Watchy not connecting to Arduino IDE about watchy HOT 19 OPEN

Okay, I've found a work around, albeit a little awkward!

I plugged it into my Raspberry Pi 4. Turns out the RPi Arduino IDE has some nasty collisions with the ESP dev libraries that stops the example code from compiling unless I'm willing to do a lot of hand editing, BUT esptools can be installed and will run using the python -m option. The erase_flash command DID work here, and I was able then to plug it into my iMac system and upload an example sketch from the MacOS Arduino IDE. However I wasn't able to upload a second sketch until I plugged it back into my Pi and ran erase_flash again.

from watchy.

Thanks @seekerdave, this is very useful information. Yes this seems to be prevalent with Windows and the C1 RC slows the rise time, which fixes the relative timing of RTS & DTR. We'll explore software solutions for this (we flashed all the Watchy's using Linux)

from watchy.

I just got mine and same issue. The device doesn't show up when connected which is a real bummer.
I've tried different cables, and different computers too (win10, ubuntu 18/kernal 5.04 and mint/kernal 4.20)
I don't have other esp32 boards to test against.

from watchy.

I have the same issue occuring with mine

from watchy.

Do you have another esp32 board by chance? Do those upload fine?

If not, could you also try just running esptool.py erase_flash in the terminal and see if that runs?

from watchy.

My other esp32 boards upload fine for me

from watchy.

When I run esptool.py erase flash, I get:

esptool.py v3.0
Found 4 serial ports
Serial port /dev/cu.usbserial-00BFDDF4
Connecting......................................_____
/dev/cu.usbserial-00BFDDF4 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header
Serial port /dev/cu.URT1
Connecting......................................_____
/dev/cu.URT1 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header
Serial port /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART
/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART failed to connect: [Errno 16] could not open port /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART: [Errno 16] Resource busy: '/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART'
Serial port /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
Connecting......................................_____
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header

A fatal error occurred: Could not connect to an Espressif device on any of the 4 available serial ports.

from watchy.

Here is my output:

 esptool.py erase_flash
esptool.py v3.0
Found 2 serial ports
Serial port COM15
Connecting........_____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____
COM15 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header
Serial port COM1
Connecting........_____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____
COM1 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header

A fatal error occurred: Could not connect to an Espressif device on any of the 2 available serial ports.

from watchy.

That's great, sounds like there is something weird going on with the Arduino setup / USB on the Mac.
We flash every Watchy via USB and check before shipping, so there should be no issues with the flashing. Let us know if you figure out the fix with MacOS

from watchy.

I have the same issue on a Windows 10 machine. I also tried the erase_flash command. Here's the output:

esptool.py v2.6
Serial port COM4
Connecting......................................_____
A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header

from watchy.

@seekerdave have you installed the CP2104 drivers? Also make sure the correct COM port is selected.

from watchy.

Yes, I downloaded the latest driver and am sure I have the right port. The following details are from Device Manager:
Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM4)
Driver Version: 10.1.10.103
Driver Date: 1/8/2021

from watchy.

I have the same problem. Running Windows 10 with the CP2104 driver installed.
esptool.py erase_flash gives the following Output.

esptool.py v2.6
Found 2 serial ports
Serial port COM5
Connecting........_____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____
COM5 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header
Serial port COM1
Connecting........_____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____
COM1 failed to connect: Failed to connect to Espressif device: Timed out waiting for packet header

A fatal error occurred: All of the 2 available serial ports could not connect to a Espressif device.

from watchy.

@Ryomoo @seekerdave have you tried a few more times to see if any combination works? e.g. different USB port, different USB cable, not using a USB hub, lowering upload speed, closing all other programs that might be using the serial port, restarting the PC, using a different computer, etc. FYI the drivers are found here: https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

Thanks!

from watchy.

I tried all of the above mentoined except the different computer. Will try that tomorrow. But my internet research says my board isn't starting in "flashing/uploading mode". I have no clue how to do that. Can you help me with that?

from watchy.

Watchy has built in auto reset functionality, so it uses the DTR/RTS signals from serial to toggle GPIO 0 and EN to get into flash/upload mode.

from watchy.

I replaced C1 with a much higher value (10uF) and eliminated the problem. It seems that the DTR/RTS timing is preventing the ESP32 from entering the needed mode. From a web search this problem seems especially prevalent on Windows 10 machines. It would be nice if there was a software solution (perhaps a timing parameter in the esptool?).

Note: C1 on the schematic has a value of just 100nF. I tried a 1uF (10X larger) and it worked intermittently. The 10uF provides very reliable communication.

from watchy.

Hello, I am having some connection issues too. It looks like all my settings are correct and there is some connection on the port, the Serial Monitor opens, but nothing shows up when I try to enter any command. When uploading, I get a error :
"Failed to execute script esptool
the selected serial port Failed to execute script esptool
does not exist or your board is not connected"

The Watchy will sometimes "blink" during/after trying to upload, sometimes it will freeze.
On Win10.

Any ideas? Thanks!

from watchy.

Apologies for zombifying this thread but it should be mentioned I was able to get this working on OS-X in a way (just reflashed watchy with micropython using esptool.py with my mac after running into this on windows)

from watchy.