Serial flash works then OTA update kills it

ESPHome
1

Any ideas on this one please, I just flashed a MJ 3way switch ST01. It works fine when it was flashed via serial, reboots just fine and connects every time. If I do any kind of OTA update it dies, the device stops functioning full stop, no connection to wifi. The local button does nothing, if I reflash again via serial it comes back to life and works as intended. Running the current ESP home version.

Debug from the OTA

INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/outside-light-switch.yaml...
INFO Detected timezone 'America/New_York'
INFO Generating C++ source...
INFO Compiling app...
Processing outside-light-switch (board: esp01_1m; framework: arduino; platform: platformio/espressif8266 @ 3.2.0)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARDWARE: ESP8266 80MHz, 80KB RAM, 1MB Flash
LDF: Library Dependency Finder -> https://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
Dependency Graph
|-- <ESPAsyncTCP-esphome> 1.2.3
|-- <ESPAsyncWebServer-esphome> 2.1.0
|   |-- <ESPAsyncTCP-esphome> 1.2.3
|   |-- <Hash> 1.0
|   |-- <ESP8266WiFi> 1.0
|-- <DNSServer> 1.1.1
|-- <ESP8266WiFi> 1.0
|-- <ESP8266mDNS> 1.2
|-- <ArduinoJson> 6.18.5
Compiling /data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/src/main.cpp.o
Linking /data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/firmware.elf
RAM:   [====      ]  41.4% (used 33920 bytes from 81920 bytes)
Flash: [=====     ]  45.1% (used 461665 bytes from 1023984 bytes)
Building /data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/firmware.bin
esp8266_copy_factory_bin(["/data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/firmware.bin"], ["/data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/firmware.elf"])
========================= [SUCCESS] Took 14.17 seconds =========================
INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Resolving IP address of outside-light-switch.local
INFO  -> 192.168.30.16
INFO Uploading /data/outside-light-switch/.pioenvs/outside-light-switch/firmware.bin (465824 bytes)
INFO Compressed to 321301 bytes
Uploading: [============================================================] 100% Done...

INFO Waiting for result...
INFO OTA successful
INFO Successfully uploaded program.
INFO Starting log output from outside-light-switch.local using esphome API
WARNING Can't connect to ESPHome API for outside-light-switch.local: Error resolving IP address: [Errno -2] Name or service not known
INFO Trying to reconnect to outside-light-switch.local in the background

Debug from the ESP via serial until it dies

[11:30:55][D][ota:139]: Starting OTA Update from 192.168.1.10...
[11:30:55][D][ota:308]: OTA in progress: 0.3%
[11:30:56][D][ota:308]: OTA in progress: 38.4%
[11:30:57][D][ota:308]: OTA in progress: 77.9%
[11:30:58][I][ota:341]: OTA update finished!
[11:30:58][I][app:133]: Rebooting safely...
[11:30:58][W][wifi_esp8266:482]: Event: Disconnected ssid='NoT - WiFi' bssid=7A:45:58:27:6B:29 reason='Association Leave'
[11:30:58]
[11:30:58] ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:1, boot mode:(3,0)
[11:30:58]
[11:30:58]load 0x4010f000, len 3460, room 16 
[11:30:58]tail 4
[11:30:58]chksum 0xcc
[11:30:58]load 0x3fff20b8, len 40, room 4 
[11:30:58]tail 4
[11:30:58]chksum 0xc9
[11:30:58]csum 0xc9
[11:30:58]v00071ba0
[11:31:06]@cp:0
[11:31:06]ld
[11:31:06]e:3
[11:31:06] ets Jan  8 2013,rst cause:3, boot mode:(3,0)
[11:31:06]
2

?? I thought you said it died from an OTA update.

Post your YAML code.

I always get that warning at the end of an OTA upload, then about 30-seconds later, it connects:

WARNING Can't connect to ESPHome API for thermometer.local: Error resolving IP address: [Errno -2] Name or service not known
INFO Trying to reconnect to thermometer.local in the background

30-seconds later…

INFO Successfully connected to thermometer.local
[18:49:52][I][app:102]: ESPHome version 2022.3.2 compiled on Apr 14 2022, 16:15:49
[18:49:52][C][wifi:491]: WiFi:
[18:49:52][C][wifi:353]:   Local MAC: 58:BF:25:DA:F5:A2
[18:49:52][C][wifi:354]:   SSID: [redacted]
[18:49:52][C][wifi:355]:   IP Address: 192.168.1.157
[18:49:52][C][wifi:356]:   BSSID: [redacted]
[18:49:52][C][wifi:358]:   Hostname: 'thermometer'
[18:49:52][C][wifi:360]:   Signal strength: -43 dB ▂▄▆█

To me, this is normal…

3

@stevemann Here is the yaml, I have waited 4-5 mins after an OTA flash but get nothing from it even after a reboot.

substitutions:
  device_name: outside-light-switch
  friendly_name: Outside Lights

esphome:
  name: $device_name
  comment: $friendly_name
  
esp8266:
  # Using esp01 even though esptool shows 2MB flash
  board: esp01_1m

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password
#  manual_ip:
#   static_ip: 10.0.1.124
#   gateway: 10.0.1.1
#   subnet: 255.255.255.0
  ap:
    ssid: "outside light switch"
    password: "********"

captive_portal:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:

# Enable OTA updates
ota:

# Enable web server
web_server:
  port: 80
  
time:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: homeassistant_time

# Status LED
#status_led: 
#  pin:
#    number: GPIO4   # Red LED
#    inverted: True


# Button, use 10ms debounce (seems to work for me)
binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    name: ${friendly_name} Button
    id: button
    pin:
      number: GPIO13
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: True
    internal: True
    filters:
      - delayed_on: 10ms
      - delayed_off: 10ms
    on_press:
      - light.toggle: main_light
  - platform: status
    name: ${friendly_name} Switch
      
# Blue LED
switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: ${friendly_name} Blue LED
    id: blue_led
    pin:
      number: GPIO5
      inverted: True
    internal: True
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Red Led"
    pin:
      number: GPIO4
      inverted: true


# Relay
output:
  - platform: gpio
    id: relay
    pin:
      number: GPIO12

# I prefer to use 'light' instead of 'switch', since mine will
# be used to control a light
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: $friendly_name
    output: relay
    id: main_light
    on_turn_on:
      - switch.turn_on:  blue_led
    on_turn_off:
      - switch.turn_off: blue_led
4

Some devices need a cold boot after a flash, try disconnecting from power and restarting.

5

OK. I had a similar experience when I started using ESPHome. I could use ESPhome Flasher but not OTA. People here laughed at my solution, but you may try it.
Based on my experience with OTA in the Arduino, if my program approaches 50% of the available memory on the board, OTA would not work. If the bin file plus the OTA overhead exceeds 50%, you may be overwriting the current code.

As I said, this is all conjecture and unproven. But, here’s how I fixed it…
I removed ap: and captive_portal: from my YAM, which reduced the ram used. Then I could OTA to that device.

That was about a year ago. I found this page in the docs. The docs point to this link for a list of ESP boards.

You might want to try:

esp8266:
  board: esp_wroom_02
6

Come on mate, people laugh at all your posts :slight_smile:

7

If I can’t be right, at least I provide amusement.

I learned a long time ago, that if I want the correct answer, give a wrong one.

8

So true, someone is always ready to correct us if we are wrong!

9

Thank you for the suggestions, not had much time to spend on this was hoping it would just work !

I should have mentioned the yaml wasn’t mine I copied it from another post. Also I could have done a better job of my comments, when I said reboot I was meaning a full power cycle.

@stevemann 1st I tried striking out the ap: and captive_portal: this reduced files size by a couple of k but made no difference to the behavior after a reflash. I also tried esp_wroom_02 this loaded once then I suffered from a continues “boot exception 0” errors and I though it was toast as even going back to my original file wouldn’t recover it. Even tried a new stripped out base config - still the same.

I have ordered a 2nd device as I do want more of these switches - wondering if I have a bad ESP chip or something.

10

Web server is very resource intensive.

11

Thanks for the suggestions - I’m going to put this one down to a poor power supply. I seem to have it running stable now all OTA flashes have been successful