[SOLVED] Driver Confusion!

[Zakini]

So, I'm trying to connect my Gamebuino to my Windows 7 PC. I read through the Getting Started article on the wiki, followed the link to the Arduino getting started page and went through the process of installing the drivers for Arduino Uno. Is that what I'm supposed to do? The wiki article isn't very clear on what exactly you need to do.

Anyway, so my Gamebuino shows up as an Arduino Uno in the Device Manager, under "Ports (COM & LPT)". The problem is the device status is "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". It's also showing up on COM6, but in the Arduino IDE I can only select COM1.

I also installed the FTDI drivers, which didn't seem to do anything useful.

So, does anyone know what I need to do to get my Gamebuino connected properly? Did I goof up somewhere?

[Jolly]

I've never had to install any drivers myself, Windows will take care of that automatically.
So if you've installed the Gamebuino Library, everything should work already.

Do you have the right version of Arduino?
Can you select "Gamebuino" as your Board in the Arduino IDE?

[Zakini]

Really? Both the gamebuino and the arduino getting started guides tell you to install the drivers. Have you used arduino before and had the drivers installed from before?

I've got the IDE set up OK. I can choose gamebuino as the board, but under serial port I can only choose COM1 and I think my gamebuino is on COM6.

The version of arduino (I assume you mean the IDE) I'm using is the enhanced release that's linked on the gamebuino getting started article. I'm not on my PC so I can't quote a version number.

[Jolly]

Okay, I just went through all of it again and I can select the correct Gamebuino Port(COM3 in my case).
Did you turn the Gamebuino on before you connected it to your computer?

In my case it started right away with the driver installation and then I could use it in the Arduino IDE.
I tried it with the enhanced release and the normal version.

Just for full disclosure: I'm using Windows 8.1, so maybe there's a difference.

[Zakini]

Yeah I've been turning the gamebuino on before plugging it in.

When I first plugged in my gamebuino, or whenever I scan for hardware changes, it tries to install a driver but fails.

I don't know what else to try now.

[erico]

Just in case, try different usb ports or with a clean reset system.
Also try pluging the gamebuino and then turning it on, mess it´s usb end a little just to check if it a connector problem.
Do you have another cable to try?
...Usb tends to act weird here on my end on some circumstances.

[Zakini]

I've tried 3 different USB ports on my PC and tried swapping the cable. Trying a different USB2 didn't change anything.

Trying a USB3 shows the gamebuino as "Unknown Device" under "Universal Serial Bus controllers" but trying to install the driver throws an error saying "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems".

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver. Here's what I did to reinstall it:

Turned on and plugged in my gamebuino. It appeared in the device manager under "Ports (COM & LPT)" as "FT232R USB UART".

Right clicked the device and chose "Update Driver Software...".

Clicked "Browse my computer for driver software".

Clicked "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.

Clicked "Have disk...".

Clicked browse and navigated to the "drivers" folder of the arduino IDE folder

Selected "Arduino Uno" from the list and clicked next.
This list contains loads of different Arduino models.

A warning box appeared saying that Windows cannot verify that the driver is compatible with the device. I clicked yes on this box.

The installation begins. It soon errors: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)".

The gamebuino now appears under "Ports (COM & LPT)" as "Arduino Uno (COM6)". In the device's properties, the status is still code 10, as above.

Is there anything obvious that's wrong with what I did? I'll try installing on my laptop tomorrow and see if that changes anything.

[Myndale]

The installation begins. It soon errors: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)".

Uh oh, this is exactly the same problem that I've recently experienced with each of my Gamebuinos. They were both working fine on every device I tried them on and in the space of a week or so they both failed with these exact same symptoms. I've tried reinstalling the drivers on Win 8.1, Win7 and WinXP...same problem for each, which in turn suggests it's not a driver issue or bad Windows update. I did initially wonder if it was a problem with the USB cable and/or connectors, but if you look in device manager you'll see that the devices are reporting their PIDs and VIDs just fine, which suggests to me this might be the result of something deeper.

[jonnection]

Could you test using old versions of FTDI drivers? Just to rule out the driver as the source of problem.

[Zakini]

I just tried plugging in my other gamebuino (I got the multiplayer pack) which, in hindsight, should've been one of the first things I did. It worked exactly as Jolly described it:

I've never had to install any drivers myself, Windows will take care of that automatically.

It appears in the device manager, under Ports (COM & LPT) as "USB Serial Port (COM7)". The device status in the properties is "This device is working properly". The Arduino IDE seems to be able to detect it as well, since I can choose COM7 as the serial port. I'll try uploading an empty sketch to it later, once it's charged.

Following what jonnection suggested, and since the working gamebuino's device properties showed the manufacturer as FTDI, I uninstalled the not-working gamebuino and reinstalled using one of the drivers in the "FTDI USB Drivers" folder of the Arduino IDE program folder (I'm not sure if I chose ftdibus.inf or ftdiport.inf). It seems to be working, at least as much as the original working gamebuino is. Although, trying to upload to the now-working gamebuino throws an error saying that the COM port is already in use.

Anyway, I'll have to carry on with this later, I need to get to work! Thanks for the help so far guys, I think we've nearly cracked this!