How to flash the firmware

What you need

• OpenShock hub
• A Chromium based web-browser (Chrome, Edge, Opera, etc.) Firefox will not work since it doesn't support Web Serial
• Our Flashtool

Flashing the firmware

Troubleshooting

(Re-)Install Driver

1. Download drivers from here CP210x Universal Windows Driver
2. Extract the zip file
3. Run the CP210xVCPInstaller_x64.exe installer file

Different Cable

Try a couple of different USB cables, USB ports on your computer and if available on a different machine entirely.

Manually start bootloader

Depending on the driver or board, your computer may fail putting the ESP32 into a flashable state.

Most boards will have a pair of buttons. The first button labelled "Boot", "IO0", or even just "B". The second labelled "Reset", "RST", or "EN".

First, attempt flashing while holding down "Boot".

If that doesn't work, try holding down "Boot" and then tapping "Reset". That will reboot the ESP32, and also enter the bootloader, making it ready to receive new firmware!

Sometimes, you may need to both enter the bootloader manually and hold down "Boot" while starting the flashing process.

If you don't have a button, you can still usually short GPIO 0 to Ground while booting to enter the bootloader (for most ESP32s).

Extra tip for ESP32-S and -C boards!

On some boards without firmware, you won't see a Serial port until you enter the Bootloader manually using the two-button steps above!

Example pins for the Wemos D1 Mini

Manually flash using esptool.py

1. Download esptool (for windows the file is called something like esptool-vx.x.x-win64.zip)
2. Download firmware .bin for your board
3. Extract the esptool zip file
4. Move the downloaded firmware .bin file into the folder with esptool.exe
5. Open a command line (cmd or powershell) in that folder
6. Execute the command esptool write_flash 0x0 OpenShock_xxx-name-xxx.bin. Replace firmware name with your actual file name.
7. Wait for it to complete flashing and you should be ready to go!

Manually flash using espflash (alternative to esptool.py)

1. Download via GitHub here (or if you have Rust's cargo installed, you can run cargo install espflash).
2. Download firmware .bin for your board
3. Extract espflash
4. Move the downloaded firmware .bin file into the folder with espflash.exe
5. Open a command line (cmd or powershell) in that folder
6. Execute the command espflash write-bin 0x0 OpenShock_xxx-name-xxx.bin. Replace firmware name with your actual file name.
7. Wait for it to complete flashing and you should be ready to go!