Troubleshoot the Development Kit

As you work with the ACK development kit, you might encounter unexpected issues. Choose your issue from the following list to help you solve the problem. If you can't resolve the problem by using the information here, get help on the forums as described in Get Support for the Alexa Connect Kit.

Arduino IDE issues

An Arduino example fails to build

Verify that you've installed all required libraries and that the libraries are up to date. Also, verify the configuration of the Arduino IDE.

To verify that you installed the libraries and that the libraries are up to date

  1. In the Arduino IDE, from the Sketch menu, click Include Library.
  2. Click Manage Libraries.
  3. In the Type box, choose Installed.
  4. In the list, verify that DeviceKit appears. DeviceKit is the Alexa Connect Kit library that you install when you run arduino.bat or arduino.sh.
  5. In the Type list, choose Updatable.
  6. If a library appears in the list, next to the library, click Update to update to the latest version.

To verify the configuration of the Arduino IDE

Verify that:

  • Board is set to Arduino/Genuino Zero (Programming Port)
  • Programmer is set to AVRISP mkII.
  • Port is set to the port where you connected your Arduino Zero. For Mac OS and Linux, the port is "/dev/cu.usb..." or "/dev/ttyUSBn". For Windows, the port is "COMn".
  • USB is connected to the programming port on the Arduino Zero. If you see the error "No valid JTAG Interface configured", the USB cable might be plugged into the native port instead of the programming port. For more information, see Arduino Zero.

An Arduino IDE error occurs that shows invalid library found

An error might occur if you unzip CeilingFanWithLight.zip to the Arduino libraries folder.

Instead, unzip CeilingFanWithLight.zip to a folder of your choosing. Then, run the setup.py script to export the example file to the Arduino IDE.

An error occurred while uploading a sketch, "No Valid JTAG Interface Configured"

When you try to upload a sketch, you receive the following error message:

Error: unable to find CMSIS-DAP device
Error: No Valid JTAG Interface Configured.
Error: No Valid JTAG Interface Configured.

This problem occurs if your computer can't communicate with your Arduino Zero board. Possible causes include the following:

  • You're using a power-only USB cable. To solve this problem, replace your power-only USB cable with a data transfer USB cable. For more details about solving this issue, see the following Arduino support article.
  • Your USB cable might be plugged into the Arduino Zero native port instead of the programming port. For more details about the different ports, see Step 2: Physically Connect the Boards.

To verify if your device is connected

  1. In the Arduino IDE, click Tools.
  2. Click Port.

  3. Look for a COM port that contains the text Arduino Zero (Programming Port).

    If you don't see this COM port, than your device isn't connected properly.

An error occurred while uploading a sketch, "Unexpected command line argument: {extra_params}"

When you try to upload a sketch, you receive the following error message:

Unexpected command line argument: {extra_params}

This problem can occur if you're using version 1.8.12 of the Arduino SAMD Board (32-bits ARM Cortex-M0+). For more details about solving this issue, see the Arduino forum.

An error occurred while uploading a sketch (Linux only)

If you're a Linux user, the following error might occur when you attempt to upload the sketch to the Arduino Zero, even if you successfully compiled the code:

Arduino: 1.8.5 (Linux), Board: ""Arduino/Genuino Zero (Programming Port)""

Sketch uses 50564 bytes (19%) of program storage space. Maximum is 262144 bytes.
Open On-Chip Debugger 0.10.0+dev-gf0767a31 (2018-06-11-13:40)
Licensed under GNU GPL v2
For bug reports, read
    http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/bugs.html
debug_level: 0
none separate
adapter speed: 400 kHz
An error occurred while uploading the sketch
cortex_m reset_config sysresetreq
Error: unable to open CMSIS-DAP device 0x3eb:0x2157
Error: No Valid JTAG Interface Configured.

To fix the issue, run the arduino-linux-setup.sh bash script that comes in the Linux Arduino IDE install package. Then log out of your computer, and log back in.

I can't find the Arduino examples

Make sure that you run the setup.py script, which copies the project files to a location accessible by the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE). If you run the script and can't find the examples, close and then reopen the Arduino IDE.

General development kit issues

I can't tell which registered device corresponds to my development kit

Verify that the registered device shown in the Alexa app has the same serial number as your hardware development board. To check the serial number for your registered device:

  1. Open the Alexa app.
  2. On the main menu, tap Settings.
  3. Tap Device Settings.
  4. Tap the name of your device.
  5. In the list of device settings, tap About.
  6. View the serial number of your device.

The development board is on and the status LED is off

When you connect the development board to the Arduino Zero, you must power the development board through the Arduino Zero. In other words, the combined development kit must be powered through the Arduino Zero. For debugging, you can optionally connect a USB cable to the debug port on the development board.

I see an error message when I run the setup.py script

If you encounter an error message like "Arduino documents directory 'C:\users\xxx\Arduino\documents' not found." when you run setup.py, you need to use the --targetroot argument to specify the Arduino Document library location.

This error usually occurs if you have a non-standard installation of the Arduino IDE, or other software on your computer that has altered environment variables on your computer. This makes setup.py unable to find the Arduino Documents directory.

--targetroot tells the setup.py script where the Arduino Documents library is. You need to specify the location of your Arduino Documents library as an argument to --targetroot.

setup.py --targetroot` <**your_path\Arduino\documents**>

To confirm the location of your Arduino Documents folder, open the Arduino IDE. Navigate to Settings > and view the Sketchbook location. The Sketchbook location is the same location as the Arduino Documents folder.

When I tell Alexa to turn on my device, the LED flashes or is off

Verify that the LED is connected correctly. For details, see Control the Smart Light and Development Kit Components.

Last updated: Mar 18, 2022