The latest driver from FTDI bricks devices which are using fake FTDI chips. It does this by simply changing the device PID to 0000. This renders the device unusable on any computer. Drivers newer than 2.10.0 have the bricking functionality in them. If you see your device showing up as “FT232R USB UART” in the device manager, You’re device is affected by this driver.
How to unbrick your device:
Step 1:
Download MProg 3.5 from FTDI’s website.
Step 2:
Open MProg and click Tools>Read and Parse
This should bring up your device and you will notice that its Product ID is 0000.
Step 3:
Change the Product ID to 6001 and save EEPROM Program Template.
Step 4:
Click program
This should restore the device’s PID back to 6001.
The above steps will work for any device using FTDI chip including Arduino’s and USB to TTL Converter’s.
