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By psppb
#194382
Greetings. I have the ESP8266 Thing I am working on and It really seems to be hit and miss with programming.
I am powering it with a hefty source that could easily provide more than one amp.

most of the times when I'm flashing the device I get this

warning: espcomm_sync failed error:
espcomm_open failed error:
espcomm_upload_mem failed error:
espcomm_upload_mem failed

I then started attaching pin 0 to ground and every now and then It worked.
I've done this while playing with the on/off micro slider switch but ti doesn't seem to do anything. Does anyone have a good step by step process for reliably flashing these things? This is getting very annoying and almost seems hit and miss

Thanks

Bill
By Valen
#194388
What are you using to program it? (interface device) And what exactly is that power source? Where and how is it connected?

The microslider switch turns on and off the 3.3 volt regulator. If that does not switch it off then you are getting power via some other route. It should not 'enchance' the programming reliability in any way, it's a requirement for the ESP8266 to operate. Unless you have that powersource connected in ways unintended.

Is anything connected to the DTR pin? Did you alter any of the SJ1 or SJ3 jumpers on the back? Do you have the serial monitor window in use when you try to program it? It can send out DTR pulses disturbing esp8266 into reset.
By psppb
#194434
Hey Thanks for the response The key is to have pin 0 grounded before ANY power is applied. Once I routinely started doing this I have had good results