Please make BLANK image flashing unnecessary to enable flawless OTA

[chunter1]

I got several ESPs running ESPEasy around the house.
When updating OTA, i frequently end up with desoldering the module just to flash the blank image first to get it working again.
Please try to find a solution for that annoying problem.

[grovkillen]

Please add more info about the units. Memory size etc

[TD-er]

OTA flashing to nodes with 1M of flash is currently next to impossible.
The current image size is too large for OTA flashing, even in 2 steps.

[chunter1]

Please add more info about the units. Memory size etc

They are ESP12F modules (= Wemos D1 mini).
Since by now i always compiled the latest version locally, the problem might be somewhere here.
Reason for compiling locally is that some plugins needed are from the pluginplayground.
Next time I'll try with precompiled images OTA and observe irregularities.

[grovkillen]

What plugins are you compiling from the playground? Are they good enough for the main repository?

[chunter1]

What plugins are you compiling from the playground? Are they good enough for the main repository?

well, the ones i have written
don't really know if they are good enough...
_P104_SRF02.ino
_P184_GY_US42V2.ino
_P124_Ventus_W266_RFM69.ino
_P109_RESOL_DeltaSol_Pro.ino

P.S.:
Did some tests (updated 10 modules in the field) with the precompiled images from github. All tests were successful without a crash.
Now i need to find a way to get my plugins compiled to such a stable image aswell

[grovkillen]

The Ventus plugin is part of the main repository.

[chunter1]

There are two Ventus plugins.

_P046_VentusW266.ino
_P124_Ventus_W266_RFM69.ino

Mine is the one that uses an RFM69 receiver modul and thus directly receives the data from the outdoor unit.

[grovkillen]

I see, cool! You should wrap them up and get them ready for the main repository.

[TD-er]

And add a Github issue for it.

[Djoe]

OTA flashing to nodes with 1M of flash is currently next to impossible.
The current image size is too large for OTA flashing, even in 2 steps.

Hi, do you mean that if we compile our own firmware to reduce the size (I have one less than 500kb), we can't use the 2 steps ?
Because on my side the 1st step is OK, but the 2d doesn't work (with my 500kb firmware)..
After the last reboot, it's frozen...

[TD-er]

If you look at the sysinfo page of the web interface, you see something like this at the bottom:
(Example of 4MB version)

Code: Select all

Sketch Size:	748 kB (2320 kB free)
SPIFFS Size:	934 kB (859 kB free)

On the flash, you have the "Sketch Size", which has room for the current active sketch and the OTA upload of a new firmware.
If the OTA uploaded file is bigger than the free sketch space, things will overwrite the settings partition (SPIFFS)
So the small "2-step OTA" firmware is about 300 kB, which leaves about 575 kB for the normal image on a 1 MB flash.
If you're uploading a 500 kB image directly on top of a 500 kB running image, it will overwrite your SPIFFS and thus cause a crash.

[Djoe]

So the small "2-step OTA" firmware is about 300 kB, which leaves about 575 kB for the normal image on a 1 MB flash.

My "little" firmware is less than 500kB :

Code: Select all

-rw-r--r--  1 root root     482512 sept. 12 21:53 sonoff.bin

When I upload it through the sonoff basic's serial connection (1mb), after the reboot, I can see through the web interface :

Code: Select all

Sketch Size     557 kB (316 kB free)

Then I'm upload the "2-step OTA" firmware through OTA.
After the reboot, I can access to the device through wifi (but I can't check the free sketch partition, I guess it's normal).

Then I upload the same "little" firmware.
The sonoff say OK and reboot, but it never go up again.

Are you sure about the free sketch size with the "2-step OTA" firmware on a 1mb esp ?

Thank you in advance!

[TD-er]

Last nightly build should include the 2step uploader image of 276848 bytes.
Also 2 minimal OTA images of about 601000 bytes.
These only have a minimal set of plugins and I will try to reduce it even more and maybe add some more later.
For example to support all hardware included in Sonoff's (THxx)

[Djoe]

I tried today the "new" 2-step-OTA on 1mb flash size (sonoff basic).
It's not working, here below all serial logs,

1/ I download the 2-step firmware (through OTA) without any problem

Code: Select all

Update: ESPEasy_2step_UploaderMega_1024.bin
                                           sleep disable
                                                        ........................................................................................................................................Update Success: 276848
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Rebooting...

 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)

load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16
tail 8
chksum 0x2d
csum 0x2d
v614f7c32
@cp:0
     ld

2/ Then I download my own firmware which is below the 604kb limit, but after the reboot the sonoff never start again

Code: Select all

Update: firmware.bin
                            sleep disable
                                         ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Update Success: 601024
                                                                                                                       Rebooting...

 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)

load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16
tail 8
chksum 0xef
csum 0xef
csum err
ets_main.c
 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:4, boot mode:(3,6)

wdt reset
load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16
tail 8
chksum 0xef
csum 0xef
csum err
ets_main.c

3/ I flashing again through the serial connection the 2-step firmware, and I download (through OTA) the official ESP_Easy_mega-20181120_minimal_ESP8266_1024_OTA.bin with the same result:

Code: Select all

Update: ESP_Easy_mega-20181120_minimal_ESP8266_1024_OTA.bin
                                                                   sleep disable
                                                                                .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Update Success: 603584
                                                                                                                                                               Rebooting...

 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,6)

load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16 
tail 8
chksum 0xef
csum 0xef
csum err
ets_main.c 
 ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:4, boot mode:(3,6)

wdt reset
load 0x4010f000, len 1384, room 16 
tail 8
chksum 0xef
csum 0xef
csum err
ets_main.c

Is someone have already success to upgrade through OTA a 1mb flash??