Trying to flash ESP32_S3 always ends with error E4000

[heuckeg]

Hello all,

I hope that it's my fault (in any way 😄) but I tried to flash the runtime on serveral ESP32_s3, but it ends every time with an error E4000.

I tried 2 different type of boards:
one cheap copy of an ESP32_S3 -N16R8 and
an original Espressif ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 (N8R8)

And regardless if I set target to _OCTAL or _QUAD

Here is a log of what's happening:

C:\Users\xxx>nanoff --update --target ESP32_S3_OCTAL --serialport COM12 -v diag
.NET nanoFramework Firmware Flasher v2.5.162+baccab8dd8
Copyright (C) 2019 .NET Foundation and nanoFramework project contributors

** Can't check the version! **
** Continuing anyway. **

Using COM12 @ 115200 baud to connect to ESP32 (transfer baud target: 1500000).
Reading details from chip...[Connect] Port COM12 opened, initializing DTR/RTS...
USB device detected: VID=0x303A PID=0x1001 (Espressif USB-JTAG/Serial)
[Connect] Attempt 1/16: USB-JTAG reset
[Connect] Post-reset: 151 bytes in buffer
[Connect] Boot log: mode=0x0 (download mode)
[Sync] Sub-attempt 1/5: timeout (no response)
[Sync] Sub-attempt 2/5: got 12 bytes, dir=0x01
[Connect] Sync succeeded on attempt 1/16
[Connect] Drained 7 extra sync response(s)
Connected to ESP32 bootloader on COM12 @ 115200 baud.
Uploading stub loader for esp32s3...
Stub loader is running.
Changed baud rate to 1500000.
OK

Connected to:
ESP32-S3 (ESP32-S3 (QFN56) (revision v0.2))
Features Wi-Fi, BLE, Dual Core, 240MHz, Embedded PSRAM 8MB (AP_3v3)
Flash size 16MB unknown from SHARP (manufacturer 0x0B device 0x1840)
PSRAM: 8MB
Crystal 40MHz
MAC AC:27:6E:A5:5C:F8

Trying to find ESP32_S3_OCTAL in stable repository...OK
Extracting ESP32_S3_OCTAL-1.17.0.285.zip...OK

Updating to 1.17.0.285

Backup configuration...
Reading config partition (0x490000, 3145728 bytes) to C:\Users\gunte\AppData\Local\Temp\gtj0bp2t.k3l...
Backup configuration...OK
Flashing firmware...
Flash params set to 0x0240.
Compressed 19488 bytes to 12675...
Wrote 19488 bytes (12675 compressed) at 0x00000000 in 0,6 seconds (157,1 kbit/s).
Verifying written data...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 1354720 bytes to 929488...
Wrote 1354720 bytes (929488 compressed) at 0x00010000 in 12,8 seconds (582,8 kbit/s).
Verifying written data...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 3072 bytes to 139...
Wrote 3072 bytes (139 compressed) at 0x00008000 in 0,1 seconds (8,7 kbit/s).
Verifying written data...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 3145728 bytes to 3487...
Lost connection, retrying...
[Connect] Port COM12 opened, initializing DTR/RTS...
USB device detected: VID=0x303A PID=0x1001 (Espressif USB-JTAG/Serial)
[Connect] Attempt 1/16: USB-JTAG reset
[Connect] Post-reset: 151 bytes in buffer
[Connect] Boot log: mode=0x0 (download mode)
[Sync] Sub-attempt 1/5: got 12 bytes, dir=0x01
[Connect] Sync succeeded on attempt 1/16
[Connect] Drained 7 extra sync response(s)
Connected to ESP32 bootloader on COM12 @ 115200 baud.
Uploading stub loader for esp32s3...
Stub loader is running.
Changed baud rate to 1500000.
Writing at 0x00790000 [=====================================================================] 100,0% 3487/3487 bytes...Error E4000: Error executing ESP32 serial command. (No response for command FlashDeflEnd within 3000ms.)

Perhaps someone has an idea what's going wrong...

Thanks,
Gunter

[alberk8]

try this nanoff --update --target ESP32_S3_OCTAL --serialport COM12 --masserase

[heuckeg]

Thanks, that worked.
Is there any reason for that?

[alberk8]

Most likely, the device was previously flashed using Arduino or the ESP-IDF SDK, which may have used a different partition table configuration.

nanoff writes the firmware starting from the specified flash offset and does not overwrite the existing partition table unless --masserase is used. As a result, if the previous partition layout is incompatible with NanoFramework, the device may end up with an incomplete or corrupted system.

Using --masserase performs a full flash erase before writing the NanoFramework firmware, including clearing the old partition table, which ensures that NanoFramework starts with a clean and compatible flash layout.

[heuckeg]

Thanks a lot for this comprehensive explanation!