Raspberry Pi Pico not detected as USB drive in BOOTSEL mode

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Hi everyone,

I’m having an issue with a Raspberry Pi Pico and would appreciate some advice.

When I hold the BOOTSEL button and connect the Pico to my PC via USB, it is not detected as an RPI-RP2 USB mass-storage drive.

In Thonny, the Pico can sometimes be detected as a serial device, but the connection frequently disconnects.

The issue started after running code containing an infinite loop. I then tried to erase the Flash and re-flash the board.

So far, I have tried:

  • Using universal_flash_nuke.uf2 to erase the Flash

  • Reconnecting the Pico in BOOTSEL mode

  • Copying a new UF2 firmware file to the board

  • Stopping the running program in Thonny

There were no obvious errors during flashing, but after clicking Stop in Thonny, an error appears, and the Pico still cannot reliably enter USB mass-storage mode.

Has anyone encountered a similar issue? What else can I try to recover the Pico or restore BOOTSEL mode?

Thanks in advance!

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Hi @sding

After doing some research on the Raspberry PI forums, here’s what I’d suggest:

  1. Try a different USB cable and port.
  2. Fully close Thonny, then unplug the Pico, hold BOOTSEL, and plug it back in.
  3. If you have a spare button and jumper wires, wiring a momentary switch between RUN and GND gives a more reliable way to force BOOTSEL mode (press BOOTSEL, press RUN, release RUN, release BOOTSEL).
  4. If that doesn’t work, try another computer if you have one available.

If it’s still not showing up after that, I’d recommend posting on the Raspberry Pi forums (forums.raspberrypi.com) the community there has a lot of hands-on experience with tricky BOOTSEL/USB cases like this.