<![CDATA[Program M5CAM fails]]>Hi people, sorry for the messy post, I am not sure how to format here yet. I am sure this wont be my last post.
I have recompiled the M5CAM_demo in atom/platformio after a few hiccups and am getting the following error (verbose upload)

*CURRENT: upload_protocol = esptool
MethodWrapper(["upload"], [".pioenvs\esp-wrover-kit\firmware.bin"])
Auto-detected: COM40
"c:\users\col.platformio\penv\scripts\python.exe" "C:\Users\Col.platformio\packages\tool-esptoolpy\esptool.py" --chip esp32 --port "COM40" --baud 921600 --before default_reset --after hard_reset writ
e_flash -z --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 40m --flash_size detect 0x1000 C:\Users\Col\Documents\PlatformIO\Projects\M5CAM_demo.pioenvs\esp-wrover-kit\bootloader.bin 0x8000 C:\Users\Col\Documents\Platfo
rmIO\Projects\M5CAM_demo.pioenvs\esp-wrover-kit\partitions.bin 0x10000 .pioenvs\esp-wrover-kit\firmware.bin
Serial port COM40
Connecting......................................_____

A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP32: Timed out waiting for packet header
*** [upload] Error 2*

The autodetected port is correct, opening it in realterm and toggling camera power.

ets Jun 8 2016 00:22:57

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x17 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:5780
load:0x40078000,len:0
load:0x40078000,len:15412
entry 0x40078630
[0;32mI (28) boot: ESP-IDF v3.1-dev-1101-g1f7b41e2-dirty 2nd stage bootloader[
0m
[0;32mI (28) boot: compile time 10:53:23[0m

This is my first time attempting to reprogram this and a search has not brought up anything useful, is there a trick to programming these ? It looks to me that perhaps the reset method is unsuccessful, tried holding the power button down, tried with a lithium cell connected/disconnected. The M5CAM uses the same program method as the wrover-kit so far as I can see from the schematics.

Any ideas for things to try ?
A little trickier to add jumpers to toggle pins with these boards.

]]>https://community.m5stack.com/topic/287/program-m5cam-failsRSS for NodeTue, 28 Apr 2026 20:39:38 GMTTue, 07 Aug 2018 05:24:29 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Program M5CAM fails on Tue, 21 Aug 2018 14:31:18 GMT]]>finally have some time to continue on with this, I tried the esp32 download tool with exactly the parameters above and the demo files and I am getting an error in the CMD window of ..

"imageIsOk()" failed at ....\src\msw\bitmap.cpp(922) in wxBitmap::CreateFromImage(): invalid image

even if I only select the bootloader.bin section or any single part. odd .. so I looked at using the esptool.py supplied and copied the loader script from the flash.sh (made for linux), that works but I get exactly the same failed to connect as I do with platformio and also the same timing looking at pulseview, not surprising since both methods rely on esptool.

So I ended up adding a 100nF between the B-E of VT1, oddly enough I cannot see any improvement in the timing on pulseview but it programmed first attempt and every one thereafter so I am leaving it in place. perhaps the timing the ESP sees is a little different to what my salaea clone probe is showing.

]]>https://community.m5stack.com/post/1419https://community.m5stack.com/post/1419Tue, 21 Aug 2018 14:31:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Program M5CAM fails on Tue, 07 Aug 2018 18:10:58 GMT]]>I have been looking a bit closer at this and trying to make sense of it with and I think there is a simple design error but it should still work.

this is the WROVER kit control logic ..

0_1533664928057_5bdcf38a-6917-40c1-acde-e5b4b92f2dd9-image.png

and this is the M5CAMs

0_1533664993829_b21be137-0c34-4baa-8ac1-f3e64c359026-image.png

so it looks like VT2 is reversed but it should still work regardless, it might be affecting the timing perhaps ?

Using platformio with no mods and the WROVER kit board selected a close look at the reset timing shows that the EN line is always taken high (by about 500nS) after GPIO0 is also taken high, hence it never enters boot mode. I think I can get around it by hacking the esptool.py .. but its late now, 4am, so it can wait till tomorrow.

a failed program attempt ..

0_1533665238761_esp32_gpio0_norm_prog_fail.PNG

and a close up of one of the edges shows GPIO0 always going high about 500nS-1uS before EN goes high.

]]>https://community.m5stack.com/post/1388https://community.m5stack.com/post/1388Tue, 07 Aug 2018 18:10:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Program M5CAM fails on Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:59:23 GMT]]>Hi, I solved a similar problem by flashing the camera again. I downloaded the firmware located in: https://github.com/m5stack/esp32-cam-demo. To flash the camera I used this software https://www.espressif.com/sites/default/files/tools/flash_download_tools_v3.6.4.rar.

Once has been downloaded the tool it has 4 options, I used the option 3 and I configured the tool as show in the image:

alt text
I hope this helps you.

]]>https://community.m5stack.com/post/1386https://community.m5stack.com/post/1386Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:59:23 GMT