Unable to connect my Thumby to the computer

[hitodama]

I just received my Thumby today! I tried to connect it to the computer and to the arcade, but it doesn't seem to be working. Thumby's power is on, the cable is connected, but the site doesn't find it at all. I'm using the cable that I got together with the Thumby, so I assume it should be the right sort of cable?

The Device Manager doesn't say "USB Serial Device (COM##)" either, it just says "unknown USB-device" instead.

Any ideas what should I do? I'm not the most tech savvy person, but I can follow instructions. =')

[Jason]

I assume the screen is on too and you can scroll through the main game menu on the Thumby, correct?

When you have the device manager open and turn the Thumby on/off does the device manager refresh?

[hitodama]

I assume the screen is on too and you can scroll through the main game menu on the Thumby, correct?

When you have the device manager open and turn the Thumby on/off does the device manager refresh?

Yeah, I've turned it on and off multiple times with no effect. When the Thumby is on and attached to the computer I can scroll through the games with no problem. And whenever I shut down Thumby, the Device manager does refresh and it removes Thumby from the list; when I turn Thumby back on it once again says it's an unknown device.

(Edit.) Oh yeah, I have no idea if it's relevant or not, but when I was playing for the first time I think the Thumb froze once? I had played Space Debris for maybe ten minutes or something when the game just stopped responding, only staying on the last unmoving screen I saw before the freeze. After I turned the whole thing off and on again it seemed to work normally.

[Jason]

(Edit.) Oh yeah, I have no idea if it's relevant or not, but when I was playing for the first time I think the Thumb froze once? I had played Space Debris for maybe ten minutes or something when the game just stopped responding, only staying on the last unmoving screen I saw before the freeze. After I turned the whole thing off and on again it seemed to work normally.

Probably not relevant.

You can try the following

• Try a different USB cable (even though it was the one sent, maybe it was defective)
• Try seeing if the device is recognized in BOOTSEL mode. Do the following to get to BOOTSEL mode: plug Thumby into a computer, turn Thumby off, hold the DPAD down direction, turn Thumby on. A file explorer should pop up or a drive called "RPI-RP2" should auto mount. This should tell us that something is wrong with the Thumby firmware and needs to be reformatted
• Reformat the Thumby firmware by dragging and dropping this file into the RPI-RP2 volume: https://github.com/TinyCircuits/TinyCircuits-Thumby-Code-Editor/raw/master/ThumbyFinal03222022.uf2

[hitodama]

You can try the following

• Try a different USB cable (even though it was the one sent, maybe it was defective)
• Try seeing if the device is recognized in BOOTSEL mode. Do the following to get to BOOTSEL mode: plug Thumby into a computer, turn Thumby off, hold the DPAD down direction, turn Thumby on. A file explorer should pop up or a RPI-RP2 should auto mount. This should tell us something is wrong with the Thumby firmware and needs to be reformatted
• Reformat the Thumby firmware by dragging and dropping this file into the RPI-RP2 volume: https://github.com/TinyCircuits/TinyCircuits-Thumby-Code-Editor/raw/master/ThumbyFinal03222022.uf2

Unfortunately I don't have another cable like this, which is specifically why I ordered one with my Thumby. I can look into getting one though, if that turns out to be necessary.

With the cable I have now I tried that BOOTSEL thing, but nothing new really happened. No file explorer and the Device manager still keeps saying "unknown usb-device". Honestly I have no clue what auto mount means in this context, sorry hahah, but as it seems like nothing popped up or started running I assume it didn't happen as it should have?

With this info the next order of business seems to be getting a new cable, right?

[lennevia]

What version of Windows do you have? Are you using Windows 10? Windows 7? 

[hitodama]

What version of Windows do you have? Are you using Windows 10? Windows 7?

Windows 10, which should be all updated and everything. Thumby code editor I'm using in Google Chrome.

[lennevia]

I've been looking through the Raspberry Pi pico forums and this issue seems to have come up a few times. It could be an issue with your Windows USB driver detecting an "issue" with the Thumby and refusing to connect to it. I would recommend turning the PC off and back on and trying the BOOTSEL mode again a few times to see if that solves the problem. You can also try updating your USB drivers, or you can reinstall, this link covers both options: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/update-drivers-in-windows-ec62f46c-ff14-c91d-eead-d7126dc1f7b6

If the above options do not solve the problem I recommend trying a different Windows 10 computer. It's unlikely that there would be an issue with the Micro USB cable or Thumby since it still shows up on your computer as an unknown device and is playable.

[hitodama]

I've been looking through the Raspberry Pi pico forums and this issue seems to have come up a few times. It could be an issue with your Windows USB driver detecting an "issue" with the Thumby and refusing to connect to it. I would recommend turning the PC off and back on and trying the BOOTSEL mode again a few times to see if that solves the problem. You can also try updating your USB drivers, or you can reinstall, this link covers both options: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/update-drivers-in-windows-ec62f46c-ff14-c91d-eead-d7126dc1f7b6

If the above options do not solve the problem I recommend trying a different Windows 10 computer. It's unlikely that there would be an issue with the Micro USB cable or Thumby since it still shows up on your computer as an unknown device and is playable.

I was just coming to tell you that it started working! First I thought that it was because of trying another cable I loaned from a friend, but after reading your message I tried it with the original cable, too, and for who knows what reason it seems to work just fine now. ='D I did turn everything on and off multiple times, so I guess at some point it did the trick. Frustrating and silly, but at least it's working now! Thank you for all the advice!

[lennevia]

Windows is definitely frustrating and silly sometimes, but I'm glad everything's working now!