Problem getting v3 to communicate via serial monitor and run in real time

[steveisme]

I had some v1.0 RF Nano boards I bought on Amazon, but saw here on your Github page that the v3.0 boards are improved and the way to go. So, I bought three from your link to AliExpress; however, I can't get any to work. I've changed to NOT use the "old bootloader" and I even reinstalled the serial driver. The board seems to load successfully (I'm using Arduino IDE 1.8.19), but when I open the serial monitor just get random characters - similar to when the baud rate is not set right - but I verified I'm using 9600 baud in the sketch and on the serial terminal. I'm just loading a simple program that prints Hello to the serial port in a loop with a five second delay. I can tell my program is running because I do get some characters at the terminal, but they are not correct (backwards question marks and x's). But here's the other really odd thing, I set a delay of five seconds in the loop between prints, but the printouts are happening only every 20 seconds.

I've gone through all your documentation and even tried uploading your exact example code, but I still can't seem to get the serial output at the IDE terminal. I have also tried multiple serial cables. All three of the v3.0 boards I bought looked to be pre-loaded with a blink routine that flashed the yellow LED twice at about 1Hz. Note that my setup works just fine with the V1.0 RF Nano (using the "old bootloader") and other Nano boards that I have. I'm hoping I'm just missing something simple - please help! Thank you!

[steveisme]

Oh, and I should add I also tried loading the generic "blink" example straight out of the IDE. It works, but the LED blinks four times too slowly!