Badger 2040W Not Functioning Properly (Device Not Detected in Normal Mode)

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1

I recently received my Badger 2040W, but it has stopped functioning correctly. When I power it up via USB, the LED next to the heart icon lights up, and when I press the reset button, the LED goes off. However, the e-paper display does not refresh or show any changes after the device powers on.

I am still able to connect the device to my PC in BOOTSEL mode, where it appears as an RPI-RP2 drive. However, in normal mode, Windows detects the device as an “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)” and is unable to establish a proper connection.

I have attempted the following troubleshooting steps:

  • Used flash_nuke.uf2 to reset the device, followed by uploading fresh firmware.
  • Tried connecting to different USB ports and machines, but the issue persists.

Despite these attempts, the problem remains, and the device is still unresponsive in normal mode. Could you please help me diagnose the issue, or is this a potential hardware failure?

2

There are two things to try (but I assume you already tried the first one too and the cable seems to be good since you were able to flash a new firmware):

  • use a different cable
  • try a Linux system, e.g. a Raspberry Pi

If you have a Linux system, start a terminal-session and run sudo journalctl -f (you can leave that program with CTRL-C). Then plug in the device. You should see a number of USB-devices pop up.

I don’t know the exact error message on Linux, but an unknown USB device descriptor will trigger a similar message.

My guess is that it is a hardware problem, but you already did almost all troubleshooting steps. The only thing that is strange is that this problem does not prevent you from flashing a new firmware.