SPRacing F3 6dof..won't stay connected

I am new to this but have been in a technical field most of my life. I thought I’d get into this to relax.

I am testing the SPracing F3 (nothing connected but the USB) and at first I couldn’t get it out of Cli mode. I got past that and was ready to flash the firmware in Cleanflight and the serial connection disconnected. I unplugged, waited 30 seconds and powered up again; same thing. It connects but disconnects after about 1o seconds. The red indicator on the board is steadily flashing about once per second. And I don’t have any of the tabs in the Cleanflight configurator that suggest the board is working-Just firmware and home.

Brand new…maybe defective?

I’ll get some flics when I get home and post them.