Rak4631 Not showing up in Devices/drives

Please include the following information, in order for us to help you as effectively as possible.

  • What product do you wish to discuss RAK4631 Meshtastic Starter Kit - New unit

  • What firmware are you using? RUI3?

  • What firmware version?

  • Computer OS? Both MacOS and Windows

Hi, many apologies upfront for my lack of knowledge but I’ll do my best. I’m here because I cannot find my issue anywhere else and got no feedback on Reddit regarding a solution.

New Meshtastic starter kit RAK4631 arrived and I have been unable to update to new firmware. I connect it to both Mac and PC (I’ve tried multiple computers and cables), the unit powers on and the computer detects the device. Issue is that it does not appear in the drivers tab. I double press the reset and still nothing. I am unable do drag updated firmware in as a result.

Red led is illuminated and green is flashing about once per second, this never changes even when I double press the reset button.

The device is visible when I open “Devices and Printers” It just won’t show up as a Drive for me to access its folders.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Good afternoon,

Did you already read the “Quick Start Guide” ? RAK4631 Quick Start Guide | RAKwireless Documentation Center

What is your IDE, I mean the software to create your firmware: Arduino or VSCode/PlatformIO?

Did you already try to connect a terminal, like a TTY in the serial port?

Claudio

Hi, thank you for the reply,

I have been through the quick start guide. Seeing as it’s the Meshtastic starter kit it appears to be fairly straightforward regarding set up. Unfortunately I’m not about to complete the initial set up due to it not appearing in the drivers when connecting to a PC.

I’m not currently creating any firmware. I’m simply just trying to get the initial Meshtastic firmware update installed from their site as part of the initial set up.

In this page you can select the drivers related with your kind of microcontroller: Getting Started | Meshtastic

Unfortunately though I am unable to do this because the Rak4631 is not appearing as a drive when I connect it to the computer. I perform step 3 but nothing happens. Someone said I may need to reinstall the bootloader but I’m unsure.

Sorry about that!

I work with a traditional RAK4631->Arduino BSP/RAK4631->R-RUI3, but I think that the Meshtastic has a different bootloader and firmware.

I am not familiar with the Meshtastic.

Just for curiosity, Why you choose this model instead the regular one?

Cláudio

Welcome to RAK forum @Pattognozzi ,

The LED indicators shows that you have a Meshtastic firmware, where you able to connect to your device via mobile app, webclient or CLI?

If not, can you share a screenshot of device manager for me to see the port being detected?

Don’t you see any unusually damage or burnt marks on the board? Also, if you are capable, will you be able to measure the current consumption and voltage levels of your board?

Hi thank you,
Yes so when it is powered up the device is visible in the Meshtastic app via Bluetooth but I’m unable to connect because the firmware needs to be updated first.

The device looks to be in good condition and I see no burnt out components.


Well Lora via Meshtastic is a new hobby I’ve gotten into. I’ve never interacted with arduino before and this set up from RAK comes pre-assembled and programmed to work with Meshtastic. It’s considered the best unit for this so it was an easy choice in my opinion.

1 Like

Hi @Pattognozzi ,

Based on the image, it seems it is detected.

Yes. But it will not show up as a driver on the PC, double pressing the reset button does nothing. Please see the photo in the first post. As a result I’m not able to update the Meshtastic firmware. And I’m also not able to connect to it via Bluetooth because the firmware the product is shipped with is so out of date.

Does anyone know of a way to fix this? Thats what I’ve been explaining with this post. The PC detects the device but there is no way to get it to appear as a driver. As a result there is no way for me to update the firmware.

Hi @Pattognozzi ,

Thank you for your patience. This confirms that you have Meshtastic FW working.

With regards to device not going to DFU. It can be that the reset button is not working. Will you be able to test it? Possible way is if you press and hold it, the LED should be out. If the reset is working, this is a strange issue which can probably get fixed if the bootloader is updated via external tool like Jlink or RAKDAP1 (since USB is not working).

Thank you very much for the advice, I appreciate it