Sometimes when you are working on a project, it’s hard to think of all the possible solutions to an issue. This post is about a problem I  had when trying to upload my code to a Lilypad (any board really). But it left me wondering what the heck, and becoming really frustrated at why I could not load my code… Here is what I tried and what worked for me.

So I was programming a Lilypad Arduino 328 Mainboard, and I had programmed one before so I knew it worked. This time I could not make a connection at all to the board so I tried a variety of things, and could not get it to work. Typical things to try were:

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Try a new USB cable

Try a different board

Upload a simple Blink sketch

Try a different computer

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I tried all of those and still no change. I left my problem for a few days and then went to a Google+ Community I had joined to see if they had any possible clues.

Google Community

This was posted to Arduino Community If you work with Arduino’s it is worth joining a group like this, I have found it helpful a number of times and it’s nice to post your project details or help others.

The response was super helpful : ftdi cable and com ports

Arduino Community

Did I have the correct drivers installed? As I had used it before, yes I should have had the correct drivers – however I had recently formatted my hard disk and reinstalled my OS so now these drivers were missing! Simple fix when you know what’s wrong. I’m posting this because if I get stuck again, I don’t want to forget!

Driver files for the FTDI cable http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm