Program not restarting after reboot

I recently received a hifive1 single board computer, was testing it out and found issues with its functionally. First, when I initially got it I plugged it into the USB port and two green lights came on. However, based on the documentation it should come with the a default app installed. I could not get the default app to work. The color changing leds did not come on and I tried connecting to the device using “sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB1 115200” as described and while it seemed to connect it did not respond with the banner, or respond to ‘y’ key.

Second, After compiling the Freedom E SDK software I was able to build and upload both demo_gpio and led_fade. In both cases the RGB led responded, but after pressing the reset button they did not restart. Per the instructions the pressing the reset button should cause the green led to flash, however when I do this on my device it does not flash, but both green leds remain on, and if I have one of the demo software install the rgb led turns off.

Based on this I think either the boot loader is defective or the flash memory is not working.

What do I need to do to get it to work properly?

There have been a number of similar reports. Apparently some boards were accidentally shipped without a bootloader in flash. An official response is being worked on, and should arrive soon. Meanwhile, you could try looking at some of the other reports. See for instance
New HiFive cannot connect to console over usb