Solving "Could not find a PTY" on Intel Edison

If you are getting error “Sorry, could not find a PTY” when attempting to “screen” into Intel Edison, try the following:

• Use different Micro-USB cables before trying “screen” or PUTTY. Some cables simply don’t work, not sure why. I have had this happen to me a couple times.
• Make sure BOTH Micro-USB cables are connected before using screen or putty.
• Unplug and plug back in the serial cable (not the power cable) to get your computer to recognize the Edison
• Download and install Bloop and use “bloop clean” to prepare your Edison for connections
• Finally, try hitting “reset” or finally simply unplugging power and plugging it back in if nothing else works.

If none of that works, try accessing your Edison over the local network or by USB tether via SSH and seeing if you can get a terminal that way. When exiting from a screen session, always try to press Ctrl + d to detach cleanly.

I have created a free open source library called Bloop which can automatically clear dead screen sessions and help you initiate ssh, scp and screen interactions with your Edison. Bloop.