This device cannot start. (Code 10)”

[Michael]

Ok, I understand but I really have no idea how Windows manages the port for a USB serial adapter. I don’t use Windows at all, so this is all unfamiliar to me. It must be familiar to other people in the Arduino community, though. Your best resource is the forums at arduino.cc

It is possible that you have the driver installed but there is a problem with the backpack. How confident are you in your soldering? Feel free to send me a picture of the bottom of the board and maybe I’ll see a problem. Also, are you sure the ATmega328 chip is not backwards? That’s one more thing to check. You might try removing the chip and carefully re-inserting it.

[sajidivirani]

Hi Michael,
I have sent you pics at your email address.

I’ve inserted the chip correctly with the notch in the correct orientation.

Thank you

[Author]

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