UNO R4 WiFi unable to upload new sketch or reset

Hardware UNO R4 UNO R4 WiFi
1

Hi there, I recently acquired the new R4 and I was eager to tinker with it.

First thing first as I received the board I flashed the updated firmware from here

The update seemed to have successfully completed.

After that I tried uploading a sketch using the Arduino IDE (2.1.1).
The board automatically showed up as ESP32-S3-OTG-USB, I didn't thought much of it as the board is brand new and maybe some quirky naming scheme was still around.

The board while connected to the serial monitor (before flashing the sketch) reported:

ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
mode:DI0

The sketch i uploaded was this example.

Now the board seems completly bricked.

If the board is connected to power the default led matrix animation comes up. If i try to enter the "recovery" mode by double tapping the reset button at boot the led animation does not happen and the only led active is the power led, but in neither case the board shows up in the device manager/IDE.

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated :slight_smile: !

UPDATE:

Managed to erase and replace the firmware on the ESP32, shorting the download pin to ground and by using esptool to upload the provided .bin firmware.
The update.bat seems to be unable to find the board even when correctly connected.

2

How exactly did you upload the firmware?

3

@ykarus117 were you able to solve the issue or do you need further help?

4

I have the same issue. Please help.

5

@alranel no further assistance needed, the board is working correctly now!

To @lestinker (and @herrthees if that's what you're asking :slight_smile: )

Try the following steps:

Short the upload pins for the esp32s3 then connect it to the USB port, install python then:

pip3 install esptool

esptool --chip esp32s3 --port <com port> erase_flash

esptool --chip esp32s3 --port <com port> write_flash -z 0 <firmware.bin>

Use the .bin file you find inside the zip here:

https://github.com/arduino/uno-r4-wifi-usb-bridge/releases/download/0.2.0/unor4wifi-update-windows.zip

6

I am sorry, I should have stated that I'm on Win 10. Otherwise, the issue is the same.

7

I'm on windows 11 the solution should look the same on windows 10, for reference I'm using the new PowerShell instead of the old windows terminal.

8

I did as suggested.

When I use that board for Arduino Cloud, I did not install drivers. Should I?

Without the drivers, when trying to connect to the board, I get:
The device found is not compatible
An AirM2M_CORE_ESP32C3 has been detected but unfortunately this kind of board cannot be used on Arduino IoT Cloud.

9

The arduino agent installation should prompt you to install the drivers if I'm not mistaken. Maybe try using the Arduino IDE locally if that does not help