Unexpected reply from ESP8266

[Han Vertegaal]

I’m trying to run the HTTPDemo sample on an ESP8266. It is mounted on a Nodemcu DevKit (1.0) with the Nodemcu firmware loaded. Following the instructions, I press F5 an then press the reset button while holding the flash button. After I click Ok in the VisualGDB prompt window the error message ‘Unexpected reply from ESP8266’ appears.

Changing the baudrates for the GDB stub or the bootloader doesn’t help. The GDB raw log is appended to this message.

Can you give me a hint where I should go from here?

—————————–

VisualGDB is licensed to Han Vertegaal at Acoustics Engineering
C:\SysGCC\xtensa-lx106-elf\bin\xtensa-lx106-elf-gdb.exe –interpreter mi C:\Users\Han\Documents\Projects\ESP8266-test\ESP8266-test/Debug/ESP8266-test.elf
-list-features
=thread-group-added,id=”i1″
~”GNU gdb (GDB) 7.5.1\n”
~”Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n”
~”License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html&gt;\nThis is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.\nThere is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type \”show copying\”\nand \”show warranty\” for details.\n”
~”This GDB was configured as \”–host=i686-pc-mingw32 –target=xtensa-lx106-elf\”.\nFor bug reporting instructions, please see:\n”
~”<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/>&#8230;\n”
~”Reading symbols from C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\Debug\\ESP8266-test.elf…”
~”done.\n”
^done,features=[“frozen-varobjs”,”pending-breakpoints”,”thread-info”,”data-read-memory-bytes”,”breakpoint-notifications”,”ada-task-info”]
-gdb-set stop-on-solib-events 1
^done
-gdb-set disassembly-flavor intel
^error,msg=”No symbol \”disassembly\” in current context.”
-gdb-set print demangle off
^done
-gdb-version
~”GNU gdb (GDB) 7.5.1\n”
~”Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\n”
~”License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html&gt;\nThis is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.\nThere is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type \”show copying\”\nand \”show warranty\” for details.\n”
~”This GDB was configured as \”–host=i686-pc-mingw32 –target=xtensa-lx106-elf\”.\nFor bug reporting instructions, please see:\n”
~”<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/bugs/&gt;.\n”
^done
-break-insert -f main
&”Function \”main\” not defined.\n”
^done,bkpt={number=”1″,type=”breakpoint”,disp=”keep”,enabled=”y”,addr=”<PENDING>”,pending=”main”,times=”0″,original-location=”main”}
Warning: could not set a breakpoint on main. ‘Step into new instance’ will not work.
-break-delete 1
^done
info target
&”info target\n”
~”Symbols from \”C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\Debug\\ESP8266-test.elf\”.\n”
~”Local exec file:\n”
~”\t`C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\Debug\\ESP8266-test.elf’, file type elf32-xtensa-le.\n”
~”\tEntry point: 0x40100004\n”
~”\t0x3ffe8000 – 0x3ffe83aa is .data\n”
~”\t0x3ffe83b0 – 0x3ffe873c is .rodata\n”
~”\t0x3ffe8740 – 0x3fff0388 is .bss\n”
~”\t0x40100000 – 0x40106789 is .text\n”
~”\t0x40240000 – 0x4027b7e3 is .irom0.text\n”
^done
-break-insert -f C:/Users/Han/Documents/Projects/ESP8266-test/ESP8266-test/HTTPDemo.cpp:125
^done,bkpt={number=”2″,type=”breakpoint”,disp=”keep”,enabled=”y”,addr=”0x401002ad”,func=”user_init()”,file=”HTTPDemo.cpp”,fullname=”C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\HTTPDemo.cpp”,line=”125″,times=”0″,original-location=”C:/Users/Han/Documents/Projects/ESP8266-test/ESP8266-test/HTTPDemo.cpp:125″}
-break-info 2
^done,BreakpointTable={nr_rows=”1″,nr_cols=”6″,hdr=[{width=”7″,alignment=”-1″,col_name=”number”,colhdr=”Num”},{width=”14″,alignment=”-1″,col_name=”type”,colhdr=”Type”},{width=”4″,alignment=”-1″,col_name=”disp”,colhdr=”Disp”},{width=”3″,alignment=”-1″,col_name=”enabled”,colhdr=”Enb”},{width=”10″,alignment=”-1″,col_name=”addr”,colhdr=”Address”},{width=”40″,alignment=”2″,col_name=”what”,colhdr=”What”}],body=[bkpt={number=”2″,type=”breakpoint”,disp=”keep”,enabled=”y”,addr=”0x401002ad”,func=”user_init()”,file=”HTTPDemo.cpp”,fullname=”C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\HTTPDemo.cpp”,line=”125″,times=”0″,original-location=”C:/Users/Han/Documents/Projects/ESP8266-test/ESP8266-test/HTTPDemo.cpp:125″}]}
-break-after 2 0
^done
info symbol 0x401002ad
&”info symbol 0x401002ad\n”
~”user_init + 29 in section .text\n”
^done
info line *0x401002ad
&”info line *0x401002ad\n”
~”Line 125 of \”HTTPDemo.cpp\” starts at address 0x401002ad <user_init()+29> and ends at 0x401002bc <user_init()+44>.\n”
^done
-file-list-exec-source-files
^done,files=[{file=”HTTPDemo.cpp”,fullname=”C:\\Users\\Han\\Documents\\Projects\\ESP8266-test\\ESP8266-test\\HTTPDemo.cpp”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/extra_include/xtensa/config/core.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\extra_include\\xtensa\\config\\core.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/extra_include/xtensa/hal.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\extra_include\\xtensa\\hal.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/lwip/lwip/sockets.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\lwip\\lwip\\sockets.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/lwip/ipv4/lwip/inet.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\lwip\\ipv4\\lwip\\inet.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/espressif/esp_softap.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\espressif\\esp_softap.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/espressif/esp_wifi.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\espressif\\esp_wifi.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/espressif/esp_misc.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\espressif\\esp_misc.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/lwip/ipv4/lwip/ip4_addr.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\lwip\\ipv4\\lwip\\ip4_addr.h”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/include/espressif/c_types.h”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\include\\espressif\\c_types.h”},{file=”c:\\sysgcc\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\sys-include/stdint.h”,fullname=”c:\\sysgcc\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\sys-include\\stdint.h”},{file=”/home/wjg/Repo/esp-open-sdk/crosstool-NG/.build/src/gcc-4.8.2/libgcc/config/xtensa/ieee754-sf.S”},{file=”/home/wjg/Repo/esp-open-sdk/crosstool-NG/.build/src/gcc-4.8.2/libgcc/config/xtensa/ieee754-sf.S”},{file=”/home/wjg/Repo/esp-open-sdk/crosstool-NG/.build/src/gcc-4.8.2/libgcc/config/xtensa/ieee754-sf.S”},{file=”/home/wjg/Repo/esp-open-sdk/crosstool-NG/.build/src/gcc-4.8.2/libgcc/config/xtensa/lib1funcs.S”},{file=”/home/wjg/Repo/esp-open-sdk/crosstool-NG/.build/src/gcc-4.8.2/libgcc/config/xtensa/lib1funcs.S”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/GDBStub\\gdbstub-entry.S”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\GDBStub\\gdbstub-entry.S”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/sysprogs/stubs.c”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\sysprogs\\stubs.c”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/examples/driver_lib/driver/uart.c”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\examples\\driver_lib\\driver\\uart.c”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/examples/driver_lib/driver/hw_timer.c”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\examples\\driver_lib\\driver\\hw_timer.c”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/RTOS-SDK/examples/driver_lib/driver/gpio.c”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\RTOS-SDK\\examples\\driver_lib\\driver\\gpio.c”},{file=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp/GDBStub/gdbstub.c”,fullname=”C:\\SysGCC\\xtensa-lx106-elf\\esp8266-bsp\\GDBStub\\gdbstub.c”}]
set *((int *)0x60000900)=$com_sysprogs_esp8266_wdcfg
&”set *((int *)0x60000900)=$com_sysprogs_esp8266_wdcfg\n”
&”Invalid cast.\n”
^error,msg=”Invalid cast.”
-exec-continue
^error,msg=”The program is not being run.”
set $com_sysprogs_esp8266_wdcfg=*((int *)0x60000900)
&”set $com_sysprogs_esp8266_wdcfg=*((int *)0x60000900)\n”
&”Cannot access memory at address 0x60000900\n”
^error,msg=”Cannot access memory at address 0x60000900″
set *((int *)0x60000900)=0
&”set *((int *)0x60000900)=0\n”
&”Cannot access memory at address 0x60000900\n”
^error,msg=”Cannot access memory at address 0x60000900″
-stack-list-frames –thread 1
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-stack-list-frames –thread 1 0 0
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames 0 0
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-data-evaluate-expression –thread 1 “\$pc”
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-data-evaluate-expression “\$pc”
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-stack-list-frames –thread 1
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-stack-list-frames –thread 1 0 0
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames 0 0
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-data-evaluate-expression –thread 1 “\$pc”
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-data-evaluate-expression “\$pc”
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-stack-list-frames –thread 1
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-stack-list-frames –thread 1 0 0
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-stack-list-frames 0 0
^error,msg=”No registers.”
-data-evaluate-expression –thread 1 “\$pc”
^error,msg=”Invalid thread id: 1″
-data-evaluate-expression “\$pc”
^error,msg=”No registers.”

 

[freeck]

Hi, first time you downloaded new firmware? If so, did you ground GPIO15 as well?

• This reply was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by freeck.

[Han Vertegaal]

Hello,

Yes GPIO15 is wired to ground through a resistor. Also, I have been able to use the ESP8266Flasher (https://github.com/nodemcu/nodemcu-flasher) to flash the nodemcu firmware.

[freeck]

After pressing reset & flash what is the response of te target?
Should be: “ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(1,7)”

If not the target was probably in a different mode. I got the same response as you did when I was stuck in a previous debugsession.

[Han Vertegaal]

When listening at 74880 bps after flash & reset, I get the following:

“ets Jan   8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(1,6)”

[freeck]

Humm… “boot mode:(1,6)” should work as well, as the ‘1’ corresponds to flash download mode….
As flashing worked well with another flashtool, it seems not to be an hardware issue.. I my case powering down/up the device sometimes worked, but I assume you have already tried these obvious things :).

Perhaps Sysprogs has any thoughts?

[Han Vertegaal]

Update: I installed the Arduino IDE and tried a few samples. It flashes the device without any problems, and it even exercises the DTR and CTS lines of the CP2102 USB/UART bridge such that it is not necessary to hold the flash key to place the module in flash programming mode.

This leads me to conclude that there is nothing wrong with my hardware setup, but rather a problem with the debug settings in the project properties (I have tried most permutations), or that there exists some deeper incompatibility between VisualGDB and the nodemcu devkit 1.0.

[support]

Hi,

Please try running the bootloader test program from here.

Run BootloaderTest <COM port> 74880.

Does it report a successful sync? If not, what exact output does it show? Can you double-check that the state of GPIO0, GPIO2 and GPIO15 boots your board into the UART download mode as described here?

[Han Vertegaal]

This is the output from the test program:

C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\bin\Debug>BootloaderTest COM3 74880

Connecting…
Syncing…
<<<0008240000000000070712205555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
>>> 0d
Exception: System.Exception: Unexpected reply from ESP8266
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.RunCommand(Command op, Byte[] data, Int32 chk) in C:\Users\Han\Desktop
\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 66
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.Sync() in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266Bootloade
rClient.cs:line 162
Extra output from COM port:

ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(3,6)

load 0x40100000, len 28740, room 16
tail 4
chksum 0xcd
load 0x3ffe8000, len 2888, room 4
tail 4
chksum 0xbc
load 0x3ffe8b50, len 15252, room 4
tail 0
chksum 0x4f
csum 0x4f
? ?? ? ?? ? ???? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ? ? ? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ? ? ??? ? ? ????????? ? ???
? ? ?? ? ?????? ? ??? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ??? ?? ???? ? ———————–

The boot mode:(3,6) seems incorrect, but when I use use a terminal and start in download mode, I see:

ets Jan 8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(1,6)

ESP8266BootloaderClient::Sync manipulates the DTR and RTS lines, but not in a way that initiates flash programming. (see this schematic). However, I don’t know if that was the intent.

 

 

[support]

Hi,

The sequence we used in the bootloader test program and in the VisualGDB was taken from esptool.py:

            self._port.setDTR(False)
            self._port.setRTS(True)
            time.sleep(0.05)
            self._port.setDTR(True)
            self._port.setRTS(False)
            time.sleep(0.05)
            self._port.setDTR(False)

We assumed that it corresponds to the wiring diagram of most of the ESP8266 modules. Have you managed to get it to boot into the bootloader by modifying the sequence according to the schematics?

[3dot3]

I have same setup as Han Vertegaal has, and also same problem.
Bazis: can you please try use espressif official flash download tool logic sequence to do this?
http://bbs.espressif.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=433

[Han Vertegaal]

It seems the GPIO0 signal was held low for too short a time. The RC network (12k/100nF) on the reset input causes the reset to rise rather slowly. A delay of 50 ms gets the board in the correct mode reliably.

The output from the bootloader test program then becomes as follows:

Connecting…
Syncing…
<<<0008240000000000070712205555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Exception: System.Exception: Timeout reading reply
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.RunCommand(Command op, Byte[] data, Int32 chk) in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 60
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.Sync() in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 179
Extra output from COM port:
———————–
<<<0008240000000000070712205555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Exception: System.Exception: Timeout reading reply
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.RunCommand(Command op, Byte[] data, Int32 chk) in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 60
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.Sync() in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 179
Extra output from COM port:
———————–
<<<0008240000000000070712205555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Exception: System.Exception: Timeout reading reply
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.RunCommand(Command op, Byte[] data, Int32 chk) in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 60
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.Sync() in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 179
Extra output from COM port:
———————–
<<<0008240000000000070712205555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Exception: System.Exception: Timeout reading reply
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.RunCommand(Command op, Byte[] data, Int32 chk) in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 60
at ESP8266DebugPackage.ESP8266BootloaderClient.Sync() in C:\Users\Han\Desktop\ESP8266\BootloaderTest\ESP8266BootloaderClient.cs:line 179
Extra output from COM port:

[support]

Hi,

Wow, thanks a lot for trying this out. This is definitely not something we could have figured out without the hardware. We can certainly add an option to configure the delay in the debugging plugin.

Just to double-check: did you manage to get the bootloader test tool to repoer a successful sync? The output you shared still says “timeout reading reply”. Does it get even more reliable if you increase the delay to 100 ms?

[Han Vertegaal]

No, unfortunately there is no successful sync. I do see the message ‘ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:2, boot mode:(1,6)’ appear after the reset, but nothing happens after that.

[support]

Hi,

Strange. The boot mode should be “1,7” for the bootloader. Can you put breakpoints on the Sleep() calls after _Port.EscapeFunction() calls in the bootloader test program and check the state of GPIO0, GPIO2, GPIO15 and RESET at each sleep() call? Does it perform a device reset and does it hold the “UART Download Mode” (0/1/0) once reset is released?

[Author]

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