I need ESP8266 board help

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 3:28pm

I am a new user here on the Arduino Forums. But I also come from Reddit and I came here because the question I posted on the r/arduino was complex for others to answer and nobody so far had answered. So I am wondering if Arduino experts can help me diagnose the problem I have.

So basically, I am trying to get my ESP8266 WiFi RC Car to work but I kept stumbling upon this same error and same issue at the output:

. Variables and constants in RAM (global, static), used 28640 / 80192 bytes (35%)
║   SEGMENT  BYTES    DESCRIPTION
╠══ DATA     1516     initialized variables
╠══ RODATA   1020     constants       
╚══ BSS      26104    zeroed variables
. Instruction RAM (IRAM_ATTR, ICACHE_RAM_ATTR), used 61291 / 65536 bytes (93%)
║   SEGMENT  BYTES    DESCRIPTION
╠══ ICACHE   32768    reserved space for flash instruction cache
╚══ IRAM     28523    code in IRAM    
. Code in flash (default, ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR), used 272272 / 1048576 bytes (25%)
║   SEGMENT  BYTES    DESCRIPTION
╚══ IROM     272272   code in flash   
esptool.py v3.0
Serial port COM1
Connecting........_____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____....._____
A fatal esptool.py error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP8266: Timed out waiting for packet header

So I am wondering what the issue could be that is causing this. I tried a few youtube tutorials that were made about my RC Car and tried using codes from the tutorial but they had the same issue.

Here is my Reddit Post I made if you wanna look more deeper into my problem.
https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/14tzpf3/i_am_trying_to_get_my_esp8266_rc_car_to_work_and/

Perhaps if you have a Reddit Account we could probably have a chat discussion to diagnose the problem. I am sadly busy tomorrow sunday and a bit busy on monday so I might not respond in time for my chat nor will I be at my workshop where I work.

But I would love to hear all the possible solutions to my problem that I would love to try and see if it fixes anything.

Thanks!

Edit: I managed to get over the issue. But its not over yet. I am having issues connecting the network to my Iphone/Laptop. Its not showing up in the Wifi Networks. Can someone help me with this?

J-M-L · July 8, 2023, 3:38pm

Are you sure your ESP is on COM1?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 3:39pm

Yes I did check. I did check that it was NodeMCU.

It says on my Arduino IDE that it is connected to COM1.
jkhkjhhjkhjk
Edit: Here it is:

J-M-L · July 8, 2023, 3:41pm

If you remove your esp from the breadboard and just plug the usb cable in, can you upload the blink sketch?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 3:42pm

I removed it from my Breadboard and will do what you said. And then edit my reply for updates.

J-M-L · July 8, 2023, 3:43pm

Also are you sure you have a NodeMCU 0.9?

Post a picture of both sides of the esp

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 3:50pm

Ok here are the pictures of my ESP8266 board on both sides. I did try it without connected to my breadboard and it still has the same issue again.

Also what is all of that which says underneath?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 3:55pm

I am just looking at the serial monitor and it says the board is disconnected?

runaway_pancake · July 8, 2023, 4:01pm

Perhaps another USB cable ?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 4:05pm

Its finally working this time.
Except the last bit of output says:

Leaving...
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

Did I do it correctly?
Because the network name NodeMCU car is not showing up in my Iphone nor on my Laptop.

runaway_pancake · July 8, 2023, 4:07pm

That's Normal (All is well.)

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 4:08pm

But its not showing up in my Iphone WiFi My Devices. Do I have to download an app or is it like this or what?

runaway_pancake · July 8, 2023, 4:08pm

What are you uploading to it?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 4:10pm

What do you mean? Of course my ESP8266 board. But its not showing up in my networks whatsoever.

runaway_pancake · July 8, 2023, 4:11pm

What sketch? It's not here.
To be an access point, etc.?
I'm not a web/cloud maven.
"Post your sketch."

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 4:25pm

Idk if you mean code. But here it is

#define ENA   14          // Enable/speed motors Right        GPIO14(D5)
#define ENB   12          // Enable/speed motors Left         GPIO12(D6)
#define IN_1  15          // L298N in1 motors Right           GPIO15(D8)
#define IN_2  13          // L298N in2 motors Right           GPIO13(D7)
#define IN_3  2           // L298N in3 motors Left            GPIO2(D4)
#define IN_4  0           // L298N in4 motors Left            GPIO0(D3)

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h> 
#include <ESP8266WebServer.h>

String command;             //String to store app command state.
int speedCar = 800;         // 400 - 1023.
int speed_Coeff = 3;

const char* ssid = "NodeMCU Car";
ESP8266WebServer server(80);

void setup() {
 
 pinMode(ENA, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(ENB, OUTPUT);  
 pinMode(IN_1, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(IN_2, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(IN_3, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(IN_4, OUTPUT); 
  
  Serial.begin(115200);
  
// Connecting WiFi

  WiFi.mode(WIFI_AP);
  WiFi.softAP(ssid);

  IPAddress myIP = WiFi.softAPIP();
  Serial.print("AP IP address: ");
  Serial.println(myIP);
 
 // Starting WEB-server 
     server.on ( "/", HTTP_handleRoot );
     server.onNotFound ( HTTP_handleRoot );
     server.begin();    
}

void goAhead(){ 

      digitalWrite(IN_1, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
  }

void goBack(){ 

      digitalWrite(IN_1, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
  }

void goRight(){ 

      digitalWrite(IN_1, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
  }

void goLeft(){

      digitalWrite(IN_1, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
  }

void goAheadRight(){
      
      digitalWrite(IN_1, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar/speed_Coeff);
 
      digitalWrite(IN_3, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
   }

void goAheadLeft(){
      
      digitalWrite(IN_1, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, HIGH);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar/speed_Coeff);
  }

void goBackRight(){ 

      digitalWrite(IN_1, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar/speed_Coeff);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
  }

void goBackLeft(){ 

      digitalWrite(IN_1, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, HIGH);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar/speed_Coeff);
  }

void stopRobot(){  

      digitalWrite(IN_1, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_2, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENA, speedCar);

      digitalWrite(IN_3, LOW);
      digitalWrite(IN_4, LOW);
      analogWrite(ENB, speedCar);
 }

void loop() {
    server.handleClient();
    
      command = server.arg("State");
      if (command == "F") goAhead();
      else if (command == "B") goBack();
      else if (command == "L") goLeft();
      else if (command == "R") goRight();
      else if (command == "I") goAheadRight();
      else if (command == "G") goAheadLeft();
      else if (command == "J") goBackRight();
      else if (command == "H") goBackLeft();
      else if (command == "0") speedCar = 400;
      else if (command == "1") speedCar = 470;
      else if (command == "2") speedCar = 540;
      else if (command == "3") speedCar = 610;
      else if (command == "4") speedCar = 680;
      else if (command == "5") speedCar = 750;
      else if (command == "6") speedCar = 820;
      else if (command == "7") speedCar = 890;
      else if (command == "8") speedCar = 960;
      else if (command == "9") speedCar = 1023;
      else if (command == "S") stopRobot();
}

void HTTP_handleRoot(void) {

if( server.hasArg("State") ){
       Serial.println(server.arg("State"));
  }
  server.send ( 200, "text/html", "" );
  delay(1);
}

runaway_pancake · July 8, 2023, 5:20pm

Some 'app' you're using, trying to access it?
Any sign of it when using a 'network scanner' (on your mobile)?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 5:47pm

No signs sadly... I use Iphone so this is going to be harder than I thought to connect.

J-M-L · July 8, 2023, 5:55pm

Do you see anything printed out?

anon92246769 · July 8, 2023, 5:57pm

Oh how did I not see that?

Didnt even know I had to put an IP Address in there. (Well in those video tutorials I watched it doesnt show you about putting an so called IP Address.)

But thanks for showing me that. I will try to fix that.

Topic		Replies	Views
I'm unable to start the firmware update on ESP8266 (NodeMCU 1.0 - ESP-12E Module) Uploading	1	666	December 5, 2023
A fatal esptool.py error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP8266: Timed out waiting for packet header Programming	4	282	January 10, 2025
HELPPP problem with connection Uploading	12	38	January 20, 2025
A fatal esptool.py error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP8266: Timed out waiting for packet header Uploading	0	46	February 19, 2025
ESP8266 esptoo.py error Uploading	5	101	January 20, 2025

I need ESP8266 board help

Related topics