Arduino COM port not found

2
votes

For the past week I have been programming an Arduino Uno with a computer running Windows 7. When I first started, I found the device on COM6 and was able to upload code no problem. Recently it suddenly stopped receiving code under the error:

Serial port 'COM6' not found. Did you select the right one from the Tools > Serial Port menu?

The Serial port menu though is grayed out. Research has told me to open up Device Manager and update drivers but there is no other devices tab in my Device Manager. The Arduino is run off the power of the USB cable and runs the code I uploaded a few days ago just fine. What can I do to be able to upload code to the Arduino?

Update:

I installed the Arduino software on another computer and it does not recognize the Arduino either. One of the comments indicates that this could be a problem with the FTDI chip. How can I test if this is the case, and if it is, can I fix it?

3
serial-portusbarduino
I hope this isn't to cliche' of an answer however. Have you tried turning it off and on again? – Anthony Russell
Yes, at this point I have unplugged it and plugged it back in and restarted everything several times. – Gibby
try going into device manager and verifying what com port your arduino is sitting on. It could be that you have a bad cable. They go bad more often than one would think – Anthony Russell
I hate when people downvote perfectly reasonable questions/answers without comment... here's an upvote – Pyrce
@Pyrce: Yeah, that's what I thought, too... – FranzHuber23

3 Answers

1
votes

There are two types of cable:

  1. Charging Cable
  2. Data Transfer Cable

So try changing the cable, if you have already tried every USB driver and port; or else

Install a new driver using this link, http://www.wch.cn/download/CH341SER_MAC_ZIP.html. But after installing the driver, if it doesn't work, then change the cable.

0
votes

The Arduino probably started using a different port. When you plug Arduinos into a different USB port it sometimes defaults to a new COM port. Check your device settings for which ports are being used and try each of those. Also try plugging it into a different USB port (if no ports are displayed) and it should register with a new COM. If that fails reboot your machine and repeat the above. If that fails reinstall the Arduino USB driver and repeat above. If that fails you might have fried your Arduino's USB chip (or some other hardware on the Arduino).

0
votes

For Linux:

To solve the problem, simply run the IDE as super user, so go to terminal and type 'sudo arduino'.

To solve this problem permanently:

In the terminal, run 'gksudo gedit'

In gedit, open the /usr/share/applications/arduino.desktop file.

Change the line Exec=arduino to Exec=gksudo arduino. Save the file. Similarly, do the same for Windows...

Also try to re-install Arduino driver.