Esp8266 flash error

The ESP8266 has a few common issues, specially when you are trying to flash a new firmware or uploading scripts.

This is a companion guide to the Home Automation using ESP8266 and Password Protected Web Server eBooks.

Here’s a compilation with some of the most common problems with the ESP8266 and how to fix them.

ESP8266 Troubleshooting – NodeMCU Flasher

Where do I download the NodeMCU flasher?

Go to the NodeMCU flasher GitHub repository and download the flasher for your Windows PC bit version by clicking the button that says “Raw”:

• NodeMCU flasher Windows 64 bits
• NodeMCU flasher Windows 32 bits

Which settings should I use with the NodeMCU flasher?

The NodeMCU flasher already comes with the right settings by default.

If you have changed some of the settings, I highly recommend that you re-download the NodeMCU flasher.

Here’s my current settings:

After I press the “Flash” button nothing happens, the NodeMCU flasher doesn’t start the flashing process 

If you pressed the “Flash” button and nothing happens… It means one of these two things:

• Problem 1 – Your ESP isn’t in flash mode (double-check if GPIO 0 is connected to GND on power up)
• Problem 2 – Your FTDI Programmer can’t supply enough current to your ESP

Problem 1 – How to make your ESP go into flash mode:

1. Close the NodeMCU flasher window
2. Remove power from your ESP8266
3. Having your ESP connected like this (double check that GPIO 0 is connected to GND)
4. Apply power to your ESP8266 and open the NodeMCU flasher
5. Press the “Flash” button

If it’s still saying “Waiting MAC”, then try the following:

1. Having the NodeMCU flasher still open
2. Connect a wire from your ESP8266 reset pin to GND
3. Remove that wire from GND and connect to VCC

Repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times until your ESP reboots and hopefully the NodeMCU flasher can detect your ESP and start the flashing process.

Problem 2 – If your FTDI can’t supply enough current, you might need to buy a new FTDI programmer or power your ESP8266 with an external power supply.

NodeMCU flasher gets stuck at a certain percentage

1. Remove power from your ESP+FTDI:
2. Close the NodeMCU flasher window
3. Plug your ESP+FTDI to your computer again
4. Open NodeMCU flasher and try the 19200 baud rate

If this process fails, please repeat the same procedure for the next baud rates (38400, 57600, 74880 and 115200).

I don’t know why, but at least 5 people faced the same problem and this trick solved it. So at a baud rate of 57600 or 115200 I think it will flash 100%. I don’t have any logical explanation, since this is not very common.

How does the NodeMCU flasher should look after a successful flash?

It should have a green arrow in the bottom left.

Unbricking the FTDI Programmer on Windows PC

If you have a brand new FTDI Programmer and you need to install your FTDI drivers on Windows, visit this website for the official drivers: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm.

In alternative, you can contact the seller that sold you the FTDI Programmer.

If you’re having trouble installing the FTDI drivers on Windows 7/8/8.1/10 it’s very likely that FTDI is bricked.

Follow this tutorial to fix that: http://youtu.be/SPdSKT6KdF8.

In the video I mentioned earlier, the guy tells you to download the drivers from the FTDI website, read carefully the YouTube description of his video to find all the links. Here’s the drivers you need: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM%20v2.12.00%20WHQL%20Certified.zip

ESP8266 Troubleshooting – ESPlorer IDE

ESPlorer IDE Error: only one tcp server allowed

This means that you tried to upload multiple scripts and you ESP is still running the old script with a web server. To fix it, you simply need to send these commands to delete all the files and restart your ESP:

1. file.format()
2. node.restart()

Upload the script again and name it ‘init.lua’ and you shouldn’t see that error again.

ESPlorer IDE Error: can’t autodetect firmware

and

ESPlorer IDE Error: Waiting answer from ESP – Timeout reached. Command aborted.Waiting answer from ESP – Timeout reached. Command aborted.

This sounds like your ESP it’s still in flash mode. How to make your ESP go into user mode:

1. Close the ESPlorer IDE connection
2. Remove power from your ESP8266
3. Having your ESP with GPIO 0 connected to VCC
4. Apply power to your ESP8266 and re-establish the connection with ESPlorer IDE

If it’s still saying “can’t autodetect firmware”, then try the following:

1. Having the ESPlorer IDE connection still printing “…..”
2. Connect a wire from your ESP8266 reset pin to GND
3. Remove that wire from GND and connect to VCC

Repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times until your ESP reboots and hopefully the ESPlorer IDE can detect your ESP.

My code disappears when I restart the ESP8266

If you upload a script to your ESP and when you restart it your ESP doesn’t do anything. It means that your ESP couldn’t find the script or it occurred a memory issue.

This can be solved like this:

1. You didn’t save your script with this exact name ‘init.lua’. Re-uploading the same script, but with the ‘init.lua’ name should solve your problem
2. It can be a memory issue. Re-flashing the ESP with NodeMCU flasher usually solves that problem

Finding the ESP8266 IP Address

Before you start make sure you check these two items:

1. Verify that the script uploaded to your ESP has the right network credentials
2. Make sure your ESP is near your router

Here’s what you can do to find the IP address:

Solution 1 – Sending a command with the ESPlorer IDE

1. Send the command “print(wifi.sta.getip())” with the ESPlorer IDE and it should print your IP Address

Solution 2 – Install an IP Scanner Software

1. An IP Scanner software searches for all the devices in your network
2. Download this free software:
   1. Windows PC: www.advanced-ip-scanner.com
   2. MAC OS X, Windows or Linux: http://angryip.org
3. Install one of these softwares (while having your ESP running with that web server script)
4. Open the IP Scanner software and click “Scan”
5. Let that process finish (it can take a couple of minutes)

In my case, it found my ESP. Now if I type 192.168.1.95 in my browser I can see the ESP web server.

ESP8266 Troubleshooting – Arduino IDE

I can’t upload scripts to my ESP8266 using the Arduino IDE

How to make your ESP go into upload mode when using the Arduino IDE:

1. Remove power from your ESP8266
2. Having your ESP connected like this (double check that GPIO 0 is connected to GND)
3. Apply power to your ESP8266 and open the Arduino IDE
4. Press the “Upload” button

Did you experience other problems?

Please leave a comment below, so I can update the troubleshooting guide with more problems and solutions.

Thanks for reading,

-Rui Santos

Are your ESP8266 flash attempts failing? Or perhaps not working at all anymore? Getting that annoying “Invalid head of packet” exception?

I have. Very frustrating…

And there aren’t many answers to be found on-line. What really got me steaming was the “Fatal error” messages at 115200 baud after I thought the flash completed properly. I have been there.

Over and over again…

Just when I was ready to give up…after many, many flash attempts, a flash will actually succeed. You think everything is good again, but the problem just keeps coming back…

What is wrong? Is this just a cheap Chinese trinket? An illusion of the Holy Grail? The ESP8266 specs look great. With such a cheap price tag that sucked you in? Or is there something your doing wrong?

Here is what I have found to be the problem…

And yes, there is a solution.

What many of us have experienced wit these ESP8266 modules, especially those that like to tinker and flash often, is the very low flash cycle count that the memory chips shipped with many of these modules will tolerate before failing. In my experience, flash failures start after only 20 flash cycles or so.

Then it only gets worse from that point on.

The good news is that the memory chips are not difficult to replace. And they are cheap when you order them with free shipping from the slow boat from China. You should be able to find them on AliExpress or your other favorite source. Here are some recent quotes for the different chips found on ESP8266 modules:

From looking at the firmware binary header, it looks like the flashes are made for a 512 KByte flash chip (byte 3 upper 4 bits are 0). This would suggest that CURRENTLY, all that is used with the ESP8266 is 512 KBytes.

That is what I am using to replace the flash chip when they start to fail intolerably. I have recently replaced a 4MByte flash chip with a 512 KByte component, it worked flawlessly. With the same amount of space free for the application. You can clearly see that the ESP8266 SDK indicates the maximum firmware size as 512 KBytes.

I have been using the ESP8266-12 modules. The only added step needed for flash chip replacement from an ESP8266-01 is that the golden metal case must be removed to gain access to the SPI memory chip. This is not impossible, you just have to take your time, be patient, and careful.

I use a razor blade to pop the cover off. You just have to score the crease where the metal case meets the PCB. Only do this on the edge that is away from the PCB antenna. This minimizes the risk of damaging something. Eventually, the blade will breach the case bonding. When it starts to give, the rest of the cover will soon separate from the module – cover removed!

Take it slow so you do not cut yourself, damage the module, or snap the blade. I use a blade with a safety cover. It only require 5-10 minutes to remove the cover in this manner. I have done it to two modules so far with no damage incurred. I have seen some folks use a heat gun to remove the cover. This is too risky in my opinion.

The SPI memory chip will be the obvious 8-pin device. Not to worry. While the ESP8266 would be very challenging to remove, not so with the memory chip. The pins are larger than the ESP8266, making them easier to remove. Just spot apply a hot soldering iron tip to each pin with a pointed object used to lift the pin while the heat is applied. One pin at a time. I found that a breadboard jumper to work for this purpose.

When you have the chip removed and are ready to install the new chip, remember to use the same orientation. A small dot on the chip identifies pin one. Just make a note before removing the old chip for reference. And, obviously, limit the amount of heat applied to each pin.

I am currently using my replacement SPI chips for development and have a decent supply on hand (only 32 cents per chip) to focus on project development, free from the agony of squandering time over recurring flash failures.

I’ll give an update when the replacement chips start to fail to flash. Hopefully, there will be an improvement from the original chips. More flash cycles before the first failure. We shall see. But I can live with it knowing a chip swap will chase this demon away, at least for a while.

Hope that you find this information useful…

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Hello,
When I’m trying to upload my sketch to arduino, everything works seems to go smoothly, however at the end of the uploading, there is usually an error.

Sketch uses 241,952 bytes (55%) of program storage space. Maximum is 434,160 bytes.
Global variables use 46,880 bytes (57%) of dynamic memory, leaving 35,040 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 81,920 bytes.
Uploading 246096 bytes from /tmp/build1487447564622711308.tmp/ESPdriver.cpp.bin to flash at 0x00000000
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................warning: espcomm_send_command: didn't receive command response
warning: espcomm_send_command(FLASH_DOWNLOAD_DATA) failed
warning: espcomm_send_command: didn't receive command response

After this happens, i cannot even attempt to upload sketches, because i immediately get the following error

warning: espcomm_sync failed
error: espcomm_open failed

Then i have to unplug USB-to-serial from my PC, plug it again and try uploading, which usually results in getting error during FLASH_DOWNLOAD_DATA again.

I should add that sometimes, in about 1 per 20 or so tries i can flash, also monitoring Serial, both sending and receiving data works fine. Every time this error happens, it appears at about the same moment (judging by the amount of dots).

I have tried both Arduino IDE with installed ESP8266 from the Board Manager and compiled one from the git by myself, same error.

I am using ESP8266-01 and MicroFTX to communicate with PC (http://jim.sh/ftx/). ESP8266 is powered by YwRobot. My OS is Ubuntu 14.04.

Because my MicroFTX doesn’t support DTR I’m manually resetting and setting GPIO0 low.

Any suggestions on how could I fix this problem?

Thanks

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Using esptool.py, it seems that uploading always stops at 87%. Am I correct that this means the ESP is broken?
EDIT2: However, i managed to flash it using the .bin from arduino esp (not from esptool.py elf2image) and using esptool.py write_flash 0x00000 <the .bin file here>. I am not sure if this is one of the randomly working flashes, but it worked 2 times in a row.
EDIT3: It didnt start working sadly, but I have noticed that the moment of error is persistent among the same binary. So while it was always at 87% before, later it happened at address 0x0003b000 which was 90% and then at 0x00007400 at 90% (it was while writing first file of two into flash). The error from esptool.py is always:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "esptool.py", line 547, in <module>
    esp.flash_block(block, seq)
  File "esptool.py", line 204, in flash_block
    struct.pack('<IIII', len(data), seq, 0, 0)+data, ESPROM.checksum(data))[1] != "":
  File "esptool.py", line 107, in command
    raise Exception('Invalid head of packet')
Exception: Invalid head of packet

I have also noticed that almost all sources on the internet use two binary files: 0x00000 and 0x40000 and the file I get from Arduino IDE is 1 binary file .bin, while esptool.py elf2image on the elf generated by IDE generates one file at 0x00000 and one file at 0x01010. Could this be related to the issue?

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