VS Arduino - No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar

Sep 26^th, 2026 at 2:09am (UTC)

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VS Arduino › › › No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar

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No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar (Read 5814 times)

Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Feb 28^th, 2020 at 5:25am	Print Post
	I'm wanting to print from sketch running on ATtiny device on STK600 / AS7 with Arduino environment, but there's nothing listed in the serial port drop-down box next to the monitor button to select. I don't see how to create or associate a COM port to use as a Console. I haven't been successful using the AS7 Terminal feature either. Can you point me to instructions on setting this up? OR, is this not possible with an ATtiny device?

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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #1 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 1:52pm	Print Post
	Does the arduino ide show a serial port?


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #2 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 8:58pm	Print Post
	If I run the Arduino IDE connected to a typically supported board (e.g., the BBLeo I'm using now), yes. It shows COM5, set to the speed in my Serial.begin statement. My workaround is to download the sketch to the BBLeo and print from there. That works.
	« Last Edit: Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:00pm by Jim Moomaw »

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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #3 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:16pm	Print Post
	If you run Visual Micro connected to a typically supported board (e.g., the BBLeo), does Visual Micro show the serial port as COM5 in the list?


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #4 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:27pm	Print Post
	Yep, came right up. Hadn't thought of trying that. The serial window has a green Connect, and says 115200, which doesn't match the begin statement. Seems I can change it to any speed and it keeps working. Off topic: What vMicro/Uploader/Hardware Programmer setting would I use to upload from vMicro to the BBLeo?
	« Last Edit: Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:31pm by Jim Moomaw »

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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #5 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:32pm	Print Post
	Some boards use a more advanced usb connection in background and ignore the speed. nb: In software debug mode, the speed will be fixed. You can override the fixed speed on the vMicro>Debugger menu. Switching the tool bar between Debug and Release should auto switch between debug and no debug. As for programmer you can choose one for your board if you have a programmer or if your board works like a programmer. Most boards do not use a programmer which means it is just standard usb upload. The arduino ide shows a programmer is selected but normally to use it you have to click "Upload using programmer". A few boards do not have serial, they are usually configured to use a programmer by default. Which means you don't need to select one from the programmers list. Your ATTiny might be one of this type.


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #6 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:41pm	Print Post
	The ATtiny is hosted by the STK600, running under AS7/vMicro. We know there's an active COM5 port for Arduino, but back to the starting question... when I disconnect the BBLeo and reconnect the STK600 the COM box is empty. Are we making progress?
	« Last Edit: Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:45pm by Jim Moomaw »

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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #7 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:43pm	Print Post
	Oh yes, so you have to select a programmer for the ATTiny because it does not have a bootloader and does not have a hardware seral connection? Therefore it does not have a COM port. If I recall the ATIny has few pins and tiny memory. I think a bootloader is over 2k
	« Last Edit: Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:43pm by Tim@Visual Micro »

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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #8 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 9:51pm	Print Post
	we've been using "AS Device Programming" for Hardware Programmer, which works for uploading & verifying. The x61 series has serial I/O pins, so it would seem feasible to do serial I/O. The 861 has 8K of memory, but I'm not using a bootloader. Not sure how all this applies... just raw info.


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #9 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 10:07pm	Print Post
	I tried typing COM5 into the serial port box and connecting but console window just says "port failed to open". There are no COM ports in the dropdown... no change since first post.


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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #10 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 10:28pm	Print Post
	I might be missing something but maybe I haven't been clear. The ATTiny does not have a serial port therefore it will not show up as a COM port on the windows pc. Does this make sense?


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #11 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 10:32pm	Print Post
	That's the answer I was looking for. (Not the ideal answer, but it's the hard truth.) It means I need to use my workaround of stuffing the test code into a board that does print. It works. Thanks! We're done.


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Tim@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 12236 Location: United Kingdom Joined: Apr 10^th, 2010	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #12 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 10:46pm	Print Post
	Yes runt the same code on another board will work If you have enough memory you could use the software serial library and one pin for trace (myserial.println()). For that you need something like an FTDI adapter wihich will connect to a pin on your board > pc usb. That will then show as a serial port.


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Jim Moomaw Junior Member Offline Posts: 18 Joined: Feb 24^th, 2020	Re: No COM ports listed on vMicro toolbar Reply #13 - Feb 28^th, 2020 at 11:08pm	Print Post
	Yeah, I figured something like that might work, but it's just another rabbit hole to go down... more parts, more code, more time futzing around, more questions. At some point I just need to get the real code working and move on. You've helped me arrive at a compromise I can live with and defend. Tx.


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