ESP-Prog Serial monitor not working on macOS 11 Big Sur

Development Platforms
1

Hi all, here we go with another post on ftdi drivers on Mac OS.
i’ve setup my board → DevKit Board to be working with the ESP-Prog only to have a debugger over the JTAG port and to use the second serial port to display the terminal monitor.

After a lot of work I was able to make the debugger / upload work over the JTAG.
I’ve connected the TX and RX pin to the serial and sometimes I receive something (nulls or nothing or gibberish )

The correctness of the wiring is confirmed by the fact the monitor is perfectly working on a Windows machine.

  • changing USB port makes no difference.
  • the board is powered by the esp prog ( powering by the usb makes no difference)
  • followed all the guide on the FTDI drivers / rebooting / removed kext used the D2xxHelper_v2.0.0 and the FTDIDextinstaller.

Final thought , I think the ftdi port is working correctly (ESP32-prog tx and rx blinks correctly) , but some how the data decoding looks incorrect.
Anyone got an idea where I can look at next?

Thanks.

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2

Did you connect RX->TX and TX->RX in regards to UART?
What baud rate does the firwmare use?
Does PlatformIO’s built-in serial monitor not work in the same way?
Is Redirecting... set accordingly?

3

Hi thanks for the reply,

  • I did connect RX > RX and TX > TX because of this. https://community.platformio.org/t/problem-with-esp-prog-with-espressif-esp32-devkit-must-be-missing-something/13023/7 (and I confirm it that is working because on windows I receive readable data and leds blinks).

  • boud rate are set the same 115200 (ini and source code) lowering to 9600 makes no difference

  • setting the monitor to the one on board, works but this is forcing me to use 2 cables ( one to the esp-prog for the debug) and one to the Dev kit for the monitor. also im planning to create a new board with only the JTAG and serial connection.

This is my ini

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4

But doesn’t that show then that the on-board UART where the data is coming out is not properly connected to the esp-prog UART?

5

I mean I can output the serial if I connect a second cable to the board (non the esp-prog).

definetly is connected correctly, because I can read the serial through the ESP-prog on windows, the issue is only on Mac OS.

6

Okay, but if that is the case, then the issue is Mac specific. Are there any other serial devices available maybe (ls /dev/*serial*)? Or other FTDI drivers are needed?

7

Things to check:

  • Is /dev/cu.usbserial-14501 the correct device? If I’m not mistaken, two serial devices are created by ESP-Prog.
  • Uninstall any FTDI software. No additional software beyond what’s already part of macOS is needed.
  • Have you connected the RX and TX lines to UART2? UART0 is probably connected to the USB-to-Serial chip. So there would be conflict because two sides are driving the same signal.
8

yes is the correct device I usually got 2 ports that ends with 00 or 01 .
I’ve removed all the ftdi software and now I got 4 ports

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but they looks a copy (if I select n5 is behaving the same way flashing the green led).

I’ve connected the UART0 I don’t see the reason to connect to another one as is working on windows.

I think I have to reinstall a fresh version of my Mac OS.

9

If you connect it to UART0, two chips drive the ESP32’s RX0 pin. Small differences in the supply voltage could make the difference who wins.

I propose you isolate the problem by testing the ESP-Prog separately:

  • Disconnect the ESP32 development board from the ESP-Prog
  • Connect the ESP-Prog to your computer
  • Connect the RX0 and TX0 pins on the ESP-Prog with a wire (loopback wire)
  • Run screen /dev/cu.usbserial-14101 9600
  • Type some characters. They should appear on the screen.
  • Type CTRL-A, k to exit

If the characters appear, the driver and the ESP-Prog are working correctly and the problem is in the wiring to the ESP32 board. Otherwise, it’s a problem either with the drivers or the ESP-Prog.

If I remember correctly, you should not connect the loopback wire before connecting the ESP-Prog to your computer. The FTDI chip will go crazy.

The four devices (/dev/cu.usb...) don’t look right. Most likely, you still have two drivers creating devices for the same thing.

10

with the loop back works… stupid me I haven’t thought about it.

ill try next to desolder TX RX and re solder it.
if is not working I will connect to the TX2 RX2

11

ok I got finally working.
dunno what was, but those are the steps:

  • I’ve reflow the TX RX with a different solder.
  • Using the /dev/cu.usbserial-6 as a monitor.

Still got the serial doubled, I must still have the FTDI driver installed. but thanks all for the support.