Can't unload to my SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro from Arduino IDE

I am running the latest Arduino IDE on my recent MacBook Pro. I have been working with an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi with no problems. I need more I/O so I bought a SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro to connect to the R4 via the Qwiic connectors.
I have followed all the instructions to install the necessary files for the Qwiic Pro Micro. In the Board Manager I have selected the SparkFun Pro Micro. I have selected the 5V 16Mhz option.
I am offered two ports:
/dev/cu.BLTH serial port
and
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-incoming-Port
When I select the first port it says:
“Could not connect to /dev/cu.BLTH serial port.”
When I select the second port it appears to be happy but when I try to upload a minimum sketch I get:

Connecting to programmer: .avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding

avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
Found programmer: Id = “”; type =
Software Version = .; Hardware Version = .
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: error: buffered memory access not supported. Maybe it isn’t
a butterfly/AVR109 but a AVR910 device?
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.

avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: error: programmer did not respond to command: leave prog mode
avrdude: butterfly_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: error: programmer did not respond to command: exit bootloader
Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

Help, please.

Those both sound like Bluetooth ports, the Pro Micro won’t be on either.

How are you connecting the Pro Micro to your computer? If it’s a USB-C cable between the computer and Pro-Micro, the cable might be defective or a “charge only” cable that doesn’t pass data.

What code do you plan on running on the Pro-Micro to turn it into a I2C I/O expander? it won’t do this by default.

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| YellowDog Regular
May 13 |

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RalphC:

/dev/cu.BLTH serial port
and
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-incoming-Port

Those both sound like Bluetooth ports, the Pro Micro won’t be on either.

I agree, but they were the only two ports offered, so I tried them, just in case.

How are you connecting the Pro Micro to your computer? If it’s a USB-C cable between the computer and Pro-Micro, the cable might be defective or a “charge only” cable that doesn’t pass data.

I’m using the same brand-new USB C to USB C cable I’ve been using with success to program my UNO R4 WiFi.

RalphC:

I need more I/O so I bought a SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro to connect to the R4 via the Qwiic connectors.

What code do you plan on running on the Pro-Micro to turn it into a I2C I/O expander? it won’t do this by default.

My plan was to have the Qwiic Pro Micro gather some data via its GPIO pins, including a Dallas temperature probe, do a little processing and then send the result to the UNO R4 WiFi via the I2C Qwiic connection. That’s why I bought the Qwiic Pro Micro - it is physically small and uses the Qwiic system. If I can’t get it to work this way I’ll have to go with a small Arduino board and wire the I2C the normal way.
Thanks, Ralph

There are several things to also check:

Drivers Pro Micro & Fio V3 Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn

FAQ Pro Micro & Fio V3 Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn

Finally, this thread/steps worked for someone else: How to load Arduino sketch on SparkFun Qwiic Pro Micro - USB-C (ATmega32U4) from Apple Silicon Mac - #5 by zachrattner

Russell, Thank you for this. The last link was helpful and the following steps worked, such that I now had a third option for the serial port. My test sketch dowloaded and ran. Thanks again for your help. Ralph

The steps that worked were:
• In the Arduino IDE, click the “Upload” button first
• Wait until you see “Waiting for upload port…” in the console
• Only then double-click the reset button on the board
• The upload should complete before the bootloader times out

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