# Arduino will not connect!



## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

I've searched countless tech sites, downloaded many different drivers, etc. with no luck. I figured I would ask on here before I send the board back. It's an Arduino Uno clone, my computer is not recognizing it. The board is getting power, ON led is lit as well as L led stays solid. It does not recognize it as a device, does not show on my computer anywhere! I've followed every Windows 8 tutorial I can find for this problem with no luck. Under the Arduino platform under tools, the serial port option is staying grayed out as well. 

Anyone had this problem before? Could it just be a bad usb cord or board?


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

Which clone is it? Do you have a link to where you got it?
Can you identify the USB chip?
If it says FTDI, perhaps it is affected by this ordeal?:
https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1629

If Windows didn't even flinch when you plugged it in, the first thing I would try would be a different cable. I have turned into somewhat of an Arduino clone junkie over the past few months, but I have been using the Nano and Pro Mini. My first Uno was an "original", that's what I learned on. Is this your first go, or just first clone?

-Mike


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Which flavor of Win8 are you using? Could be that the drivers are not being found by the OS.

Have you seen this fix?
https://communities.intel.com/thread/46288


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## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

mikkojay said:


> Which clone is it? Do you have a link to where you got it?
> Can you identify the USB chip?
> If it says FDTI, perhaps it is affected by this ordeal?:
> https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1629
> ...


Windows doesn't even flinch, sadly I do not have access to another cable. I've tried going in to devices and manually turning off and on every USB port to get a response, nothing happens though.

This is my first go at Arduino, I bought a basic starter kit from Resistors Direct, Arduino Uno R3 Starter Kit K Compatible Microcontroller ATMEGA328P Breadboard US | eBay

I've read about every troubleshooting post I can find, what I have just noticed though is that the "L" light staying on constant is a sign of a board error. I'm begging to think there is no bootloader on the board? I believe if their was the "L" light would blink. I'm gonna email the seller and see if they can send me out another kit.


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## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

Otaku said:


> Which flavor of Win8 are you using? Could be that the drivers are not being found by the OS.
> 
> Have you seen this fix?
> https://communities.intel.com/thread/46288


I have tried this as well, sadly it does not even display a device connected to the USB.


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## mikkojay (Sep 15, 2014)

nativehaunt said:


> I'm begging to think there is no bootloader on the board?


That could be very likely. I have been lucky enough to not have that happen to me- yet. Let us know how it goes.
-Mike


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## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

mikkojay said:


> That could be very likely. I have been lucky enough to not have that happen to me- yet. Let us know how it goes.
> -Mike


Will do. I did learn that these "Chinese boards" require a CH340 Driver, which is a USB to Serial device. If someone is having the issue of Device Not Recognized and showing as an Unknown Device under Device Manager for these boards, this driver will fix that.

Driver Link: http://www.5v.ru/zip/ch341ser.zip

Unfortunately, this board is not even getting recognized, so I'm leaning towards a corruption from the factory. Now to just get this through to the eBay seller


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## nativehaunt (Oct 2, 2013)

A little update on this, I'm sending the board back to the manufacturer for them to verify the issue. Maybe they can help me solve this problem, you can buy these boards all day on eBay for under $10 so if I can actually get them to communicate with the open source this will be a very inexpensive option for controllers.


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