HOWTO: Flashing ESP8266

[kiwifiat]

I have tested the bluepill with both sine and FOC firmware and there is no problem running either a serial console using Realterm or Dima's Windows based interface. I have a few Wemos D1 Mini's on the way and will report back once they arrive.

[james@N52E01]

Hi, I’ll try to keep this specific. I’m trying to use an FTDI breakout board to flash an Olimex MOD-WIFI-ESP8266 Board with the WiFi Interface using Arduino IDE v1.8.10. When I try to upload the sketch I keep getting the error “the selected serial port _ does not exist or is not connected”. Seems like an obvious error on my part, here are the steps I have been through to check.

1. Followed Dima’s instructions for connecting FTDI to Olimex. Verified pin outs match for both boards. FTDI Voltage jumper set to 3.3v. Verified Olimex jumpers are soldered correctly for flash mode.

2. Downloaded web server sketch and added sub files to data folder (following arber333’s instructions).

3. Added ESP8266 to boards manager. Added esp8266 Filesystem Uploader to Arduino tools directory. Restarted Arduino IDE. Selected Olimex board. Tried to upload sketch, keep receiving the error messages attached (not sure of Olimex SPIFFS Flash Size so tried all of them, no luck).

I have tried a different USB ports, usb cables and verified the FTDI board works. When I try to upload the sketch file, the FTDI is clearly attempting to make a connection as the green data led’s are flashing on both boards simultaneously.

[arber333]

1. Can you see the FTDI inside your "device manager"? Which COM port it is assigned to it?
2. Did you verify you connected TX RX lines correctly? You only need to connect 4 lines. Vcc (3V3), Gnd, Tx and Rx. Maybe a redundant line is keeping ESP in reset? Try to connect only required lines.

Maybe you can also change to AVR ISP loader?

[james@N52E01]

1. Can you see the FTDI inside your "device manager"? Which COM port it is assigned to it?
2. Did you verify you connected TX RX lines correctly? You only need to connect 4 lines. Vcc (3V3), Gnd, Tx and Rx. Maybe a redundant line is keeping ESP in reset? Try to connect only required lines.

Maybe you can also change to AVR ISP loader?

1. Yes. It appears in DM as USB Serial Port (COM3) see attached

2. Yes. The wiring appears to be correct according to the schematics and board labelling (Tx—>Rx and Rx—>Tx). This seems to be confirmed by the blinking LED’s when I go to upload. I tried reversing them and the Olimex Led does not blink. The same error occurs. There are only the 4 cables attached as you describe.

Thanks for looking into this btw.

[james@N52E01]

I’ll give the AVR ISP loader a go, they seem hard wired to all 10 pins. Would you use a ribbon extender and just chop all but the 4 needed?

[arber333]

I’ll give the AVR ISP loader a go, they seem hard wired to all 10 pins. Would you use a ribbon extender and just chop all but the 4 needed?

No, i ment nside Arduino code try changing from AVR ISP II to AVR ISP loader. Maybe there is something holding it back...

I always make my own cables from FTDI to other devices and keep them in my aid kit that goes with the car...

[james@N52E01]

Ah sorry yes that makes sense. Just tried changing to AVR ISP and no joy unfortunately.

[dima]

This has been repeated but for Olimex did you solder GPIO0 to 0 (zero) Not just left it open but actually made a solder bridge to 0?

Always select highest SPIFFS (1MB) and you can leave Erase Flash: Only Sketch

EDIT: Also I recommend updating "esp8266" boards library to version 2.6.3 (it has important fix for web update)

[james@N52E01]

Hi Dima thanks for picking this up. Yes I did solder the jumpers exactly as you described (with none left open).

I will recheck when I get home tomorrow that SPIFFS are set to 1MB and change back to Erase Flash.

I will also switch back to V2.6.3. I have tried with all versions from 2.5.1 up as this fixed some issues i have seen for others.

[SciroccoEV]

With the information posted here, I've got a D1 mini connected to a Blue Pill (more less just a BP on breadboard). I did have a problem connecting to the WiFi because it was initially secured. Selecting erase flash & wifi settings fixed that.

I can see messages (inverter start, stop, etc), but not full parameter listing. I might have left debugging enabled, so I'll try fixing that.

EDIT;

Web interface now fully working; Debugging turned off.

[james@N52E01]

Dima and Arber I tried as you both suggested but still no luck unfortunately. Just to confirm, I am not using the -DEV board, it is the MOD-WIFI-ESP8266 with the UEXT header like your picture on the original post.

MOD-WIFI-ESP8266.png (33.59 KiB) Viewed 12969 times

With these settings you posted above and an FTDI board connected as you originally posted, have you or Arber successfully managed to flash one of these boards with the latest Arduino IDE and esptool.py v2.6?

[dima]

With these settings you posted above and an FTDI board connected as you originally posted, have you or Arber successfully managed to flash one of these boards with the latest Arduino IDE and esptool.py v2.6?

Yes all the time. Only difference not using expensive FTDI (You will need USB to TTL not RS232 Serial) Prolific2303 or CH340 work. (-DEV) is in brackets IDE builds for both.

[jnsaff]

I'm having a similar problem as well. I got the ESP8266 from Johannes so it should be fine. Then programmed the bootloader and stm32_sine.hex red led is on and green is blinking on the blue pill.

No parameters are showing but when I try to Display Error Memory I get:

Code: Select all

Unknown command sequence
e��K�
Unknown command sequence

Custom command 'json' gets

Code: Select all

Unknown command sequence
j��)

So it seems that they are communicating as from the forum search this error is something that the stm32_sine sends back. But TX may be messed up somehow? I believe my Blue Pills may be quite dodgy .. so would want to put the black pill on there instead but the pin labels are not exactly the same. Any ideas? Much appreciated!

[jnsaff]

I flashed another esp8266 with Dima's interface and no luck on either Blue Pill nor fully tested GS450h-VCU. On both I get the error: ' SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected end of data at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data:'.

[dima]

I flashed another esp8266 with Dima's interface and no luck on either Blue Pill nor fully tested GS450h-VCU. On both I get the error: ' SyntaxError: JSON.parse: unexpected end of data at line 1 column 1 of the JSON data:'.

GS450h-VCU will not work with Johannes or my web-interface. You will need to flash this https://github.com/jamiejones85/ESP8266-WiFi-Interface. Blue-Pill was not tested by me.

No parameters are showing but when I try to Display Error Memory I get:

Code: Select all

Unknown command sequence
e��K�
Unknown command sequence

Custom command 'json' gets

Code: Select all

Unknown command sequence
j��)

This means wrong serial speed! 15200 is what you want.

[slow67]

FYI if the sketch and the SPIFFS will all fit on a 1MB chip (like Damien's interface for the GS450h) I was able to use the super cheap ESP-01. You don't have to solder pins, just connect 2 extra pins while flashing. It made it easy practice (especially when you are modding code like me) before having to move the solder around.

[pm_dawn]

FYI if the sketch and the SPIFFS will all fit on a 1MB chip (like Damien's interface for the GS450h) I was able to use the super cheap ESP-01. You don't have to solder pins, just connect 2 extra pins while flashing. It made it easy practice (especially when you are modding code like me) before having to move the solder around.

How did you get the sketch and the spiffs to fit on the esp-01.
What did you change to get it to work ?

I have a esp-01 here that I try to use.

Regards
/Per

[ZooKeeper]

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[pm_dawn]

I followed this post:
viewtopic.php?p=5048#p5048

But for step 6 I choose the "Generic ESP8266 module"

That worked for me.

I used FTDI Cable with RTS connected. That worked perfect.

But you need to keep the enable pin high all the time.
And when flashing pull the GPIO0 low

Regards
/Per

[ZooKeeper]

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[pm_dawn]

Hi ZK!

I'm using win10. It worked fine.

I created a FSBrower dierctory.

extracted Johannes FSBrowser project

In the FSBrowser dir I created a Data directory.

Moved all files except the FSBrowser.ino file into

Then opened the the .ino file.

First uploaded the sketch.

Waited for the a couple of seconds after reset of ESP

Then uploaded the Spiffs.

Then removed the flash pulldown.

That worked for me.

[ZooKeeper]

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[ZooKeeper]

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[dima]

It sounds like your "Data" folder is empty, Johannes web interface folder structure does not reflect what is needed for Arduino IDE - ESP8266 SPIFFS Uploader.

make C:/FSB <-copy only FSBrowser.ino
make C:/FSB/Data <- Copy all files except FSBrowser.ino

[ZooKeeper]

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