Pico not flashing from Mac (Sequoia)

Support Raspberry Pi
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I’m having trouble getting my Picos to work. If I plug one in to my Mac (which is running MacOS Sequoia) then a drive appears called RP2350. I can open files that are on the device but if I leave it plugged in for a while (maybe 3-5 minutes?) the finder freezes up.

I have tried flashing the latest boot loader (by holding the BOOTSEL button down when plugging it in) from here MicroPython - Python for microcontrollers but that didn’t fix it. The UF2 file did disappear from the device when I replugged it in which I understand is what’s expected but the finder continues to freeze up.

I have nuked the Pico from here (https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/soft/flash_nuke.uf2) but it still exhibits the same freezing behaviour after nuking.

I have tried loading from the command line but that fails with the error “Directory \Volumes\RP2350 does not exist”.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this? Is buying a cheap Windows laptop my best bet?
Thanks

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Hi @Richard296057,

Sorry to hear your setup is giving you some trouble.

After doing some light research, it seems like this is a common issue with a fair few USB devices and MacOS Sequoia. I couldn’t find a confirmed solution to this problem, but it seems like a few people have had luck by switching to a different USB port on your computer and updating the OS when possible.

I have personally had a great experience with the Thonny IDE when working with a Pico from a Windows computer. This software should also work on Mac, so I would encourage you to give it a try.

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Samuel I’ve tried both ports and the Mac is up to date. :frowning:
Richard

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Hey @Richard296057,

That’s no good. Maybe try giving Thonny a go and see if interacting with the Pico through a different program makes a difference?

I have only worked with Picos using Windows or Linux systems, so I’m not sure if there are any OS specific problems in that area.

Maybe someone else with some Mac experience can offer some suggestions!

5

have you asked it what volumes do exist eg done an ls?
sounds like it mounting.. (is it ?)
which is the usual problem with macs & mirocontrollers…
I’ve had a lot of issues over there years and os’s one of my other go tos was to use a cheap usb port extender..it can be frustrating !
is it more than one pi ?

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I have been summoned.

@Richard296057 let’s ensure that the mac is actually registers the Pico as a device.
(not a volume).
We can list the devices the os can see like this.
Apple Icon in Menu Bar → More Information → System Report → Hardware → USB.

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