CANNOT get Cleanflight working on my Mac

[jifka]

I have a Mac running El Capitan (OSX 10.11) and while I can open up Cleanflight, I cannot get it recognizing the USB port. Here's what I've done:

1. Installed Cleanflight
2. Installed the CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers
3. Open Cleanflight

From here, there's no option for USB. I've even tried manually entering the port with /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART (which I found as some other suggestions online). That didn't work, but I'm not surprised. That file doesn't exist on my system even after running the driver installation.

Can ANYONE help with this? I just purchased a Naze32 and want to get it configured, but can't seem to get past this simple step.

 

[PHugger]

Try a different USB cable. If it came with a cell phone, it likely won't work.
You need a "real" USB cable not just the cheap charging cable.
If you don't have one that works, just buy one on Amazon or Monoprice.


Best regards,
PCH

 

[mpbiv]

Try a different USB cable. If it came with a cell phone, it likely won't work.
You need a "real" USB cable not just the cheap charging cable.
If you don't have one that works, just buy one on Amazon or Monoprice.


Best regards,
PCH

Yeah that could be it!

Hopefully that works for him since it seems he did everything else right up to this point.

On my Mac, when I connect any control board it usually autodetects the port in cleanflight and changes the drop down automatically. I believe I am running El Capitan on my newest MacBook Pro (2016 15" Retina), but I didn't check the exact version. One my older 2010 13" MacBook Pro, it worked the same way way, even with older versions of OSX.

 

[jifka]

I've tried about a half dozen cables, all of which are used for power and data. I'm not opposed to purchasing another USB cable to see what's up.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I don't know about Mac OS but in Windows you have to install the driver to see the USB port on the flight controller. Until the computer sees the USB, nothing works. I suspect Mac won't require a restart after the driver is installed like Windows does, but if after you install the driver your computer (not Cleanflite) can't see the USB, fix that first before you ever even start Cleanflite.

This problem is common. It's not just you jifka. Most common is the wrong type of USB cable. Tablet and cell phone cables often don't work. After that I see drivers not installed or the computer not restarted after the driver is installed as causing this issue the most often.

 

[Balu]

Did you try this?

http://blog.sam-thompson.info/cleanflight-on-mac-osx/

If you’re having problems getting cleanflight to recognise your Naze board and you’re on a Mac, do the following:

1. Using USB to connect to the Naze32 requires the installation of the SiLabs CP2102 VCP Drivers. The drivers are available for download directly from the SiLabs Website
2. Force the serial connection to be recognized by running the following line at the command terminal: sudo ln -s /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART /dev/tty.usbserial
3. Fire up Cleanflight!

I mean the sudo line in the terminal, since you have installed the drivers already.

You can also try to check if /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART exists by doing an "ls" in terminal first.

ls /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART

 

[Balu]

PS: You can also try and see what happens when you plug in the USB by starting the following command first in the terminal window:

tail -f /var/log/system.log

 

[jifka]

This is what shows up when I plug in a new USB cable:

Apr 12 19:51:22 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045417.895257 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:22 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045417.895282 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: unrecoverable enumeration failure after 8 attempts
Apr 12 19:51:25 JFTMBP Screenhero[4264]: JS Log: Strophe (1): _dataRecv called
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.050126 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.050152 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 100 ms
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.383896 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.383921 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 200 ms
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.948255 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:36 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045431.948277 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 400 ms
Apr 12 19:51:37 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045432.975915 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:37 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045432.975937 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 800 ms
Apr 12 19:51:39 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045434.876463 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:39 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045434.876484 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 1600 ms
Apr 12 19:51:43 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045438.516426 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:43 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045438.516449 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 3200 ms
Apr 12 19:51:50 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045445.691490 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:51:50 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045445.691510 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: retrying enumeration in 6400 ms
Apr 12 19:52:04 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045459.880259 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
Apr 12 19:52:04 JFTMBP kernel[0]: 045459.880280 PRT1@14100000: AppleUSBHostPort::resetGated: unrecoverable enumeration failure after 8 attempts

So I'm guessing the machine recognizes that something has been connected to the USB port, but I'm not familiar with this readout. Does this indicate that I have a data cable? I just purchased a new micro USB data sync cable. Is there anything I can see on the cable/pins itself to determine the correct cable...if that's even the problem? I don't want to buy a bunch of cables if it's a software issue.

 

[jifka]

Oh and after the installation of drivers, the file /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART does not exist. I'm guessing there's something going on with the install that's not putting the correct drivers in place even though it completes with no errors.

 

[Balu]

I think I've seen that message before. I think that happened to me when I tried to plugin something too often and the USB host thingie didn't want to work anymore .

Are you using a USB Hub or plugging directly into the Mac?

Did you reboot your Mac once or did you just put it in standby?

The device might just show up when it's connected.

I'd try to do a proper reboot (Apple Menu, Restart) and try a different USB than before.

 

[jifka]

Are you using a USB Hub or plugging directly into the Mac?

Directly

Did you reboot your Mac once or did you just put it in standby?

Reboot

The device might just show up when it's connected.

I'll keep it connected to see what happens, but I doubt it.

I'd try to do a proper reboot (Apple Menu, Restart) and try a different USB than before.

I've tried all of that. Different cables, brand new data cable purchased yesterday, different USB ports...

Honestly, I think there may be something wrong with the installer and this version of OSX, because nothing shows up in the /dev/ directory. Everyone is referencing a SLAB_USBtoUART file, but that isn't there. Also, in the System Report under USB, there's no bridge adapter showing up. I'll also try other machines if I can find someone with an older version of OSX.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I forget how I had to get mine to recognize the drivers. I tried downloading to my desktop then opening, and then to downloads, and I think I saved them to Applications...

I do recall having a bear of a time getting mine to recognize. But it works fine now.

 

[Balu]

Which version of the Naze32 do you have? Is it possible that it's a cheap / broken clone?
Or do newer revisions need other drivers?

Hm. I'm out of ideas.

 

[jifka]

It's a full Naze32, not a clone, and not the acro version.

 

[The_QuadErratic_Equation]

Is anything else plugged into your board? I spent several hours over the course of about a week trying to get Cleanflight to see my board, and the only thing that worked was unplugging the ESCs and receiver from the board. After that it worked perfectly.

 

[jifka]

It's a brand new board with nothing else plugged in. I wanted to make sure it was good before soldering any connections and putting it in a drone. I'm just taking the clean board and plugging it into the USB port.

 

[jifka]

Sigh - I guess this is never going to get solved. Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[PHugger]

Do you have any friends with a PC who could try on Windows?
Chrome browser
USB to UART driver
Cleanflight
It's worth a shot to see if your Naze is working.
It might help you figure out where the problem is.



Best regards,
PCH

 

[PHugger]

If that's too hard of a pill to swallow, maybe a friend with a Mac...... (c:



Best regards,
PCH

 

[jifka]

I think I'm going to try purchasing a few more cables. The one I JUST bought is listed as a charging/sync cable that's supposed to provide for data transfer. But I'm starting to suspect other issues. I've tried on 3 Macs already, some with El Capitan, some with older OSX versions, and I tried on a PC running XP. None of them see the device within Cleanflight.