Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

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dnwalker
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Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#1 Post by dnwalker » 06 May 2020, 17:46

Hi,

I have been trying to flash a Lolin32 V1.0.0 board for some time.
The version ESPEasy32_R20100.bin works without problems on the Lolin32. I copied the version to the Lolin with flashSerial.bat.
Now I tried to copy the version ESP_Easy_mega-20200426_custom_ESP32_4M316k.bin with the new ESP.Easy.Flasher onto the board. Unfortunately the flash tool doesn't work for me. The log file says the following.
#############################
[2020-05-06 17:25:13] The COM port was already in use ... the post-flash did not complete.
[2020-05-06 17:25:13] JOB COMPLETED, over and out!

Since I absolutely cannot get the tool to run, I wanted to copy the firmware to the board with the flash_download_tool_v3.8.5.
Can someone tell me how to set the tool? So far my attempts have been unsuccessful. I'm unfortunately a beginner in this area.

Greetings dnwalker

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#2 Post by grovkillen » 06 May 2020, 18:55

Esp Easy Flasher isn't working for ESP32. I will make a new flasher once I get the time. Sorry for the inconveniences.
ESP Easy Flasher [flash tool and wifi setup at flash time]
ESP Easy Webdumper [easy screendumping of your units]
ESP Easy Netscan [find units]
Official shop: https://firstbyte.shop/
Sponsor ESP Easy, we need you :idea: :idea: :idea:

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#3 Post by TD-er » 07 May 2020, 00:27

That's the 4th or 5th post I see today describing this ancient ESP32 build.
Is there a recent blog post writing about it?

See my post here for links to a recent build I made for flashing ESP32: https://www.letscontrolit.com/forum/vie ... 622#p44622

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#4 Post by martinus » 07 May 2020, 17:07

TD-er wrote: 07 May 2020, 00:27 That's the 4th or 5th post I see today describing this ancient ESP32 build.
Is there a recent blog post writing about it?
Well, it is listed on the official Wiki page on ESPEasy32:
https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/ESPEasy32
bottom of the page shows a link to the original download location.

The zip file also includes a working flash tool. Don't know why al these people have issues with ESP32. I never had any issue with any build on several ESP32 modules. I use the serial tool for the first load, then the ota tool for updates

Maybe it's time to update (at least some of the) wiki pages??
You may also consider to remove all links to R120, also from sourceforge and nominate a more recent mega build as
"stable"

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#5 Post by TD-er » 07 May 2020, 20:27

Well it was more striking to see in the last few days a number of references to exactly the same issue, using the same older ESP32 binary you once made.
Usually there is only one reference to that ESP32 build every month or less.

And indeed I am now quite convinced we regained stable builds again, so just a few more tests and then we declare it stable and update the links etc.

By the way, I don't think we have access to the Sourceforge pages.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#6 Post by martinus » 08 May 2020, 17:49

TD-er wrote: 07 May 2020, 20:27 And indeed I am now quite convinced we regained stable builds again, so just a few more tests and then we declare it stable and update the links etc.

By the way, I don't think we have access to the Sourceforge pages.
I'll email the account information to you, so you can add the 'long-awaited' new stable. 8-)
SourceForge
I'm currently using 20200410 as base for my own customized edition and it looks solid to me.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#7 Post by Grumpf » 24 Jan 2021, 16:40

Hi everyone, sorry for necroposting here but I need some guidance. I got this Lolin D32 Pro
2021-01-24 16_38_32-Photos.jpg
2021-01-24 16_38_32-Photos.jpg (96.02 KiB) Viewed 9637 times
and it works flashed with R120. If I try the ESP.Easy.Flasher either it give me error2 or say it's ok but nothing changed.

I tried using different .bin with the R120 esptool without success.

So this board has some issues if I understand well. Should I simply ditch it and abandon ?

Thanks a lot.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#8 Post by TD-er » 24 Jan 2021, 16:47

Hmm R120 was an ESP8266 build, so I doubt that was the build you flashed to it before.

Or maybe the first ESP32 build made by Martinus was also labelled R120?

Have you tried the flasher made by Espressif (which is also included in the ZIP now) to flash this board?
See also: https://espeasy.readthedocs.io/en/lates ... html#esp32

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#9 Post by Grumpf » 24 Jan 2021, 17:00

My bad. I confounded my folders, I meant R20100. Gonna look at your link, thanks.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#10 Post by TD-er » 24 Jan 2021, 17:08

Don't forget to flash the "factory" build when flashing via serial.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#11 Post by Grumpf » 24 Jan 2021, 17:40

That I didn't, but forgetting to tick the .bin I was your man !
Worked like a charm, this tool looked a bit intimidating at first but thanks to the doc it was easy. Now I can finally access latest version and look through system variables webpage. I missed the internal T° but found the touch ESP32 device that I will try to use soon. You also got my attention on the eink display, didn't see that on the DEV version of Espeasy 8266, is that specific to ESP32 ?

Anyway, thanks a lot for your help. I'm going to read a bit more of the docs and test other ESP32 boards. I ordered some S2 and after tests will probably try to some S3.

Thanks again for your help,
Cheers.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#12 Post by Ath » 24 Jan 2021, 19:51

Grumpf wrote: 24 Jan 2021, 17:40 You also got my attention on the eink display, didn't see that on the DEV version of Espeasy 8266, is that specific to ESP32 ?
All available display plugins are included in the 'display' .bin files, and energy measurement plugins in the 'energy' .bin files.
/Ton (PayPal.me)

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#13 Post by TD-er » 24 Jan 2021, 20:14

Grumpf wrote: 24 Jan 2021, 17:40 [...]
Anyway, thanks a lot for your help. I'm going to read a bit more of the docs and test other ESP32 boards. I ordered some S2 and after tests will probably try to some S3.
[...]
I have not tested the S2 version and it is very likely it will not yet work since that's quite a different CPU and I know some changes have to be made to the core libraries. (no idea what the status is)
I didn't know there was even an S3 available to buy.
No idea what the differences are with the original ESP32
Here the differences between ESP32 and ESP32-S2: https://maker.pro/esp8266/tutorial/a-co ... -the-esp32

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#14 Post by Grumpf » 24 Jan 2021, 20:39

@Ath, Thanks do you know the particular e-ink display this is targeting ?

@TD-er Thanks, Basically they increased security for IOT and optimized some instructions for AI-focused operations (whatever that means, your guess is as good as mine). Oh, and also very low power mode.

Dual core@240 MHz BLE 5, if I remember well, slightly less RAM or Flash, can't remember.

https://www.hackster.io/news/espressif- ... 2b902abdf5
I had the new S3 on my newsfeed and have no clue where it came from.

In other words, we need to prepare for it as the S2 is another beast but I think S3 is to replace insecure Esp8266. We don't want to miss the train, I had my lesson when I was sticking to PIC µController and everyone was moving to Arduino. :oops:

And there's also some C3 with Risc-V (maybe it's the same as they call AI-focused with Vector operations whatever), that's too much for a Sunday night :ugeek:

I'll post more as soon as I find back where I read all of that and figure it out.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#15 Post by TD-er » 24 Jan 2021, 20:45

Don't get me wrong, those chips (both of them) will get support in ESPEasy.
Only the current version of ESPEasy does not and since I don't have those ESPs (yet), it won't be supported when you receive yours.

As soon as the espressif32/Arduino library supports them, I can try to add support for them in ESPEasy.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#16 Post by Grumpf » 24 Jan 2021, 20:54

Oh, I knew, don't worry. No weight on your shoulders here, I'm just playing with new toys. If it works with Espeasy one day, great. If not, it's ok. I got several oddballs boards just because I'm a compulsive buyer and when they finally arrive 6 years later in the mail I usually had forgotten what I intended to do with them...

R&D is important and the Chinese market highly unstable. You probably remember the time when ESP8266 was the arduino side board for wi-fi until someone figured out it was far more powerful than the "main board" and support for the arduino IDE was added.

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#17 Post by Ath » 24 Jan 2021, 22:44

@Grumpf, The supported eInk is the 'Lolin ePaper' with an ILI3897 controller (SPI interface). These displays I've seen offered in several sizes and resolutions, as well as supporting b/w, b/w + grey-scale (2 levels only), b/w + yellow or red and b/w + 5 (or maybe 6) colors. Even though the ESPEasy plugin only supports black, white, light, dark and red, I guess it will also work with the yellow ones, but I don't own any eInk displays, so I don't really know.
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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#18 Post by TD-er » 24 Jan 2021, 22:52

E-ink is a very slow type of display.
Most of the B/W e-ink screens allow "local update" to only repaint some pixels on the screen.
This makes the update speed quite fast (< 0.3 sec)
The e-ink screens with an extra color only support updates on the full screen which does add significant to the update time.
Don't be surprised if your screen update is expressed in seconds for larger displays.

One reason to use e-ink is their property of being readable in full sunlight and not consuming power when the content isn't changing.
So that paves the road for battery powered units, but update times of seconds isn't really power friendly especially if you need to do it often.

Just keep that in mind when looking at e-ink displays with an extra color (apart from B/W)

N.B. if you look at the images on Wikipedia on e-ink, you'll see a familiar name :)

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Re: Flash Problem Lolin ESP32 Board

#19 Post by Grumpf » 25 Jan 2021, 08:37

Thanks both. I knew they were slow but didn't know that the red/green ones needed full screen refresh. That'll certainly guide my choice. I want to use them for a 4 (8) capacitor moisture monitor + T°/H° But I think I've polluted this thread enough with irrelevant topics. If you want to delete those posts to clean it up don't hesitate.

Cheers !

Here's what I got so far without the Display as I imagined using I²C so I have to modify for SPI.

probe
2021-01-25 08_33_57-Clipboard.png
2021-01-25 08_33_57-Clipboard.png (167.96 KiB) Viewed 9563 times

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