Help: Unable to upload to TinySaber

[Todd]

I recently purchased a TinySaber (R3) and I'm having trouble uploading to it. This is my first time attempting to do anything with Arduino, but I am a software developer, so I'm reasonably technical. 

I have followed the tutorial instructions very carefully. In fact, I've followed them multiple times, on two different computers (one Windows, one Mac). I have tried several different USB cables. I have the latest Arduino IDE. I have installed the Zadig driver, though I have never seen the device appear in Device Manager, so I'm guessing this is probably where the problem lies. However, it says it was installed successfully.

When I try to upload the example project, it compiles, and then I get the following in the output window:

Sketch uses 5576 bytes (85%) of program storage space. Maximum is 6522 bytes.
Global variables use 225 bytes (43%) of dynamic memory, leaving 287 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 512 bytes.
C:\Users\todd\Documents\ArduinoData\packages\TinyCircuits\tools\micronucleus\2.0a4/launcher -cdigispark --timeout 60 -Uflash:w:C:\Users\todd\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_246433/TinySaber.ino.hex:i 
Running Digispark Uploader...
Plug in device now... (will timeout in 60 seconds)

But nothing happens after that. I plug in the device and press the reset button, but nothing else (obvious) happens. The status bar says "Done uploading" but it says that almost immediately, and it does exactly the same thing if the device is not plugged in. It doesn't seem to timeout after 60 seconds either, at least it doesn't write anything to the output window.

Again, I never saw the libusb32 device appear in Device Manager. It's possible I missed it the first time, but I've watched closely on subsequent attempts and I haven't seen it. I have not seen an Unknown Device appear under any other category either. The Device Manager does refresh a couple times during the Zadig install, so it seem to at least attempt to do something.

Any suggestions on what the issue might be? Is there any other information I can provide?

Thanks,
Todd

[lennevia]

Todd,

If you are unable to see the device at all in the device manager, the problem is likely a Micro USB cable.

I would recommend trying to re-install the WCID driver using Zadig.

Is LTO disabled in the Arduino IDE? Are you able to see the port that the Saber is connected to?

Best,
Réna

[Todd]

Thanks Réna.

LTO is disabled. I am not able to select a port (it's disabled), but according to the tutorial "nothing should be selected under Port".

I have tried to re-install the driver many times using several different cables. The primary cable I'm using is one I also used to successfully upload to a TinyArcade, so I think the cable is good. I can't see the device in device manager, but according to the tutorial I only have 6 seconds to see it before it goes away.

I have also tried with a Mac, which doesn't need the Zadig driver, and it has the same result. So I'm guessing it may not be the driver.

[lennevia]

The device, while it's only visible for around 6 seconds, should appear in the device manager. Open the device manager and press the bootloader button. Once pressed, the device manager should refresh to show either a libusb device, or an unknown device to demonstrate that the software was downloaded successfully or not.

If the device does not appear at all after pressing the bootloader button, it's likely a bad cable or otherwise poor connection. I tested this with an R3 unit and working cable and got an unknown device as expected since this unit hasn't had the libusb software downloaded.

[Todd]

Okay, it looks like it was the cable after all. I tried a couple more cables and found one that works.

I will say the device seems to be extremely picky about the cable used. I tried eight cables overall before finding one that works. A few of the cables that did not work with the TinySaber *did* work to upload data to a TinyArcade, and with other devices like transferring data to a phone. So for whatever reason, the TinySaber seems to be more picky.

Thanks for your help!

[lennevia]

I'm not sure why the Tiny Saber would be picky about a cable that's able to transfer data to a Tiny Arcade, but I'm glad you've got a cable working with it.

Thanks for the update!