Arduino and Windows Update

Oct 23, 2014 3 Replies
L

Hi,



I know there are several people here that work with Arduino microcontrollers. Just a heads up to a potential headache.



=== Windows Update drivers bricking USB serial chips beloved of hardware hackers The move to combat counterfeit chips leaves hobbyists stuck in the middle.



by Peter Bright - Oct 23, 2014 12:40 am UTC



Hardware hackers building interactive gadgets based on the Arduino microcontrollers are finding that a recent driver update that Microsoft deployed over Windows Update has bricked some of their hardware, leaving it inaccessible to most software both on Windows and Linux. This came to us via hardware hacking site Hack A Day... ===



See:



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S

Thanks for the heads up. We have a small new arduino group meeting at a makerspace in Menominee Wi and I will sure pass this on to them. A couple of us have just bought some UNO clones that use the CH340G USB converter chip. I wonder if that's one of the "knock offs" they are talking about or if that chip is just a new design. Both my friend and I had some small issues with getting the new UNO's talking, but no major problems. I use Windows and had only really minor issues, but my friend is a MAC guy and had more issues. The one thing I have noticed is that additional Arduino's (the ones with the CH340G chip) don't get assigned new, unique COM ports like the 16U2's, etc. did.

Pete Stanaitis

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R
[" Update: Microsoft has given us a statement:

Yesterday FTDI removed two driver versions from Windows Update. Our engineering team is engaging with FTDI to prevent these problems with their future driver updates via Windows Update. "]

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J

You can check the VID (Vendor ID) in Device Properties in the Device Manager. For an FTDI chip or copy it's 0403.

-jsw

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