Cannot get past "Unhandled error: Timed out waiting for Bootloader response"

Hi all,

I have these two cubecell v2 chips (htcc-am01-v2) I bought recently.

I was also sent some serial usb breakout boards for them from heltec when i forgot to order them for the cubecell. I received two different boards (one missing an LED and the antenna white dot orientation is flipped)

Anyway my arduino IDE is recognizing the board on COM3 when i plug it in, but when I try to upload a sketch I get the “Timed out waiting for Bootloader response” when the IDE tries to upload the sketch.

I tried pressing the USR button when plugging in the board, and letting go, then uploading the sketch. Same issue. I also tried pressing the USR button, then RST, then letting go of USR. like outlined in this documentation page.

Did i mess up somewhere? Both CubeCell boards I got have this issue. Did I miss a hardware configuration step with the breakout board and damaged the cubecell v2 module since the breakout serial board has two sides for two different chips.

I doubt I got two bad cubecell modules from the factory. My saving grace is that the cubecells at least still are recognized by the IDE when i plug them in, but I cannot get any board info from them or upload any sketches.

I bought these directly from Heltec, did they maybe come unflashed and I need to flash them with firmware?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Press and hold the USER key to power on.