Esp32 (ProS3) with Micropython

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I’ve received a couple of ProS3 devices. The run the LED lighting code fine but that is not what I bought them for.

I’m using Linux Mint 64 bit and Thonny 4.02. I’ve been able to install pros3-20220618-v1.19.1.bin but when I go to the main interface and click the “Stop” button (even after reconnecting the Esp32) I just get:

============
invalid header: 0xffffffff
invalid header: 0xffffffff
invalid header: 0xffffffff
invalid header: 0xffffffff

Connection lost – device reports readiness to read but returned no data (device disconnected or multiple access on port?)

Use Stop/Restart to reconnect.

Process ended with exit code 1.

I also dragged out a Linux notebook and after lots of updating couldn’t even setup the firmware.

Any advice?

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Hi John,

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

I’m not sure exactly what’s caused that issue but I’ve found a few similar reports that were caused by having the ESP32 variant set slightly wrong, which caused the chip to fail to flash correctly. If your standard blinky sketch works ok but the other binary doesn’t is it possible it was generated for a slightly different ESP32 version?

Other users have got similar error messages related to flash either being present or not targeted correctly for their specific board variant.

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Attached is a screenshot that shows how I chose the firmware. It clearly matches the ProS3 whereas none of the others do. I also tried other variants with no success.

It looks as though I’m wasting my time with these boards. I had no problems with a friend’s eBay ESP32 earlier this week.

Screenshot from 2023-03-17 18-50-35.png
Screenshot from 2023-03-17 18-50-35.png502×741 268 KB

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Hi John,

Would it be possible to paste the command you used to flash the micropython image?
Noting that with the S3 you have to start writing from 0x0 rather than 0x1000 on the ESP32 (not S3).

Does ESPtool show any errors during installation?

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Using 0x0 did the trick Liam. That is what the download page for the ProS3 specifies if you use esptool.py.

I was using Thonny to do the installation. It looks as though it uses 0x000 and there is no option to change that.

I used esptool.py to erase and then write the flash file using 0x0 rather than 0x000. I could then open Thonny and it immediately showed:

MicroPython v1.19.1 on 2022-06-18; ProS3 with ESP32-S3
Type “help()” for more information.

Thanks for the forum help and to your advice in particular Liam.

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Hi John,

I believe Thonny only starts at 0x1000 for the ‘standard’ ESP32, glad to hear you got it working tho! The ProS3’s are great boards😁

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In the future I’ll use esptool.py directly for flashing. Thonny uses esptools.py but clearly doesn’t pass the correct starting memory address for writing.

I bought 2 ProS3 boards and left the second alone. It is probably good to use as is but both boards booted up and run a RGB LED program and don’t have boot.py or main.py. I prefer to build on a solid platform.

I had no problems getting MQTT running so don’t expect problems when I get serious.

Thanks again Liam.

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