ESP8266 Community Forum

- Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:01 am #25657 @jotapeh, Beware that some modules are shipped with a bad firmware, so maybe you can try to upload some other one.
(using esptool, you can first do a backup of the current firmware if you wish to be safe)

- Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:08 am #25662

@PaulRB, since you've already got your module working with ArduinoIDE upload, do you remember what was different when problem occured ? How did you connect GPIO15/GPIO2/GPIO0 ? Do you have pulldown on GPIO15 and pullups on GPIO2/GPIO0 ? What about special other pins, ie : CH_PD and RES, Do you have pullops there too ?

Hi @martinayotte, if you can spare a couple of minutes, full details of my current problems on this thread, including schematics & solutions tried. I really can't think what changed at the moment it stopped working. I have attempted to retrace my steps as best I could and have now stripped hardware and sketch down to bare minimum.

My thinking today is that it could be a problem with the IDE and/or the Arduino/ESP8266 package. I say this because at one stage I was able to repeatably upload and run a sketch on my desktop PC, but the sketch would upload but not run on my laptop (which has same O/S and IDE). Now desktop PC is affected too. I purchased a replacement ESP-01 and got the same problem on the very first upload. If there was a problem with the firmware on my original ESP, I would have though I would have had more luck with the replacement, unless perhaps the IDE is uploading corrupted firmware.

@PaulRB I switched to using CoolTerm, which is freeware and can use custom baud rates supplied by a baudrates.ini file.

Thanks @jotapeh, I will try CoolTerm. Can you share your custom baudrates.ini file please?

- Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:44 am #25675 @PaulRB, I re-read the other thread but, unfortunately, I don't have much clues.
If at a certain moment, you didn't have problems using PC and have problems with your laptop, your conclusion about IDE installation is maybe right. So, my suggestion is to start new installation from scratch.
But, before doing so, maybe you can still try something on ESP side : in case that Wifi settings stored in flash is corrupted, which can prevent auto-connect to work and produce a crash, try to erase them with esptool at 0x7C000 and 0x7E000, or even do a "full erase" of the flash using blank512k.bin.

- Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:21 am #25784 So I have managed to get it past the bootup. I switched away from the LM317, which I realized was choking somehow under the power requirements and dropping voltage to 3.0v when the ESP was connected.

Now it seems I am getting somewhere. Booting at 74880bps, I get the following:

Code: Select all ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(3,6)

load 0x40100000, len 816, room 16
tail 0
chksum 0x8d
load 0x3ffe8000, len 788, room 8
tail 12
chksum 0xcf
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load 0x3ffe8314, len 288, room 12
tail 4
chksum 0xcf
csum 0xcf

2nd boot version : 1.2
  SPI Speed      : 40MHz
  SPI Mode       : QIO
  SPI Flash Size : 4Mbit
jump to run user1

Very promising! Next, booting at 115,200bps, I can see the ready prompt:

Code: Select allAi-Thinker Technology Co. Ltd.

ready

However it is still deaf to TX from the terminal of any kind. So close, yet so far.

UPDATE: Got an "OK" from the system after reflowing the solder joints yet again. I suspected it may be a cold solder but since I had revisited it and checked continuity a few times I was doubtful. Turns out that was definitely the issue. Onwards!