Oak no longer receiving uploads

[andytt11]

I was successful at uploading the blink demo but now it will not take any new code. There is the power light but nothing else. It also does not transmit ACORN-XXXXXX.

[aja175]

Not a good sign.  Do you have a 3.3v FTDI board? 
I just fixed the same problem on one of mine. It's an easy fix, just need the serial to usb converter.  They're under $10 on amazon if you don't have one.

This is how you do it --> https://github.com/digistump/OakRestore
This is the board I used if you need to get one -->
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B012YUANZK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

[digistump]

If anyone experiences this and has a serial adapter I would be most grateful for a memory dump of the Oak before you restore it - so we can try to see what is going wrong, or at the least taking a look at the serial output of the Oak

The command to dump the whole flash is:

esptool.py --baud 115200 --port COMX read_flash 0x000000 0x400000 flash_dump_full.bin

Where COMX is your COM PORT

You can email it to me at support@digistump.com

Thanks,
Erik

[andytt11]

No FTDI. I'll pick one up and try to recover it along with a dump. I am using a surface pro 2 tablet. I had trouble even seeing the oak broadcast when I fist set it up. Didn't know if that additional info helps.

[aja175]

I had better luck getting my board to see my wifi APs at home by shielding the board a bit.  Sitting on it worked nicely. 
I know this sounds crazy but it's almost like the wifi module ignores APs over a certain signal strength. 

[werner]

I think I may be able to help as I also have a seemingly bricked unit with similar behaviour, but cannot seem to connect to Oak at all.  This is what I get:

Code: [Select]

PS D:\work\arduino\Oak\OAkRestore> ./esptool.exe --baud 115200 --port COM5 read_flash 0x000000 0x400000 flash_dump_full.
bin
Connecting...

A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP8266

Question : Do I need to connect the Reset Pin of the Oak to GND?   (Your instructions says Pin2, and I assume this does not refer to IO pin 2, but Reset?)


The reason why I used the exe and not Python directly is because the Python method also gave me another prolem.  I think that if you want to use Python, then it is important that you install the correct version, but the instructions is not specific about this either.

I installed Python 3.5.1 and it does not like the print statement without parenthesis.   (I'm no Python expert, but I think only really old Python versions like Python 2 supports this style)

This is what I get when I use Python.

Code: [Select]

PS D:\work\arduino\Oak\OakRestore> python esptool.py --baud 115200 --port COM5 write_flash -fs 32m 0x1000 blank.bin 0x20
00 oaksetup_restore.bin 0x0081000 oakupdate_restore.bin 0x101000 blank.bin 0x102000 blank.bin 0x202000 blank.bin
  File "esptool.py", line 149
    print 'Connecting...'
                        ^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'
[code]

[digistump]

Pin 2 as labeled on the Oak PCB needs to be connected to GND to enter Serial bootloader mode, connect that and connect the Oak to the serial adapter (rx to tx, tx to rx), then power up the Oak

The absolute best thing you could give me from the bricked unit is the exact sketch that it bricked under, description of conditions and OS

Thanks!

[werner]

I'm still confused.   I can not see any pin labelled Pin 2 on my Oak board.   I think it has a different name as can be seen in the image below. 
 

[tcarleton]

werner, yes, the SCL pin next to RX.

(Verbose in case its helpful to others)
TX (Pin4) on the Oak should be connected to RX TTL cable/adapter
RX (Pin3) on the Oak should be connected to TX on your TTL cable/adapter
One of the GNDs on the Oak should be connected to GND on the TTL cable/adapter
Use a jumper wire to connect SCL (Pin2) on the Oak to GND (plug it into the other free GND)

Also be sure the logic levels for RX/TX on the TTL are 3.3V.  (My cheap MicroCenter Inland adapter has a toggle -- the + pin is fixed at 5V regardless but we're only connecting RX and TX and GND so its fine)

[werner]

Thanks.  I'm going to give this another go right away.  Will let you know how it went.

[werner]

Woohoo! 
Success, but unfortunately I forgot to do the dump first.   But now that I know I can restore it easy enough I won't be scared of bricking it again.  Next time I will remember to make the dump and tell you which example sketch caused it.

For info sake of others also doing this, this is what you should see during the restore :

[maximo80]

Hi,

I bought the same serial adapter in amazon but I cannot flash it this is what I can see, do you know what can i do?
I execute the instruction inside oakrestore-master folder. I connect RXD-TX / TXD-RX / GND TO GND AND SCL TO GND
I use mac-os with Windows 10 in virtual machine Connected to COM3.

This is de message:
A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP8266

Thanks for helping

[PeterF]

I  would try removing the wire connected to VCC, and powering the Oak via the USB cable, instead of the FTDI board, as it may not be providing enough power to the Oak. Your wiring seems ok. Only other thing I can think of (which you have probably already checked) is the COM port number - that when you look in device manager on the Windows VM that your FTDI board is listed as COM3 under the "Ports (COM & LPT)" category.

Good luck!

[maximo80]

Hi pfeerick,
I just checked it with external usb power but with the same result. The COM3 is correct because I've checked in devices manager in windows and if I try to change it I can see an error in command prompt and the FTDI led is not blinking.
I've tried with other Oak and it happens the same. I don't know what can i do wrong.
Thanks.

[Blitzfx]

Does it make any difference if you swap the TX and RX around?

I haven't used the VM in mac OS before but is the COM port bridged correctly? Because VM's are supposed to be a sandbox, there's supposed to be settings to allow the VM to see the outside world (your Mac OS)

Only asking this because I had the a problem with Serial com with Win XP (VM) trying to communicate to Win 7 (the main OS)