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    Burning the arduino bootloader does not work on windows, flash_writer.exe does nothing

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    • A
      Axel Jäger last edited by

      Hello,
      today I tried getting my spresense board to run a hello world using the arduino IDE.
      I went so far that I need to burn the bootloader.
      https://developer.sony.com/develop/spresense/developer-tools/get-started-using-arduino-ide/set-up-the-arduino-ide#_install_bootloader
      Everything works as documented until step 4.
      When issuing the burn boot loader menu, nothing happens. The dialog for accepting the EULA never appears.

      I tried this on two different computers with the same results. Also, I checked the command issued by the Arduino IDE.
      This is C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-tools\1.2.0\flash_writer\windows\flash_writer.exe

      Manually starting this application leads to no visible window. Also starting this application using a command line leads to no visible output on the screen.

      I also noticed that the arguments passed to flash_writer.exe are kind of strange as they pass
      C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware/lo... as file to flash.
      (I cannot give the whole filename due to limitations of the windows task manager).

      This is strange for two reasons:

      1. Most of the filename uses the backslash as separator , only the last three separators are the ordinary slash / as used on unix operating systems.
      2. There is no file starting with lo in this directory. However, there is a zip-file called firmware.zip that contains a file called loader.espk.

      Any clue whats wrong here? Has anyone successfully used v1.2 of the Arduino SDK on Windows?

      Best regards,

      Axel

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      • TE-KarlKomierowski
        TE-KarlKomierowski DeveloperWorld last edited by

        Hi @Axel-Jäger

        I updated my Arduino Spresense package to 1.2.0 and did a firmware update and it was no problem.
        This was done on a laptop running Windows 7.
        Could you try to reinstall the Spresense package and try to reflash the Spresense FW again?

        Here is the log:

        >>> Install files ...
        License agreement accepted.
        FIle: C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware\firmware.zip
        UPDATE
        install -b 921600
        Install C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware/loader.espk
        |0%-----------------------------50%------------------------------100%|
        ######################################################################
        
        118752 bytes loaded.
        Package validation is OK.
        Saving package to "loader"
        updater# install -b 921600
        Install C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware/gnssfw.espk
        |0%-----------------------------50%------------------------------100%|
        ######################################################################
        
        450736 bytes loaded.
        Package validation is OK.
        Saving package to "gnssfw"
        updater# install -b 921600
        Install C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware/dnnrt-mp.espk
        |0%-----------------------------50%------------------------------100%|
        ######################################################################
        
        88352 bytes loaded.
        Package validation is OK.
        Saving package to "dnnrt-mp"
        updater# install -b 921600
        Install C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\SPRESENSE\tools\spresense-sdk\1.2.0/spresense/firmware/AESM.espk
        |0%-----------------------------50%------------------------------100%|
        ######################################################################
        
        28944 bytes loaded.
        Package validation is OK.
        Saving package to "AESM"
        updater# sync
        updater# Restarting the board ...
        reboot
        
        
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        • A
          Axel Jäger last edited by Axel Jäger

          Hi,
          thank you for your reply. I tried reinstalling the spresense package, but the result is the same: When issuing the burn bootloader command, nothing happes. After several minutes, I get an error: Error burning bootloader.
          I only tried reinstalling on one of my computers. I am running windows 10.

          I guess when you issue the burn bootloader command from the arduino ide, a dialog to accept the license appears? This is not the case here. Maybe the technology to show this dialog is somehow blocked by some security feature? I hope I can try tomorrow test on a mac as I have no more windows 7 machines available.

          Some more questions:

          • Can you estimate which UI technology is used by the firmware updater? Java maybe?
          • Do you have a Java Runtime installed?
          • Has anyone else seen this error around? Currently we have one successfull mention on windows 7 and one failed on windows 10. I do not count my two PCs as two as they were both setup and configured by me in a similar fashion.

          Best regards

          Axel

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          • A
            Axel Jäger last edited by

            I am two steps further: I get the exact same behaviour running Arduino on a Mac, so I guess my Spresense board is broken. I will order a new board and report back when I tried with the new board.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote
            • TE-KarlKomierowski
              TE-KarlKomierowski DeveloperWorld last edited by

              @Axel-Jäger said in Burning the arduino bootloader does not work on windows, flash_writer.exe does nothing:

              I am two steps further: I get the exact same behaviour running Arduino on a Mac, so I guess my Spresense board is broken. I will order a new board and report back when I tried with the new board.

              Hi Axel,

              Ok, interesting, hopefully it is not broken.
              Could you try to follow the steps on this page and see if it helps?
              https://developer.sony.com/develop/spresense/support/spresense-faq/#_about_spresense_main_board

              Topic:
              Why do I see a "D>" message?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote
              • A
                Axel Jäger last edited by

                After using a new board, everything works as expected. It seems the original board was indeed broken.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote
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