Documentation Suggestion: ESP8266 GDB Debugging and Flash Button Useage

[gojimmypi]

Greetings,

When following the tutorial on this page:

https://visualgdb.com/tutorials/esp8266/gdbstub/

Specifically step 9:

“Once you boot the board into the bootloader mode, press OK. VisualGDB will start uploading the image”

I have found that in some cases, particularly om the ESDP8266 NodeMCU – that I need to *hold down* the flash button until VisualGDB starts to program. Then it can be released. If I release the button before transfer begins, I will get a “Unexpected reply from ESP8266” dialog box.

This seems to only be a problem *after* getting into flash mode the first time, *and then* powering down / resetting the board:  I can repeatedly flash after the first successful flash-mode programming, but after power cycle – I need to hold down the flash button until programming starts.

Do you think it might be helpful to add this clarification?

Cheers

 

[support]

Hi,

Normally VisualGDB tries to replicate the RTS/DTR sequence used by the esptool.py in order to reset the board into the bootloader, so it may be a bug related to that mechanism.

We will double-check this on hardware when the NodeMCU we ordered arrives.

[Author]

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