Hi, i have nano 33 IoT with nothing eles attached to it. It's powered from the USB connected to the PC that I use to program it. I'm on Windows 10.
I was doing a little project to connect it to my local WiFi and everything worked fine.
Then I got a message that there was a firmware update for the WiFiNINA.
After some searching i went to the examples\WiFiNINA\Tools and opened FirmwareUpdater.
I uploaded it to the nano and then went to the Tools menu and selected WiFININA firmware updater.
I selected the COM board and selected the latest version of the firmware 1.3.0 then i clicked Update Firmware.
This is when i got in trouble, after a few seconds I got the message Error while writing flash memory like in the pic attached.
And after that I don't have WiFi anymore.
I tried to reset the nano and then upload an empty program and restart the firmware update sequence but no success.
I closed the IDE, disconnected the USB and then restarted the whole sequence again and same result.
I tried to upload the CheckFirmware version and run it, but when i run it i get the error that I don't have a WiFi module.
What could I do next?
I have these errors at the bottom when I run the firmwareupdater , maybe it helps:
java.lang.Exception: Error while writing flash memory.
at cc.arduino.plugins.wifi101.flashers.java.FlasherSerialClient.writeFlash(FlasherSerialClient.java:146)
at cc.arduino.plugins.wifi101.flashers.java.NinaFlasher.updateFirmware(NinaFlasher.java:91)
at cc.arduino.plugins.wifi101.UpdaterImpl$2.run(UpdaterImpl.java:214)
Updating the firmware when everything was working was probably a bad idea. I suspect the NINA module had a bootloader that is now broken.
It looks like there is another sketch called SerialNINAPassthrough. It says in the comment
Use esptool to flash the u-blox NINA (ESP32) module Arduino MKR WiFi 1010, Arduino MKR Vidor 4000, and Arduino UNO WiFi Rev.2.
Maybe the esptool does not require the bootloader. The NINA module is connected to the SAMD21 trough multiple connections. Maybe you get lucky. I would recommend you also Google into the forum a bit before you try. Maybe somebody else had a similar issue.
Btw, the latest version of the firmware is 1.4.2. But you have to get it from Github because it is shipped with the IDE and that was not updated for quite a while.
I believe there is a bug in the new release of Arduino SAMD Boards that causes this:
Arduino's developers are already working on a fix. Until the next release comes out wiith that fix, the workaround is to install Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.9:
Tools > Board > Boards Manager
Wait for the updates to finish.
From the list of boards platforms, click on "Arduino SAMD Boards"
From the "Select version" dropdown menu, click on "1.8.9".
Click the "Install" button.
Wait for the installation to finish.
Click the "Close" button.
Now you should be able to update your firmware without getting the error.
Since you likely only need to update the firmware once, after doing so, you can upgrade back to 1.8.10 by repeating the instructions above, but this time updating to Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.10 again.
Thanks Klaus_K and pert for replying.
I will give a try to your suggestions and report back so if others have the same problems there will be a thread with a solution.
I would like to mention that I did spend at least six hours yesterday scouring internet before posting here, i do realize that everybody is busy and I was trying to find a solution myself first.
I did go to the github repository and downladed the last version from there and followed the instructions but unfortunately I got the same results.
Thanks again!
I followed pert instructions and reverted to Arduino SAMD Boards 1.8.9 and then i did the firmware update. I did work!
Now the WiFi module is functioning again.
Thanks again guys!
I'm really disappointed with this board, I have had a number of Arduino boards over the years, on the whole good. I moved away and started getting cheaper generic boards, and found myself spending more time getting the board to work properly and less time on my project ( in truth the board became the project, rather than what I wanted to do)
So this time I thought I would spend the extra get an Arduino nano 33 iot board and all would be good. how wrong could I be. The example sketches telling me to update the firmware, with no apparent way of doing this without a whole load of hassle. . may as well get the cheap generic boards.
Hi @bbc_badic. I'm sorry for the inconvenience with the NINA firmware update. It's definitely not an ideal experience, but I'm certain you can achieve success with it. I'd be happy to provide detailed instructions and answer any questions you might have if that would be helpful to you.
I’m very impressed with the support and robust nature of my nano 33 IoT.
Yes, I’ve had my frustrations. I stumbled upon a post about the firmware updater, and muddled my way thru it, without any prior experience. It’s now actually working well.
Compared to the latest methods being offered, I expected it all to be simpler to make this project work. I’m not a programmer, and haven’t done any circuits in several years, but very pleased to get it working. Now I’m going to repackage the project for installation. Still so many questions.
Problem #1, common it seems: using IDE 2.0.0-beta.4 under Win10 with Nano 33 IoT, cannot reliably finish an upload of everything from Blink to other Example sketches, typical error messages
"cannot perform port reset at 1200 bps"
"no device found on COM3:"
Tried double clicking to get boot loader to run, then Upload, but not often effective.
Verified not using USB 3.0 port, only 2.0.
Works better after WIN10 restart, but not for long.
Problem #2, possibly related to #1, is that I cannot upgrade WiFiNINA firmware to latest.
Tried IDE 1.8.xx nightly IDE, same results.
Instructions to do firmware upgrade vary depending on where I find them, none work;
none show serial output, most are confusing.
This struggle is about to torpedo a good development, a good product w. cmml potential.
Any help is appreciated .
. may as well get the cheap generic boards.