Sparkfun pro micro dead on arrival

Other
1

Hello, I purchased a pro micro through Amazon, and the board I received looked fine. I connected it and installed the drivers, but when I attempted the upload my basic led blink code, the upload timed out and gave me:

Error:

cannot open port \\.\COM5: The system cannot find the file specified.

Error: unable to open port COM5 for programmer avr109

Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

After some other troubleshooting I got closer but, I received another error after the upload times out:

Sketch uses 3954 bytes (13%) of program storage space. Maximum is 28672 bytes.

Global variables use 149 bytes (5%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2411 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2560 bytes.

Error: butterfly_recv(pgm, &c, 1) failed

Error: initialization failed (rc = -1)

  • double check the connections and try again

  • use -B to set lower the bit clock frequency, e.g. -B 125kHz

  • use -F to override this check

Error: butterfly_recv(pgm, &c, 1) failed

Error: butterfly_recv(pgm, &c, 1) failed

Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

Even trying to use the -B lower clock speed function, I received the same errors. Is there anything I can do?

2

The ProMicro can be tricky, because there are two versions. One is 5V/16MHz and the other is 3.3V/8Mhz. If you select the wrong one when you upload a sketch then it will appear to brick the ProMicro.

You can refer to the troubleshooting section of the hookup guide to attempt to revive it.

3

I saved all the data under the 5v version of it(the correct one) , and as far as I am aware, I never switched back to the 3v version. If that did happen however, is there a way to resolve it? Do I have to reburn the bootloader?

And yes I have tried the resolution provided, but all I get is COM6 is access denied(the bootloader port). No matter what I do, I get the same error

4

Look in the section with the heading “How to Revive a “Bricked” Pro Micro”. If what I described is not what happened, it probably won’t help. But it’s simple, and it’s worth a try.

5

Yeah that’s the one I tried, it didn’t work, but thank you! I’m not sure what to do with it now :frowning:

6

Also try rebooting the PC, swapping cables, changing which usb port it’s plugged into

7

Thank you russell for your response, I have tried two different usb cables, both of which i tried on other devices to verify they transfer data, and the do. and I have tried 5+ usb ports, as well as restarted my computer multiple times.

8

Given those didn’t work, along with the ‘revive’ tutorial not working at this point I think it might be a defective device; request a replacement through Amazon and they’ll fix you up :slight_smile:

9

For anyone else who runs into the same problem, it’s also worth trying a different USB cable and USB port before assuming the board is faulty. A surprising number of “dead” boards end up being caused by charge-only cables or power issues rather than the hardware itself.