NodeMcpu shows gibberish on last mp flash?

[modulusmath]

Good day All

I have a Wemos NODEMCU ESP8266 (ESP-12F w/0.96 OLED)

I can flash it with esp8266-20220617-v1.19.1.bin or esp8266-20220618-v1.19.1.bin just fine.

But after booting I see:

8266.jpg (16.02 KiB) Viewed 4312 times

It is not streaming text. Just seems to be 'static'.

Other posts suggest to use different flash modes. I think I have tried them all:

thonny/bin/python3.10 -u -m esptool --port /dev/ttyUSB0 write_flash --flash_mode dio --flash_size 4MB 0x1000
thonny/bin/python3.10 -u -m esptool --port /dev/ttyUSB0 write_flash --flash_mode qio --flash_size 4MB 0x1000
thonny/bin/python3.10 -u -m esptool --port /dev/ttyUSB0 write_flash --flash_mode dout --flash_size 4MB 0x1000

And a few more things:
* --no-stub and trace as per
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp ... oting.html
but did not really see too much there (at least obvious to *me*)
* --chip ESP8266
* --flash_freq 26m
* "74880 bps" in gtkterm as well as Thonny.
* I am using a USB cable (5V) which I have been flashing other things with. So it 'should' be ok there. Tried other good cables as well.


Here's the chip_id output:

./esptool.py chip_id

esptool.py v4.2-dev
Found 2 serial ports
Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0
Connecting....
Detecting chip type... Unsupported detection protocol, switching and trying again...
Connecting....
Detecting chip type... ESP8266
Chip is ESP8266EX
Features: WiFi
Crystal is 26MHz
MAC: XXXXXXXXXX
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Chip ID: 0x003535a8
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

Oddly, after fiddling w/the options, I have the same issue as viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9713&p=56260
LED flashing wildly and a stream of gibberish (Thonny locks up).

Any other suggestions?

[jimmo]

* "74880 bps" in gtkterm as well as Thonny.

Once MicroPython is running it should be 115200.

[modulusmath]

* "74880 bps" in gtkterm as well as Thonny.

Once MicroPython is running it should be 115200.

Thank you for your reply Jimmo.

I reflashed w/a data cable I thought I actually used to flash before (I suppose I should have used a leather bound journal entry with proper dated entries). I am second guessing because I can hardly believe that once I flashed again (used 'dio' mode and Thonny defaults w/latest micro python), both see a repl now. On the first 'retry', just a few hours later. Huh.

Frankly, I am not sure but they do work now!

[modulusmath]

* "74880 bps" in gtkterm as well as Thonny.

Once MicroPython is running it should be 115200.

Thank you for your reply Jimmo.

I reflashed w/a data cable I thought I actually used to flash before (I suppose I should have used a leather bound journal entry with proper dated entries). I am second guessing because I can hardly believe that once I flashed again (used 'dio' mode and Thonny defaults w/latest micro python), both see a repl now. On the first 'retry', just a few hours later. Huh.

Frankly, I am not sure but they do work now!

Coming back to this. I had a usb extender about 6 feet long. I had flashed esp'es (espi?) just fine. Using a voltage meter gets me ~4.6 V vs ~4.8 V straight from the PC's front usb port.

However the datasheet says "Pico uses an on-board buck-boost SMPS which is able to generate the required 3.3V (to power RP2040 and external circuitry) from a wide range of input voltages (~1.8 to 5.5V)." so that seems just fine.