OTA Mode - with 1.8.7 or 1.8.6 no network ports are found - with 1.8.5 all is OK

Using Arduino IDE 1.x
1

I had been using OTA for Esp8266 and Esp32 with ver 1.8.5. It worked very well. I upgraded to 1.8.7 several days ago and the IDE stopped finding any network ports. It found com ports fine.
I tried everything I could think of.
I reinstalled Bonjour, and Python - no help.
I uninstalled my virus program - no help.
I reinstalled the virus program - no help.
I then reverted to ver 1.8.5 and all was well.
I then went back and tried ver 1.8..7 again with the same results.
I then tried ver 1.8.6 with the same results as ver 1.8.7.
I cannot think of what could possibly be wrong. I am sure it is something very minor. I hope someone can help.

2

Hello,

Please check your internal network, restart the routers and repeaters, other people are having the same problem, and usually this helps.

Are you using ESP32?

3

Thank for your response.

To answer your last question first. Yes I am using Esp32's. I have several Esp32 units running and five or six Esp8266 units running.

For your information in case it matters. My network consists of:
1 Modem/Router/WiFi access point
2 WiFi access points
2 Wired switches

Resetting everything makes no difference. I can connect to the router by wire or wirelessly through any of the access points. No matter how I am connected the results are the same. Version 1.8.5 works and version 1.8.7 does not find any network ports.

I don't think that the problem can be with my network because just uninstalling version 1.8.7 and reinstalling version 1.8.5 makes it work. There must be something about 1.8.7 that is different.

Thank You

4

Is your firewall or antivirus blocking the search?

5

I don't believe that the antivirus or firewall is blocking the searches. I have tried uninstalling the antivirus and turning off the firewall. Neither seemed to help. I also don't think that they are involved because if I do nothing but uninstall 1.8.7 and reinstall 1.8.5 then everything is fine with the network ports.

Thank You

6

@gibbonsdb You are 100% correct - "Network Ports" do not work in 1.8.7, but they DO work in 1.8.5. \

I'm sorry you had the experience where people were guessing it was your network or your anti-virus, and missing your very clear statement " I then reverted to ver 1.8.5 and all was well.". This clearly points to the application.

I just tried these tests:

  1. 1.8.5 (Compile and load BasicOTA - works)
  2. 1.8.7 (Compile and load BasicOTA - FAILS)
  3. Go back to 1.8.5, without reloading the firmware - WORKS (meaning I'm running FW loaded under 1.8.7 but a 1.8.5 IDE)
  4. Upgrade to 1.8.7 without reloading the firmware - FAILS

In my case, when Network Ports fail in 1.8.7, that section of the menu isn't even showing under "Ports". It certainly isn't my "firewall" or my "anti-virus" as this system isn't encumbered by such things. I could take a screenshot of the menu under both versions to prove the issue, but I don't think the staff watch this forum anymore.

I have seen this type of problem many times with Arduino IDE where releases contain certain regressions. I don't think they have full automated test coverage. Just go back to 1.8.5.

7

It sounds like you might be experiencing this bug:

The Arduino developers are now aware of this and it sounds like a fix is already implemented, and hopefully will make it into the next release of the Arduino IDE.

sprive:
I could take a screenshot of the menu under both versions to prove the issue, but I don't think the staff watch this forum anymore.

It's true that the Arduino developers don't read every post on the forum. The thing is this forum is so active that, if they did read every post, they would have very little time left to write the code we all benefit from. I do read every post on the English language forum sections (though I don't follow every thread so I don't see every single reply). When you have a bug or feature request to report to the Arduino developers, that must be done via an issue report on the appropriate GitHub repository. There is a guide to that here:

In this case, the bug has already been reported so it wouldn't be helpful to create a duplicate report.

I do watch the forum for legitimate bug reports. When I can reproduce the bug, I'll go ahead and create an issue report myself. Unfortunately, sometimes I am unable to reproduce the bug or the subject matter is outside my area of expertise. In that case, I am unable to personally report the bug to the developers.

sprive:
Just go back to 1.8.5.

I think that's a reasonable choice. The bug report actually indicates that 1.8.6 was the last IDE version before the bug started so you can probably use 1.8.6 instead. The alternative is to use the Beta Build of the Arduino IDE, however, that is primarily intended for beta testing and may have new bugs.