ESP8266 NodeMCU not detected by computer.

[oemd001]

Hello I purchased a esp8266 NodeMCU and I connected the micro USB into the NodeMCU and connected via USB to my computer, which is running Windows 10 x64 bit. Nothing is showing up. However, the blue light on the esp8266 is flashing (occasionally) but no signal whatsoever from the computer.

Please help and respond?

Thanks!

[tinashekadiki]

Installed drivers and it worked, https://github.com/nodemcu/nodemcu-devkit/tree/master/Drivers

[Langfo]

After a couple of months of trying different configurations to get my ESP8266 to work such as laptops running Windows, VM's running Linux, a Macbook and a Raspberry PI. Then trying to install various drivers on Windows, OSX and Linux. Then swapping in and out over 10 USB cables. In the end what worked was finally finding a USB cable that was thicker (meaning this had the data wires connected and wasn't just a charging cable) as well as installing the nodemcu drivers for Windows as mentioned and linked throughout this comment thread. You will know a data USB cable when you see it, it will look much thicker (see image)

[dhajnes]

Hi, I had a somewhat similar problem. I bought some spinoff ESP8266 NodeMCU, which is not really the NodeMCU, but a piece of hardware called "HW-628 V1.1". I installed ALL THE DRIVERS on the internet (really, like at least 15 different) and then I read somewhere about those spinoffs not coming with any software installed on them, and thats apparentely an issue.

First, you need to get drivers for your UART/USB converter device built in your deck next to the USB (either CH340G - a rectangle or a CP2102 - a square).

For mine (CH340G) i found some here: https://sparks.gogo.co.nz/ch340.html . Downloaded .zip, installed .exe, installed the needed .inf file and then my wifimodule was finally recognised by my PC (Win 7 - yeah i know, its 2020 and i still got win7, so waht?).

Wish you luck!

[brother27]

Thanks for this post. I will have to go through my cables to find and mark the good ones.

[technoo10201]

I had same problem but I solved it. My board flashed only flashed once(it all about I think what my usb wire works) but, pc still doesnt recognize it. So i installed like 1 thousand times drivers from silabs. But pc still doesnt see it and board still flashing. So i try to change my usb wire to another one, and pc recognized it)) So if yr pc doesnt see com port try ty change the wire.

Thanks you so much ! It worked for me.... Incredible 👍

[al3x3i]

I had the same issue, luckily have found a cable that works. Some of them worked differently:

Cable:1 -> didn't do anything, just nothing, no LED Cable 2 -> LED was blinking on the board but I could not connect/upload data. Did not appear in sudo ls /dev/tty* Cable 3 -> worked fine, the USB cable was from Samsung S4 mini.

All cables which I have tried had the same thickness, only they had different physical "pinout". I tried on Windows10 and Ubuntu.

[Arjen997]

hi guys!

I also have some little troubles with this little device. when i plug it into my computer, i can hear the sound, but... my system does not recognize the device.

when i plug it in, the blue light will turn on and thats it.

an sound and an light. i tried several things like installing the new driver, changing cables and at device management i turned hidden devices on.

i wonder if someone has any idea what to do.

[WiliTest]

I my case one nodemcu wesn't detected by the PC (but the others are). Any way to know if it's dead (fried or bricked)?

edit: actually it was a tiny component that has been half desoldered (probably by a cable tie attached to it). I did solder it back, it somehow worked (I never soldered anything that small).

[brother27]

These are small components. I use a magnifying glass in order to see anything. Glad you found the issue

[mikyjazz]

Just to have my say, after two days of testing and swearing I discovered that three (3) usb cables I was trying were "power only" !!! I have successfully used the cable from my Asus tablet!

[fkrnglc]

I had to install the driver for the NodeMCU manually: https://github.com/nodemcu/nodemcu-devkit/tree/master/Drivers. Afterwards, it worked.

You are a life saver man. It solved my problem instantly.

[kyuzan22]

My node mcu was detected by my pc before, but after i used it for a while its not. The reset button still give respon while i pushed it, i didn't understand. Can anybody help?

[gsimon75]

In my case the problem was that the 12 MHz crystal wasn't soldered on well, so the CH340G usb-uart chip had no clock, and therefore couldn't talk usb at all, it hasn't even appeared in the device list.

After re-melting the solderings at the four corners of the crystal, it works fine. (The crystal is a 2mm by 3mm part right next to the usb-uart chip, with the label "12.000 MHz", soldered on at its four corners - at least it's supposed to be... )

Recent linux kernels (mine is 5.6, Fedora 32) recognize the uart by default, there is no need for any custom kernel module building. The lsusb output for the device:

Bus 002 Device 030: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB-Serial adapter

[MoElaSec]

So to sum up everything: 1- check the cable if it's a Data or a power cable (old Samsung phones or Asus tablets for example will work great as noted ). Note: thickness is not enough as we saw earlier on this thread (found this to know more info about cables).

2- check the correct drivers, Those are the drivers of the most used chips:

💾 CP2102 💾 CH340

there are extra problems that people go throw like not being able to find the esp8266/NodeMCU on the bord manager in Ardunio IDE this helped me. I know this might look like another problem but many people think that the problem is with their cable/pc for not being able to see their board in the manager, hence why they might be reading this thread.

[bonaminGR]

Hello everyone.

This is gonna sound and look weird but I had the same problem as you guys. My NodeMCU could not connect to my PC. My Computer showed no COM device when I connected it. A blue light flashed on the ESP Module, but nothing else happened.

After trying so many things I found online, (5 different data cables, many different USB ports, different PC, different software, installing CH340 Drivers etc) I still had no luck.

AND THEN ! I stumbled upon this: https://ceworkbench.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/fixing-ch340-problems-on-a-nodemcu-v3-board/

This guy found out that the USB Connector might not be soldered properly and an easy fix would solve the issue. But here is the fun part. Right when I was about to solder USB Data Wires on the CH340 chip, I saw something weird.

The Chip was soldered the WRONG WAY from the factory. ?DAFUQ?

De-soldering the Chip and Soldering it again in the proper orientation solved the issue for me.

I know. Sounds weird, but still, happened. :D

[alpine9411]

I never would have thought it would have mattered, but changing the microusb cable to my nodemcu worked instantly, after wasting an hour. should have read these comments earlier. (ubuntu linux and using arduino IDE)

[matthijs88]

For people still having errors, I followed the steps on this website, which helped for me: https://www.usb-drivers.org/ft232r-usb-uart-driver.html

[gojimmypi]

I had this problem today... where the ESP8266 decided to just be another "not recognized" USB device after flashing, even though it was just working before the most recent flash.

Inspired by @sshocked regarding a different cable, I tried removing it from my USB hub and plugging directly into the computer. TADA! Valid USB device. Oddly then, even moving it back to the hub, it was still happy. Go figure.

[MrMinos]

For boards with the CH340 serial interface -- https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ch340-drivers/all

[gajanangomare79]

GUYS PLEASE HELP ME. I HAVE INSTALL DRIVERS FOR SEVERAL TIME THEN ALSO PORT IS NOT VISIBLE IN ARDUINO IDE AND WHILE CONNECTION NO SOUND IS COMING AND ALSO NO LED IS BLINKING.

[brother27]

change your cable

[gajanangomare79]

i tried it.then also i'm getting same problem . before it was working well but i don't know why suddendly it is not working. guys please help me i have to submit by monday.

[pepe0pepe]

I tried everything whats in this forum too. what worked for me this: https://www.usb-drivers.org/ft232r-usb-uart-driver.html

[Bighoneypot]

Your S.O. version ??

On Sun, 9 May 2021, 00:14 pepe0pepe, @.***> wrote:

I tried everything whats in this forum too. what worked for me this: https://www.usb-drivers.org/ft232r-usb-uart-driver.html

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino/issues/3551#issuecomment-835541419, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIPMDFBFLYHINRVJ6RZTDY3TMWZVNANCNFSM4DYOZPSA .

[yelanetzichavez]

I just downloaded this driver and worked for me.

https://electropeak.com/learn/how-to-install-ch340-driver/

[QHuyCup]

I had same problem but I solved it. My board flashed only flashed once(it all about I think what my usb wire works) but, pc still doesnt recognize it. So i installed like 1 thousand times drivers from silabs. But pc still doesnt see it and board still flashing. So i try to change my usb wire to another one, and pc recognized it)) So if yr pc doesnt see com port try ty change the wire.

It works !!!

[jovylle]

I have t he same problem,

And this one helped me, thanks for the images so I can quickly find this one. and understand that those are different hardwares

So to sum up everything: 1- check the cable if it's a Data or a power cable (old Samsung phones or Asus tablets for example will work great as noted ). Note: thickness is not enough as we saw earlier on this thread (found this to know more info about cables).

2- check the correct drivers, Those are the drivers of the most used chips:

💾 CP2102 💾 CH340

there are extra problems that people go throw like not being able to find the esp8266/NodeMCU on the bord manager in Ardunio IDE this helped me. I know this might look like another problem but many people think that the problem is with their cable/pc for not being able to see their board in the manager, hence why they might be reading this thread.

[MuhammadShafaullah]

still, it's not come on port or pc not detects after entering it

[prof-redstone]

Thanks to sshocked comment! Wire was the reason. Funniest moment is that I expierenced this problem before and forgot. Lots of wires, that are supplied with devices for charging, aren't complete USB wires, there are probably only 2 power leads inside, and missing D+ and D- wires

Thank it works !

[ertugrulcakici]

i'd like to say thank you because the cable was the problem for me and I solved the problem

[shiviraj]

I also face the same issue, I bought a new usb cable 3 new nodemcu. I already had 3 different usb cables. I tried different combinations and also tried different drivers. I was not succeed. I also tried in different OS. after I got the idea. let's verify one by one item. nodemcu was correct. new and LED blinks while connecting to the cable. When I tried to verify the usb cables. I connect my android phone with PC with the help of usb cable. and tried to transfer the data from phone to PC. My phone was detected by my PC. So I got all the cables i had faulty. Make sure you try to verify all items one by one. Thanks a lot

[ramanraja]

Sorry if this is off topic: But I am unable to upload any code to my NodeMCU board ever since I upgraded my Windows 10. My old USB serial driver CH340 no longer works. Windows complains that the driver is 'not signed', so it cannot be installed. Windows Update also could not find any suitable driver for NodeMCU serial interface. The same board and cable work fine on a Linux laptop. Everyone points me to a Chinese chip manufacturer's site to download the driver. But I am scared to download some unknown/ unsigned driver whose instructions are in a language that I do not know. A few drivers are available at the following places: https://github.com/nodemcu/nodemcu-devkit/tree/master/Drivers https://sparks.gogo.co.nz/ch340.html But no one seems to know if these are safe or contain Trojans. If the driver is genuine, why doesn't the manufacturer sign it? I just want a certified and safe serial driver for my ESP chips. Please help.

[d-a-v]

The firmware you will upload in the esp8266 is closed source, Chinese, and has access to your local network. Will you trust it more @ramanraja ? If your esp-s are in an isolated vlan, you can also install this driver in a VM.

[ramanraja]

@d-a-v , you have a valid point! But in my defence, I can state that I use the Arduino stack on the 8266. I use the open source firmware Tasmota and compile it from source. The devices interact with my PC and mobile through MQTT, using known payloads. This doesn't guarantee fool-proof security, but at least I need not install an uncertified software on my development machines. What I fail to understand is: why should it be such a black art to send a few bytes over my serial port? Can there not be any public, open and standards-based handshake mechanism and message format?

[d-a-v]

I use the open source firmware Tasmota

These files are closed source binaries downloaded from espressif website and are included in every sketch build (arduino or platformio or tasmota or anything related to this arduino core).

Can there not be any public, open and standards-based handshake mechanism and message format?

Hardware usb<=>uart converters (ch340, cp2103, pl2303, ftdi) all need an USB driver for your OS. Sometimes there are open source versions for some OS, sometimes not. They sometimes need to be upgraded along with OS when they are themselves upgraded. Worst cases are about macOS. For all OSes there should be a signed binary version downloadable from manufacturer websites. Signed or not for the OS, if you don't compile the driver yourself, you can do little except from downloading the binary version from the manufacturer website.

[Dwirizkifahrezi]

I want to ask, my nodemcu esp8266 does not turn on and is not detected on the computer, even when it is plugged into the computer, the esp led indicator does not turn on, anyone knows the problem.

[LukhmanHakim]

i think it's broken

I want to ask, my nodemcu esp8266 does not turn on and is not detected on the computer, even when it is plugged into the computer, the esp led indicator does not turn on, anyone knows the problem.

[BurakDemirdelen]

I had same problem but I solved it. My board flashed only flashed once(it all about I think what my usb wire works) but, pc still doesnt recognize it. So i installed like 1 thousand times drivers from silabs. But pc still doesnt see it and board still flashing. So i try to change my usb wire to another one, and pc recognized it)) So if yr pc doesnt see com port try ty change the wire.

thank you for your help, it is working now.

[melihkaragoz]

Just to have my say, after two days of testing and swearing I discovered that three (3) usb cables I was trying were "power only" !!! I have successfully used the cable from my Asus tablet!

thank you so much 😍😍

[melihkaragoz]

Just to have my say, after two days of testing and swearing I discovered that three (3) usb cables I was trying were "power only" !!! I have successfully used the cable from my Asus tablet!

you saved my day

[Pradeepmanoharan19]

I tried to change my wire but it didn't work. So I solved installing this:

https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

if the com port not show how you choose the port and upload I too tried changing the wire but I doesn't work

[dhajnes]

Hi, if you are installing for Ubuntu 22.04, the thing is that mine (NodeMCU spinoff called HW-628 V1.1) has a chip for which a CH340 driver is needed. This driver is installed natively, although another tty is normally assigned to this output (so no /ttyUSB0 present), and it is the brltty that takes its place, which is a TTY terminal output/inpupt for people with vision impairment, it translates terminal output into Braille. Neat, but probably not useful if you are reading this, so you can simply:

sudo apt remove brltty and then reboot.

Your Ubuntu should be able to recognize NodeMCU from now on.

Source: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1403705/dev-ttyusb0-not-present-in-ubuntu-22-04

PS: Before you install anything, first check if your USB cable is data cable. It is almost impossible to tell it 100%, but the rule of thumb is that if the cable is really thick, it probably has also the data cable inside, not only + and - for charging.

[lk2626]

I have installed the drives changed the cable but no changes in the port display still the port is not visible in the device manager

[Bighoneypot]

I have installed the drives changed the cable but no changes in the port display still the port is not visible in the device manager

Dear @lk2626 , what is your SO? Your cable is a data cable? Type of your board?

[lk2626]

It is windows 11 64 bit mi usb cable

[Bighoneypot]

Try to install this in your win 11, after restart win system https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Universal_Windows_Driver.zip

[MortyFleem]

WHAT WORKED FOR ME (why can't developers/sellers provide a list of common headaches and how to fix???): - I downloaded the drivers from the Silicon Labs website. And the KEY for me was to install said drivers using the .exe file that came in the downloaded driver package .zip!!!

This was after trying a zillion different cables and all sorts of other timewastery.

[ahmedsalah32]

I had same problem but I solved it. My board flashed only flashed once(it all about I think what my usb wire works) but, pc still doesnt recognize it. So i installed like 1 thousand times drivers from silabs. But pc still doesnt see it and board still flashing. So i try to change my usb wire to another one, and pc recognized it)) So if yr pc doesnt see com port try ty change the wire.

Yes i face the same problem and the problem was in the usb wire

[gsimon75]

My symptoms: USB power is OK, led blinking, the ESP8266 is accessible via external serial Rx/Tx, but the on-board USB-serial adapter is not detected as a USB device, not even as an unknown one.

The problem: The 12 MHz oscillator of the USB-serial chip (CH340G) was not working. (Detect: Attach a scope to th 7th or 8th pin of CH340G, you should see a 12 MHz signal.) At least one soldering was faulty, probably because my board is a cheap replica...

The solution: Unsoldered the crystal resonator (12 MHz) and the 2 capacitors (20-30 pF), re-tinned the PCB pads (don't spare the flux), re-soldered the parts.

Result:

PS C:\Temp> usbipd list
Connected:
BUSID  VID:PID    DEVICE                                                        STATE
...
2-2    1a86:7523  USB2.0-Serial                                                 Not shared
...

(The moral of the story: No amount of software tinkering will solve a faulty solder joint :D )