ESP8266 stuck after boot and no wifi connection possible

metawops · December 27, 2023, 4:39pm

Hi guys,

I need a little help here with two new ESP8266 boards I try to put ESPHome onto.

The problem with the first board is that “Prepare for first use” (in Chrome on macOS) seems to work but configuring WiFi does not. The configuration dialog doesn’t list/find any WiFi at all (just displays “Join other …” in the “Network” drop down) and when I enter my SSID and password manually the “Provisioning” dialog comes up with a spinning circle animation but after a timeout I’m back to the WiFi config dialog with a red “Unable to connect” error.
The Log looks like this:

[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
sdd��|�l�|�l�c|����{�c�c��og�$og���cp�lrl{$p�g��l��cn�|���c��oo�dćl`�eog�dorǛ�grs�`x�o�r������c'�|�c��gg��d`�eog�dgsǛ�gr$`{ۓn{el ��Ǐ�d`��n�$[I][logger:355]: Log initialized
[C][ota:473]: There have been 10 suspected unsuccessful boot attempts.
[E][ota:480]: Boot loop detected. Proceeding to safe mode.
[I][app:029]: Running through setup()...
[C][wifi:038]: Setting up WiFi...
[C][wifi:051]: Starting WiFi...
[C][wifi:052]:   Local MAC: BC:FF:4D:E4:B7:A8
[C][wifi:250]: Setting up AP...
[C][wifi:252]:   AP SSID: 'esphome-web-e4b7a8'
[C][wifi:253]:   AP Password: ''
[C][wifi:262]:   IP Address: 192.168.4.1
[D][wifi:455]: Starting scan...
[C][ota:097]: Over-The-Air Updates:
[C][ota:098]:   Address: esphome-web.local:8266
[W][ota:106]: Last Boot was an unhandled reset, will proceed to safe mode in 0 restarts
[I][app:062]: setup() finished successfully!
[I][ota:493]: Waiting for OTA attempt.
[I][app:102]: ESPHome version 2023.12.3 compiled on Dec 25 2023, 13:51:37
[I][app:104]: Project esphome.web version 1.0
[C][logger:443]: Logger:
[C][logger:444]:   Level: DEBUG
[C][logger:445]:   Log Baud Rate: 115200
[C][logger:447]:   Hardware UART: UART0
[C][captive_portal:088]: Captive Portal:
[C][wifi:573]: WiFi:
[C][wifi:405]:   Local MAC: BC:FF:4D:E4:B7:A8
[C][wifi:410]:   SSID: ''
[C][wifi:411]:   IP Address: 0.0.0.0
[C][wifi:412]:   BSSID: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
[C][wifi:414]:   Hostname: 'esphome-web-e4b7a8'
[C][wifi:416]:   Signal strength: 31 dB ▂▄▆█
[C][wifi:420]:   Channel: 1
[C][wifi:421]:   Subnet: 0.0.0.0
[C][wifi:422]:   Gateway: 0.0.0.0
[C][wifi:423]:   DNS1: 0.0.0.0
[C][wifi:424]:   DNS2: 0.0.0.0
[C][mdns:115]: mDNS:
[C][mdns:116]:   Hostname: esphome-web-e4b7a8
[C][ota:097]: Over-The-Air Updates:
[C][ota:098]:   Address: esphome-web.local:8266
[W][ota:106]: Last Boot was an unhandled reset, will proceed to safe mode in 0 restarts
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.05 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.
[W][component:214]: Component mdns took a long time for an operation (0.10 s).
[W][component:215]: Components should block for at most 20-30ms.

… and so on, the Log get’s flooded with these two lines.

Also, there’s no new WiFi AP visible I could connect to.

The second board shows another problem. Preparing for first use seems to work fine, too. I get to the “Configuration installed” dialog with the party emoji. But immediately after that the blue LED on the board flashes 11 times fast the pauses a little and starts again with the 11 flashes. This goes on forever. Connecting to the board just gives the error An error occurred. Improv Wi-Fi Serial not detected.
I can’t give you logs here because the Logs dialog makes the browser tab crash.
Here’s a screenshot from the last things I see before the tab freezes:

I’m currently out of ideas and would really appreciate any help …

Thanks guys!
Stefan.

CO_4X4 · December 27, 2023, 6:42pm

This could be unrelated but I’ve read three or four posts today where the ESPHome 2023.12.5 update caused network issues and rolling back to a previous version fixed it. I’ve personally not updated to the latest ESPHome myself and likely won’t until it seems like the next version fixes whatever might be causing headaches for some folks the past couple of days.

metawops · December 28, 2023, 11:42am

Thanks for your reply!
I don’t think, though, that this is the problem here because I had these issues already several months ago.
Maybe I “just” have two bad boards? I’ve had no problem at all with a third ESP8266 D1 mini board …

kwaazaar · April 18, 2024, 12:37pm

@CO_4X4 Did you find a solution or even cause here? I ran into this EXACT issue and have no clue how to fix it.

CO_4X4 · April 18, 2024, 12:48pm

No, I just waited a couple of releases and it was fine. I usually don’t upgrade to any .0 release of HA and let ESPHome releases simmer for a good long time until I’m sure nobody on here is reporting mass issues. It seems like the releases of late have been full of bugs and generally cause me headaches until a few patches in.

indeeed · April 18, 2024, 1:16pm

Fun fact: The topic describes exactly two different issues!

So we need that cristal ball!!!

metawops · April 22, 2024, 11:50am

Just a vague hint: If I remember correctly the issue I had was either cable related or a power supply issue. So maybe try another cable or another power supply option for your board; might do the trick.