Troubleshooting Resets

It is a common problem when using the Thonny IDE that your microcontroller will not reset. This is often that the main.py program starts up when the power comes on but the device stops listening for interrupts. This can be VERY frustrating if you have just written lots of code using Thonny but have not got a chance to back up your code.

Note that by typing the following command, you will know that the USB port has been detectd:

ls -l /dev/cu.usbmodem101

If this does not work try this:

ls -l /dev/cu.usbmodem*

One workaround is to use the following command screen command:

screen /dev/cu.usbmodem101 115200

This will bring up the MicroREPL loop in your terminal. You can the use the CONTROL-C command to stop the loop.

Next, you can rename the main.py file:

import os
os.rename('main.py', 'main_backup.py')

Then close your Terminal, reset the microcontroller and restart Thonny.

The root cause of this problem is that the Raspberry Pi Pico is in a "tight loop" and not listening for interrupt signals.