I recently picked up an IoT RedBoard ESP32 as well as a RedBoard Plus, and have had nothing but (several hours of) problems trying to communicate with both, with still no success (just trying to get Blink to load).
I’ve followed the hookup directions carefully for each, have loaded the (latest) cores using the Boards Manager, verified my usb-c cables (I hope, trying several), have loaded the CH340 drivers and verified them (a few times … verifying I see a COM port with Windows 10, or a usbserial port with OSX), tried also loading Si Labs CP210x drivers (based on some forum posts), have tried various combinations of pressing boot, and/or reset, also with power sequencing (again, based on some user postings). No joy at all so far … both boards simply refuse to communicate … just getting a “fatal error … failed to connect to ESP32 … no serial data received” response.
The IoT board at least enumerates a usb port using Windows or OSX … but I can’t even get that far with the Plus, where the usb errors appear to be even more basic. Plugging into my MacBook Pro elicits a “USB Accessories Disabled … too much power” warning. On the Windows machine it totally takes out USB and my Logitech wireless keyboard (also connected via USB). Powering the board through the barrel connector is also no help … same issues.
Anyway, nothing but frustration and mild annoyance with these two gems at the moment. Doesn’t seem like it should be this painful. Any guidance or suggestions as to what I may be missing to get even basic communications going with either device would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the quick response @TS_Russell. Yea, I’ve removed and re-installed the ch340 drivers a few times, according to the guide … so don’t think it’s related to that. But I will do a bit more digging around the USB as I have encountered some of the port type issues you mentioned on past occasions. Will let you know.
Related to my other comments on power related strangeness with the RedBoard Plus - I did break out the schematics and multimeter to have a look … I’m seeing a direct short between the USB-C VBUS and GND, so that’s not good! I also inspected around the area under magnification with my inspection scope, but didn’t find anything obvious. Connector pin soldering looks nice/solid, and there was no evidence of any obvious solder bridging… but I’ll take another look as I did the inspection prior to identifying the short. But this board might be headed for RMA. Will let you know if I find anything obvious on further inspection.
Only last tidbit to add (before the weekend) is that I’m pretty sure my (2019) MacBook Pro ports are all USB 3.0, and the USB port I used on my Windows 10 machine is black (USB 2.0 ?), so perhaps I’ve already tried both flavors with the RedBoard ESP32.
I’ll keep hammering away at things though. Thanks again, and have a nice weekend.
Ok, after a little more digging, I believe I’m getting to the bottom of the cause of my recent drama with both RedBoards … I have a high degree of confidence that there are hardware problems with ‘both’ boards.
RedBoard Plus - As mentioned previously, I measure a direct short between VBUS and GND on the USB-C connector. On visual inspection I note a solder blob between two pins on the connector which may be causing this problem. (I only say ‘may’ because the Eagle .brd file is not included in your documents so I can’t trace things out, and I don’t want to speculate on the USB-C pin usage … it just looks suspicious considering the short I am seeing, and one pin is routed to that BYP jumper).
RedBoard ESP32 - This one was a bit more difficult, but I got lucky finding that there is insufficient solder on pin 3 (the Reset pin) of the ESP32 module. When I happened to probe this pin with my multimeter (which completed the electrical connection), the board sprang to life, immediately now running the default Blink code! (I have a video that demonstrates this, but am unable to upload). I have attached a photo which shows a solder gap at pin 3 (yes, it’s a bit hard to see), and also a possible void on pin 1. Interestingly, if I kept my probe on pin3 I was also now able to connect and download code … no problem at all. So, as a minimum, pin 3 of the module is not making good connection.
I’ll keep it to that for now, but again, this one is turning out to simply be just an unfortunate case of bad hardware with both RedBoards!
Looking on the front and back pictures on https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18158 that solder bridge on the USB-C connector is definitely the culprit. The outermost pins on the connector are tied to ground and the next set of fat pins inbound on each edge is Vbus.
Yea, I was pretty certain that was the case, especially seeing that one pin routed to one of the BYP pads (which are definitely VBUS). Thanks for the confirmation.
Ok great … thanks much. Yea, I was quite surprised going 0 for 2 on this one … but it happens. (I’m thinking you might already also be in this other loop, but I did e-mail an RMA request to returns/support yesterday … just let me know how to get the boards back to you).
Closing up this exchange. Received the replacement boards from support/returns this afternoon … both worked fine. I had a brief ‘here we go again’ moment with the ESP32 one where I initially received an ‘unable to verify flash’ fatal error response when attempting to upload … but I had recalled that there might be some issues if using the max (921600) upload speed, so dialing the speed down to 460800 or lower resolved this, and uploads work fine. Looks like I’m back in business again at the moment … thanks. Onward!
I am having the same problem with the purchase of the Sparkfun Thing Plus board. I tried all of the above suggestions from this post but with no solution. I can select the board manager " Sparkfun Thing Plus NINA " but when I try to upload I get a compile for the board. I reloaded the device driver twice but no help. Please help!
I just found this thread after having protracted issues trying to get a replacement for 2 bad Sparkfun Redboard Plus boards… purchased from Sparkfun. Specifically as mentioned above: “Plugging into my MacBook Pro elicits a “USB Accessories Disabled … too much power” warning. …”
It seems that quality control (?) for production of these boards has been quite poor if this is the rate of failure. For myself, I’ve seen multiple different devices failures from Sparkfun recently (QWIIC soil Moisture and Blood Oxy Sensors). Is there anyway to know if/how Sparkfun identifies these types of issues in production, to restore confidence in purchasing more of these devices from Sparkfun?
Sorry to hear you are having bad luck with our devices there. I hope we can help.
Are you plugging the RedBoard devices directly into your Mac or are you using a sort of USB hub?
We quality control all of our products inhouse. All of the parts you mention in your forum post do not have any known issues at the moment. I keep a close eye on problem batches and act swiftly to nip issues in the bud when possible.
If you could go into further details regarding how the devices are being used that would be very helpful.
