Windows 10 persistently thinks RedBoard Qwiic is disconnected within seconds of plugging it in

Development Boards Arduino
1

I purchased an SIK 4.1.2 a couple weeks ago and I had no trouble with Projects 1-3.

I’ll tell you what’s currently happening and then I’ll tell you what I remember about the lead-up to the problem.

Current situation (seems stable)

Say the computer is freshly restarted and nothing is connected to it. I pre-open Device Manager, and then connect my RedBoard (with absolutely nothing else connected to it, either) using the USB cable that came in the SIK. The computer plays the [USB connection sound and the DM refreshes to show the Ports tree and the RedBoard as connected. After about 10s the computer plays the USB disconnection sound, the DM refreshes, and the Ports tree is gone. After that, no amount of unplugging and plugging back in will get the computer to register the RedBoard again (i.e. no sounds or changes to the DM). If I restart the computer, it’ll see the RedBoard once, think it became disconnected, and won’t see it anymore until I restart the computer again.

Here’s a video: https://youtu.be/RZZZu2XeDzs

History

Originally, the version of Arduino IDE that I downloaded was 2.2.1. Similar to [this post, I couldn’t figure out where the SIK example code was supposed to go, and then noticed that the screenshots on pp. 6 and 8 of the guide said Arduino IDE 1.8.9. I uninstalled 2.2.1 and installed 1.8.9 so that it would correspond with the guide as closely as possible. As I said at the beginning, everything worked as expected with Projects 1-3. When I uploaded SIK_Circuit_4A-LCDHelloWorld, the LCD didn’t display exactly what was expected. It said

Hello, World!█ü█

on the first line, and nothing on the second line. Then over a period of a few minutes, it started blocking out the characters one by one:

█ello, █orld!█ü█
██llo, █orld!█ü█
███lo, █orld!█ü█
████o, █orld!█ü█

I don’t remember whether I tried to upload the code again or unplug it and plug it back in, but the USB connect/disconnect sounds started alternating rapidly and then I got the Blue Screen of Death (I didn’t manage to record the error code/QR code). After that, there was a period of a few hours where the connection was very tenuous and the computer was constantly making the USB sounds. I think I managed to re-upload SIK_CIrcuit_1A-Blink, which is what I think is on there now.

What I’ve tried:

  • - I have two USB ports; same thing happens with both
  • - I tried to connect the RedBoard to a friend's laptop; the same thing happened
  • - I haven't been able to find another USB cable to try

    • All the relevant technical details I can think of:

  • - Laptop - Lenovo ThinkPad X1Carbon (Kabylake)
  • - OS - Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045
  • - RedBoard - DEV-15123 and Batch #1584[*last two digits illegible*]
  • - SIK - KIT-21301 and Batch #158595
    • ](https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=60372)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENa4dTrnMsc)
    2

    It sounds like the USB connection is faulty; get another cable to test whenever possible…that’s the #1 suspect

    3

    Alright, here’s an update…

    I found another cable later that day; smooth sailing for a few hours. First I uploaded SIK_Circuit_4A-LCDHelloWorld, and then I spent about two hours tinkering with the code and trying to figure out how strings work so that I could display the elapsed time in the format HH:MM:SS. I had no issues uploading any of my successive attempts. After I was satisfied with that, I started working on a sketch for another idea I had involving the LCD display, and I was just going to leave the Arduino connected while working on the new sketch to allow the elapsed time to continue increasing to test my HHMMSS code over a longer term.

    After about 15 minutes, the computer made the USB disconnection sound and all the blocks on the LCD started going crazy. All the characters were randomly alternating between full blocks (█) and whatever they were supposed to be displaying. I disconnected the cable and then couldn’t get it to register anymore in that port. I tried connecting it to the other port on my laptop, and it did register. But then after a little bit more time the display started going crazy again, except this time each character appeared to be completely random. I didn’t get photo or video of either instance because I was afraid something might get fried if I didn’t disconnect it right away.

    Interjection - I forgot to explicitly say this in my original post, but the Arduino is receiving power the whole time it’s plugged in, even if the computer doesn’t register it.

    I found it very suspicious that both cables worked fine for a time and then all of a sudden stopped, especially with the added bonus of the LCD going crazy each time. I’m wondering if my computer sent some sort of signal that fried the cables. I ordered three more cables from Amazon:

  • - one basic USB-A to USB Micro-B [StarTech]
  • - another USB-A to USB Micro-B with a ferrite bead [Monoprice]
  • - one USB-C to USB Micro-B [AmazonBasics]

    • I’m not having any more success with these cables than the other two I already have. (The USB-C one behaves slightly differently but I think it may be because it needs its own driver (?) - and if so I haven’t downloaded it). Each one from the first try was doing the will-it-or-won’t-it-register business.

    A few other things I tried from some online research:

  • - Disable "USB Selective Suspend" in the advanced power plan properties
  • - Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" in the USB driver properties box
  • - DISM and SFC - To be honest I have no idea what these are; I just followed the instructions from a source I trust
    • None of these appeared to make any difference.
    4

    bumping this as it probably filtered down over the holidays