General • Pico 2 W - Dead or not dead? Access to files?

Hi all,
I am new to Pico development and have been developing a project using a Pico 2 W and MicroPython. I have had it attached to a protoboard and a number of potentiometers and buttons and a 1602 display. It was all going very nicely. Until today when I can't seem to connect to it either via Thonny or as a mass storage device with the bootsel button.
On Windows I keep getting a "the last usb device malfunctioned" error.
So it seems pretty dead - EXCEPT: the main.py program still appears to be running as the buttons and pots have the same effect on the display as normal. So it's not totally dead.
The thing is - I have been remiss in backing up my python files (don't judge!) and have no way to access them on the Pico. If the problem is just a USB issue, is there a way I can access the files without connecting to the Pico via USB? I have read about debugprobe but I'm not sure if this will help. I am happy to get another Pico and piggyback them if there is a way of doing this.
Any ideas, or am I rewriting all my code from the last (old) backup I have?
Thanks,
Dave
NB: I have tried it on a different computer and with a different USB cable.

Statistics: Posted by davefountain — Mon Jul 14, 2025 5:43 am

---