Esp8266_deauther: dstike "v1.6" board does not detect via USB port

[MMushovic]

I'd like to make some changes to the UI
I plan to upload my code via the Arduino IDE interface.
Unfortunately, neither of the two boards I purchased detect when I plug them into a Windows system.
I've tried multiple USB cables and Windows 7, 8 and 10.
Am I missing something basic about how to upload code into this device...?
Thank you for any insights....
Mike

UPDATE: To save future visitors a lot of reading, the issue behind the board not detecting was USB cable(s) that do NOT have data lines in them. The moral here is to make sure that you are using a "real" USB cable - with full data/sync capabilities - and not just a charging cable (that only has power lines and NO data lines).

2nd Update: The nodemcu-flasher program is a little flaky... that is, while it appears to work, it doesn't actually program successfully every time. Persistence and consecutive repeated attempts will eventually result in success and you will be able to load a BIN file directly into the board using this program.

3rd Update: Here are the Arduino IDE settings that allow me to update the device:
Here are the settings that allow me to update the device via the Arduino IDE :

[tobozo]

maybe a missing driver ? http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

[edit]
whoops just read the FAQ and FTDI is for Arduino Uno, you'd be more looking for cp2102 or CH340G drivers.

[MMushovic]

I don't think it's a driver issue as NOTHING gets detected when the boards are plugged in to the USB ports.
In the spirit of giving anything a try, however, I'm downloading drivers and trying them now....
Update: As I feared, (pre)installing these drivers did not make a difference. The boards are just not detected when plugged into a USB port making me believe the data lines are disconnected via de-popped components or missing jumper. I recall reading somewhere that the F(LASH) button needed to be held down for programming but that made no difference either.
Any other ideas..?

[ukscone]

Not sure if this will help as mine is a v1 and I used the binary releases rather than building and flashing in the Arduino IDE but i've found it is very fussy about the s/w & speed used to flash with and at. the only program I could get to successfully flash the board was the nodemcu flasher & I had to flash at 56k or slower. when I was having the problem I asked Travis about the flash button and he said it didn't need to be pressed and it didn't seem to be needed when I used nodemcu flasher

[tobozo]

The dstike builds are no more than a development board with extra buttons and OLED.
While you will find help to use and debug the deauther on this forum, I'm not sure it's the best place to troubleshoot issues with the Arduino IDE and Windows.

Do you have an Arduino board, an NodeMCU / Wemos or another ESP8266 that is correctly detected by Windows ?

• NO => check the driver link in this tutotrial https://www.marginallyclever.com/2017/02/setup-nodemcu-drivers-arduino-ide/
• YES => we'll need more tests (i.e. if possible try with linux, macos) in order to find out if it's a software problem (90% probability) or a hardware problem.

[MMushovic]

tobozo> Do you have an Arduino board, an NodeMCU / Wemos or another ESP8266 that is correctly detected by Windows ?

_Yes, I have an Arduino setup with ESP8266 that detects and works with no issues._

tobozo> The dstike builds are no more than a development board with extra buttons and OLED.

_OK, but shouldn't they still detect when plugged into a USB port? If not, I'll try the NodeMCU programming interface (my) tonight; I live in the US Pacific timezone._

tobozo> While you will find help to use and debug the deauther on this forum, I'm not sure it's the best place to troubleshoot issues with the Arduino IDE and Windows.

_Respectfully, why do you think that? The deauther Github page provide both the source code and instructions to load it via the Arduino IDE? I'm not seeing that process work. If not here, where would I report a problem with the Github content, ask for help and look for more detail?
If there's a better place, let me know and I will check it out..._

[MMushovic]

tobozo> Do you have an Arduino board, an NodeMCU / Wemos or another ESP8266 that is correctly detected by Windows ? (if no), check the driver link in this tutotrial https://www.marginallyclever.com/2017/02/setup-nodemcu-drivers-arduino-ide/

UPDATE: Installing the drivers found at the link above made no difference... the board is still not detected when plugged in and powered by USB.

Wording from the tutorial:
_"...when I plug a brand new NodeMCU into a new Windows 10 installation with a micro USB cable I get a warning message that says 'USB Device Not Recognized – Device Descriptor Request Failed'. (This is because) Windows doesn’t know how to talk to the USB driver on the NodeMCU so it can’t figure out that the board is a NodeMCU and proceed normally. You’ll need to download the official driver and install it yourself."_

This tells me that a NodeMCU should at least be detected when plugged into a USB port.

tobozo, by stating that "The dstike builds are no more than a development board with extra buttons and OLED", do you mean that the dstike board should NOT be detected when plugged into a USB port...?

I'm just trying to make sure I understand your point... :^)

[MMushovic]

I should also note that, when lit, my battery status LEDs are YELLOW - not BLUE, as seen in the videos on YouTube. I therefore suspect component swapping or .... a forgery.
So, as a first step, maybe I should verify I have "real" boards that are actually designed by and built for spacehun...
Here come photos of the front and back sides of what I received. Can anyone compare these to what they purchased and note any differences and/or similarities...?

[MMushovic]

[MMushovic]

[MMushovic]

[MMushovic]

[MMushovic]

These look like the boards in spacehun's YouTube videos and - I should also note - they work great!
Again, I'm just trying to upload new code that tweaks the user interface a little.

[tobozo]

Windows situations are well known on the ESP8266 issue tracker.

Your dstike boards should be detected just like any other NodeMCU/ESP8266 dev board.

If you have another computer, you can try to plug it there and isolate the source of the issue from the results.
Until this is observed, it's hard to tell for sure if it's a hardware problem or a driver/windows problem.

Out of curiosity I plugged my v1.6 (same as yours) in a windows 10 machine and it successfully got detected as a LPT/COM device (I saw it appear in the device manager).

The device name is: Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge
Driver Manufacturer is: Integrisys S.A.

[spacehuhn]

@MMushovic don't spam please.
I would contact Travis over tindie or aliexpress, depending on where you bought it. My guess is that you got a board with a faulty module, or something like that.
That can happen from time to time.
Explain your problem and what you already tried and I'm sure you guys will figure something out.

[MMushovic]

I'm not sure how you see this as spamming....

Inspired by your notes and code posted on Github, I purchased TWO of these devices (via AliExpress) to tinker with. I am unable to proceed, however, as BOTH devices fail to detect when plugged into a USB port. I'd consider the "faulty module" theory if the observed behavior wasn't consistent, occurring on BOTH devices on multiple machines, using various cables. I think this is a design question or driver installation question and therefore perfect for a discussion in a forum such as this one.

BTW, who is Travis...?

[lspoplove]

Hello. I am travis.
I do not think it is a hardware problem because I test well before I send it.
I think you have a driver problem
Please download CP2102 driver from here :
http://dong-sen.com/faq/
Most fake nodmcu use ch340 driver it is different.
And the yellow LEDs is OK. Because the ones I sent to spacehuhn is a prototype...
Now my boards has yellow LEDs and green LEDs two version.
It does not effect.
So please setup CP2102 driver and have a try.

[lspoplove]

Another hint is : when you uploading the code, please take out the battery first....

[MMushovic]

Travis, do you need to hold down the F (flash) button when loading the code...?

[lspoplove]

No, You do not need to hold flash button when you use Arduino IDE

[MMushovic]

Travis, I found the problem: It was a cable without USB Data +/- lines. Swapping in yet another cable, I'm now able to detect the device.
Now, however, when I load the .BIN file to the device, the device no longer works - the screen stays black and the buttons do nothing. Any ideas...? Is this a simple issue with programming?

[lspoplove]

What kind of bin file are you using? And use which tool ? If possible please take pictures also.

[MMushovic]

The .BIN file is named "esp8266_deauther_1mb_oled_sh1106.bin" and comes from this page:
https://github.com/spacehuhn/esp8266_deauther/releases

The releases page linked off the project section of this page:
https://github.com/spacehuhn/esp8266_deauther

I've tried both the Arduino IDE based "compile source code" method and the nodemcu-flasher based "load bin file" method from your project page on GitHub.

What would you like photos of...?

[lspoplove]

It should work. After you upload the file, you have to unplug usb and reconnect it.

[MMushovic]

After you upload the file, you have to unplug usb and reconnect it.

I did. No effect. No screen and no function in the module.

It should work.

I agree.. but it doesn't... :^)

When I use either the nodemcu-flasher utility or the Arduino IDE, I do see the blue LED blink. I take this to mean firmware is being uploaded to the module. But then.... nothing.

I suspect the settings in the nodemcu-flasher utility.

Are there specific things I can take photos or screen shots of...? Would a video of the LED flashing help...?

[MMushovic]

Based on how this is going, I'm glad that I bought two devices. I still have one with all original code in it that still works fine. If I can look at anything in that module or it's firmware to help diagnose what's going on, please let me know...

[lspoplove]

Would you like to make a video? I want to know how you upload the firmware.

[MMushovic]

I decided to focus my efforts on the "load existing BIN file" approach as it seemed the least number of variables and would require the least effort.

After watching numerous YouTube videos, I learned more about how to use the _nodemcu-flasher_ program AND that it is notoriously flaky... that is, while it appears to work, it doesn't actually program successfully every time. Persistence and consecutive repeated attempts eventually resulted in success and I was finally able to load the BIN file into the board and get everything working again.

Thank you for your attention and help!

[MMushovic]

Now, in preparation for making the UI changes, I am back to trying compile and load (unmodified) source code into the boards via the Arduino IDE interface.

I've followed the setup steps outlined on the Github project page located here. Boards updated and files copied.

Next, I've installed the OLED library for my SH1106 based display; this library is located here. I'm assuming I've got the correct library since it is mentioned here.

Finally, I've uncommented (and commented out) the display type that I have (i.e. SH1106).

Compiling via the Arduino IDE interface gives no errors.

Uploading the new image via the Arduino IDE interface to the unit also gives no errors.

After unplugging and replugging the unit to USB, however, I get... nothing. No display. No function.

I can use _nodemcu-flasher_ to successfully reinstall the default BIN image and everything works again.

I'm close! But still not there.

While I dig thru all the other notes here, does anyone have any advice on what to look at next...?

[tobozo]

I had to choose the Generic ESP8266 Module with Flash Size at 1M (256K SPIFFS) to get things working.

Can you access your serial console while it's running? If so, does it ouput anything?

[MMushovic]

@tobozo , thank you for the note! I was using a different ESP8266 setting. But now, when I use your settings (above), I get the following errors during compilation:

Sketch uses 592210 bytes (77%) of program storage space. Maximum is 761840 bytes.
Global variables use 57924 bytes (70%) of dynamic memory, leaving 23996 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 81920 bytes.
warning: espcomm_sync failed
error: espcomm_open failed
error: espcomm_open failed

I feel like I'm getting closer... 👍

[tobozo]

did you close your serial window before uploading ?

[MMushovic]

Yes, I'm currently trying uploading with NO serial message window open and seeing the compilation errors above.

I also tried looking at debug messages via the serial port and do see messages as well as some gibberish characters.

I will close down serial, Arduino IDE, power cycle everything and try again...

[MMushovic]

And these are "uploader" errors I'm seeing not "compiler" (but it looks like you already figured that out :)

[MMushovic]

Just to double check: I do not need to hold FLASH or RESET buttons to upload... correct?

[MMushovic]

Do these Arduino IDE settings all look correct (or like yours)...?

[MMushovic]

Got it! I just changed Reset Method:from "ck" to "nodemcu"
Code now uploads and the device works!

[MMushovic]

Here are the Arduino IDE settings that allow me to update the device:

[MMushovic]

@tobozo - _thank you_ _again_ for the advice... it got me poking in the right direction!

[MMushovic]

Closing the issue... thanks to everyone who responded