Hi,

You should only see the com port switch when uploading to a Leonardo. This is how the Leonardo works, it presents itself as one com port for normal use but when it reboots for programming upload then it used a different com port. Vm shows this in the upload message so that we can see what is going on. The Arduino IDE does the same but it doesn't show you the port it used. 

If you open Device Manager you will see the com port switch as the Leonardo boots

So you have an Uno we can test with that first? 

Please restart vs and close any open solution. Then open a simple sketch, ensure that when the sketch is open the solution contains only the one sketch project. Using the tool bar, ensure the board is set to Uno, that the serial port is set to the Uno serial port and click upload.

Please post the entire output window contents into a post in this thread or email to info [at] visualmicro.com

Thanks

Hello,

I did as you suggested - brand new project, with a Uno.  This time the COM port stays COM16, but nothing happens.  Here's the output:

Compiling 'TestBlink' for 'Arduino Uno'
Build folder: file://C:\Users\Firebug24k\AppData\Local\VMicro\Arduino\Builds\TestBlink\uno
SketchLibFolders
cuments\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\lib\gcc\avr\4.3.2\include\;
Summary: Header=1 Prototypes=3 Imports=0
Additional Defines: VISUALMICRO_COMPILER_VER=1;
C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avr-g++ -c -g -Os -Wall -fno-exceptions -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -mmcu=atmega328p -DF_CPU=16000000L -MMD -DUSB_VID=null -DUSB_PID=null -DARDUINO=103 -DVISUALMICRO_COMPILER_VER=1 -I"C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\arduino\cores\arduino" d" .cpp" -o .cpp.o"
C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avr-gcc -Os -Wl,--gc-sections -mmcu=atmega328p -o .elf" .cpp.o" "C:\Users\Firebug24k\AppData\Local\VMicro\Arduino\Builds\TestBlink\uno\core.a" -L"C:\Users\Firebug24k\AppData\Local\VMicro\Arduino\Builds\TestBlink\uno" -lm
C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avr-objcopy -O ihex -j .eeprom --set-section-flags=.eeprom=alloc,load --no-change-warnings --change-section-lma .eeprom=0 .elf" .eep"
C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware\tools\avr\bin\avr-objcopy -O ihex -R .eeprom .elf" .hex"
Binary sketch size: 1084 bytes (of a 32256 byte maximum) (0.5928011 secs)
Uploading to I/O board using 'COM16'

I've got a Leonardo and a Uno R3, that output I just posted was from the Uno.

Here's what Arduino studio does (well, shortened, because no need to post the whole thing):

C:\Users\Firebug24k\Documents\arduino-1.0.3\hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude f -v -v -v -v -patmega328p -carduino -P\\.\COM16 -b115200 -D k.cpp.hex:i 

avrdude: Version 5.11, compiled on Sep  2 2011 at 19:38:36
         Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
         Copyright (c) 2007-2009 Joerg Wunsch

         System wide configuration file is "

         Using Port                    : \\.\COM16
         Using Programmer              : arduino
         Overriding Baud Rate          : 115200
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Send: 0 [30]   [20] 
avrdude: Recv: . [14] 
avrdude: Recv: . [10] 
         AVR Part                      : ATMEGA328P
         Chip Erase delay              : 9000 us
         PAGEL                         : PD7
         BS2                           : PC2
         RESET disposition             : dedicated
         RETRY pulse                   : SCK
         serial program mode           : yes
         parallel program mode         : yes
         Timeout                       : 200
         StabDelay                     : 100
         CmdexeDelay                   : 25
         SyncLoops                     : 32
         ByteDelay                     : 0
         PollIndex                     : 3
         PollValue                     : 0x53
         Memory Detail                 :

Okay so we see that the Uno is on COM16. 

I'm not sure why vm would fail when arduino is working, the Uno upload is well tried and tested system. 

1)

Which version of arduino are you using?
Which windows version?
Visual Studio version?
Please are check your vm version in tools>options>Visual Micro>version?

2)
Shut down VS, then open task manager and ensure that any remaining devenv.exe processes are terminated (if there are any). The re-start vs

3)
Write a simple sketch that sends a serial message and upload using arduino. then in VS open the serial monitor for the arduino port, and confirm you can see the data from the arduino. This will test the serial comms and usb system from a windows app.

Sorry I can't give you a simple solution, it seems very odd.

Okay well with an Uno R3 plugged in it shows in device manager at "Arduino Uno R3" and has an arduino.llc driver date of 2007. PJRC (teensy) stuff is usually good but it must be a usb issue. 

Vm does use the usb to reboot the arduino just before running avrdude. There is a short delay required between calling the reboot and running avrdude. Maybe this will be an area of me too look at if you don't find a solution but sounds like a different usb driver might alter this too.

Yes was thinking that would help. I'm a bit stuck for a version build for a little while so hopefully installing the driver from the arduino\drivers folder will sort this out. 

Out of interest, have you got the serial monitor in vm closed?

Thanks

Hmmm.  Still no luck.  VS 2010 Pro, Win 7, pretty new install, nothing weird there.  I'm thinking it's something with the USB, but at a loss as to what.

Uploaded a serial comm sketch and can successfully talk to the board with Visual Micro Serial Monitor app, so that works fine.

Swapped drivers to the official Arduino Uno R3 drivers in the Arduino folder (1.0.3), no difference.

Right now I'm using the 'external editor' feature in the IDE to write in VM and upload with Arduino, which works.  I'll hold off for a while and keep going that route until you get a chance to throw a bit more debug info into the next build and I'll continue the troubleshooting then.  Thanks for all your hard work on this, I really love using VS to write rather than the pretty terrible Arduino environment.

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