SparkFun RedBoard is not detected in MacOS Mojave

Development Boards Arduino
1

Hello,

I have just bought SparkFun Inventor’s kit (version 4.0). Unfortunately, I was not able to connect to RedBoard.

I have a MacBook Pro with Mac OS Mojave installed (version 10.14.5). I am using Arduino IDE 1.8.9.

When I plug mini-USB cable into RedBoard, green LED lights up, and LED #13 starts blinking. But I do not see the device as a file at /dev/cu.usbserialxxx. Arduino IDE does not show the device either (Tools > Port in menu).

I tried two different cables, same result. I tried installing FTDI drivers (version 2.4.2) according to the instructions (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/ho … i-drivers/), I still do not see RedBoard even after the reboot. After the driver installation, I verified that Apple driver is not loaded by typing:

$ sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI

(kernel) Kext com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI not found for unload request.

Failed to unload com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI - (libkern/kext) not found.

Last, I also tried installing another set of drivers from:

https://github.com/adrianmihalko/ch340g … s-x-driver

No results either. At this point, I am out of ideas. I would appreciate any advice.

Alex

2

Hi Alex.

A lot has changed with the drivers and OS X since we wrote that guide. Try the latest driver from FTDI [here and see if that works for you.

Another possibility is you might have a bad USB cable. Try a different cable too if the latest driver doesn’t do the trick.](https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP/MacOSX/FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_4_2.dmg)

3

Hello, Chris,

thank you for the advice. Yes, I used 2.4.2 version of the drivers at the link you provided.

I was finally able to connect to the RedBoard. It seems that loading FTDI drivers from the command line fixed the issue.

Here are the detailed installation instructions for other people with macOS who have similar issues.

  1. Download 2.4.2 version of the drivers from FTDI website (link in the above post by TS-Chris) and install them as explained on SparkFun website. After the installation, you will have to go to “System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General” and confirm that you want the FTDI kernel extension enabled. There will be a line saying “System software from developer “FTDI” was blocked from loading”, click on “Allow” next to that line.

  2. Reboot, and then run in the command line:

sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext

  1. Check that the FTDI kernel extension is loaded by typing in the command line:

sudo kextstat | grep com.FTDI

You should see one line of output such as:

181 0 0xffffff7f83bdb000 0x7000 0x7000 com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver (2.4.2) <long string of some digits, letters, and dashes> <96 68 6 5 3 1>

  1. Start Arduino IDE, and then connect the RedBoard, you should see it now in Arduino IDE at “Tools > Port”.

  2. After the first connection to RedBoard, you will not need to type “sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext” again in the future, it seems that the board is detected automatically.

If the above instructions did not work, there is a small chance your cable does not have data lines connected. Try changing the cable. Make sure the cable is fully inserted. If the cable is not correctly inserted, the board will not light the green “ON” LED when you connect it to your laptop. Some people recommend checking the data lines in the cable with multimeter. You can try it, but the pins in mini-USB-B jack are very small, so it seems difficult.

Best regards,

Alex