Issue with Photon - Blinking blue

[Gildas Knight]

Hello,

I tried several demo from cubetube without issue. But since I tried my first demo, my cube seems "blocked". The blue led on Photon blinking.

I tried to reconfigure wifi but without sucess. Now I cannot from IOS app Particle add my cube. Any suggestion? Thanks

[Gildas Knight]

I done a reset factory. The blue led still blink. When I trie to configure wifi with IOS app I have an error message indicating that it doesn't can communicate with spark cloud...

[Gildas Knight]

Well done! I successfully configured the wifi. Now that rocks! Fun :)

[Rahul Rai]

Hey, I've been having the same issue, photon is stuck in blinking blue state. It connects to the wifi, but fails at the cloud stage. How did you finally get it to work?

-Thanks

[Werner M.]

Hi Rahul,

You might wanna try clean up and reset your photon's internal registers by flashing it with a "reset" binary - see steps:

In the forums @Particle, I've encountered a solution that got me through these unforeseen circumstances.
There is a firmware "reset" binary that can be uploaded to your photon and it does some cleaning up in critical register areas of the processor.
Basically, the steps to recover from nasty crashes are:

• Device in DFU mode (flashing yellow), download and flash the reset.bin binary to it:
  

  dfu-util -d 2b04:d006 -a 0 -s 0x8020000 -D reset.bin

• Device will reboot, and (depending on which state it was left) it may start blinking green, blue, white, cyan... (cannot predict, as I have no clue what was done to it prior to crash)
• Again, with device in DFU mode (flashing yellow), download and flash the system_pad_BM-09.bin binary to it:

• dfu-util -d 2b04:d006 -a 0 -s 0x8020000:leave -D system_pad_BM-09.bin

• Device will reboot, and (depending on which state it was left) it may start breathing cyan, or it may require you to setup your wifi credentials again
• Regardless of what happens after the above step: put your device into listening mode (flashing blue, if it hasn't defaulted to that) - go ahead and fill in your wifi credentials:

• particle setup wifi

After getting your device to "breathe" again, you might wanna flash it with one of the visualizations (use one that worked before) off the cloud right away. You will notice that it'll take extra time for your photon's LED to stop flashing purple (a good 15~20m, depending on your connection). Don't fret. Also, don't unplug or reset your device. It may even reset and re-start flashing purple a couple times. Leave it alone. What's happening, is that the L3D libraries and latest firmware from particle are being pushed into your photon.

Everything working fine so far, your photon should reset itself for the last time into a nice "breathing" state. Hopefully.

[Rahul Rai]

Thank you! But i've to admit i'm a bit lost trying to find instructions for the dfu-util for windows. I don't know where i would run the commands listed in the link.

Thanks!

[Gildas Knight]

Hello Rahul,

You can try a reset. The procesure was desribed here : https://docs.particle.io/guide/getting-started/modes/photon/

But that strange now it's indicating for photon the reset mode is not available.... That seems wrong.

But you can follow the process bellow:

1. Hold down BOTH buttons on photon
2. Release only the RESET button, while holding down the SETUP button.
3. Wait for the LED to start flashing green
4. Release the SETUP button

 

[Werner M.]

Hi Rahul,

The commands are run in a command prompt window (assuming you're using windows), after successfull installation of the CLI tools and drivers.
Then for the DFU mode commands I've listed, you also need to install the DFU utilities.

After successfully following the procedures described above, you can go back to my previous comment and follow the steps for flashing the reset.bin and system_pad_BM-09.bin binaries into your photon.
After lots of trial and error, I've found these to be more effective than a factory reset.

[Michael Teer]

Hello Werner,

I am having the same problem. I have tried 2 different Photons, same result.

Photon setup unable to automatically connect to wi-fi networks.

Proceeding in manual mode, I connect to the Photon's wi-fi network.

Regardless of whether I manually enter wi-fi config manually or automatically, the photon seems to connect to my wi-fi network, but can not be found on the cloud and remains in blinking mode.

Here is a copy of the script:

C:\Users\Michael\Downloads\dfu-util-0.8-binaries\win32-mingw32>particle setup

                  _   _      _        _

 _ __   __ _ _ __| |_(_) ___| | ___  (_) ___

| '_ \ / _` | '__| __| |/ __| |/ _ \ | |/ _ \

| |_) | (_| | |  | |_| | (__| |  __/_| | (_) |

| .__/ \__,_|_|   \__|_|\___|_|\___(_)_|\___/

|_|                     https://particle.io/

> Setup is easy! Let's get started...

> It appears as though you are already logged in as michael...@gmail.com

? Would you like to log in with a different account? No

! PROTIP: Hold the MODE/SETUP button on your device until it blinks blue!

! PROTIP: Please make sure you are connected to the internet.

> I have detected a Photon connected via USB.

? Would you like to continue with this one? Yes

! The Photon supports secure Wi-Fi setup. We'll try that first.

! PROTIP: Wireless setup of Photons works like a wizard!

! PROTIP: We will automagically change the Wi-Fi network to which your computer

is connected.

! PROTIP: You will lose your connection to the internet periodically.

? Found "Photon-R9E2". Would you like to perform setup on this one now? Yes

! PROTIP: You will need to know the password for your Wi-Fi network (if any) to

proceed.

! PROTIP: You can press ctrl + C to quit setup at any time.

> Obtained magical secure claim code.

! I am unable to automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks (-___-)

? We can still proceed in 'manual' mode. Would you like to continue? Yes

? Please connect to the Photon-R9E2 network now. Press enter when ready.

> Now to configure our precious Photon

! PROTIP: If you want to skip scanning, or your network is configured as a

! PROTIP: non-broadcast network, please enter manual mode to proceed...

? Would you like to manually enter your Wi-Fi network configuration? No

? Please select the network to which your Photon should connect: (Use arrow keys

? Please select the network to which your Photon should connect: NQDSL

? Please enter your network password (or leave blank for none): 1234567890

> Here's what we're going to send to the Photon:

> Wi-Fi Network: NQDSL

> Password: 1234567890

> Security: WEP PSK

? Would you like to continue with the information shown above? Yes

> Obtaining device information...

> Requesting public key from the device...

> Setting the magical cloud claim code...

> Telling the Photon to apply your Wi-Fi configuration...

> The Photon will now attempt to connect to your Wi-Fi network...

> Configuration complete! You've just won the internet!

? Please re-connect your computer to your Wi-Fi network now. Press enter when re

? Please re-connect your computer to your Wi-Fi network now. Press enter when re

ady.

! It doesn't look like your Photon has made it to the cloud yet.

? What would you like to do? (Use arrow keys)

> Reconfigure the Wi-Fi settings of the Photon

  Check again to see if the Photon has connected

As you can see, I have downloaded DFU-Util, and tried a factory reset. Only problem is the Photon DFU Mode drivers do not seem to be installed so I get this error:

C:\Users\Michael\Downloads\dfu-util-0.8-binaries\win32-mingw32>dfu-util -d 2b04:

d006 -a 0 -s 0x8020000 -D reset.bin

dfu-util 0.8

Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.

Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt

This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

Please report bugs to dfu-...@lists.gnumonks.org

Invalid DFU suffix signature

A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!

Deducing device DFU version from functional descriptor length

No DFU capable USB device available

C:\Users\Michael\Downloads\dfu-util-0.8-binaries\win32-mingw32>

I appreciate your feedback,

Michael

[Michael Teer]

Oh, and by the way. When the script says the device will restart, it does not - it remains in a blinking blue state.

C:\Users\Michael\Downloads\dfu-util-0.8-binaries\win32-mingw32>particle setup wifi

? Should I scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks? Yes

? Select the Wi-Fi network with which you wish to connect your device: (Use arro

? Select the Wi-Fi network with which you wish to connect your device: NQDSL

? Security Type: WEP

? Wi-Fi Password: 1234567890

Attempting to configure Wi-Fi on COM11

I said: w

Serial said: SSID:

I said: NQDSL

Serial said: NQDSL

Security 0=unsecured, 1=WEP, 2=WPA, 3=WPA2:

I said: 1

Serial said: 1

Password:

I said: 1234567890

Serial said: 1234567890

Thanks! Wait while I save those credentials...

Done! Your device should now restart.

C:\Users\Michael\Downloads\dfu-util-0.8-binaries\win32-mingw32>

Thanks, Michael

[Joep Schipper]

Hallo,

I had the same issue: blinking blue and not working. Greatest problem: i am a absolute digibeet. I tried connecting the photon via the usb and tried most steps as above. When stuck i cried much tears. and waited.

With my photon still connected via usb i looked on the particle app on my iPhone. There was the name of my Photon but "offline".  I tried on my iPhone to become "online" Yes as a wonder it became "online" , green, and my photon began working and downloading again with the demo. I have not the slightest garanty for a solution  to offer you,  but  trying the same is free!  Goog luck.  Joep

Op donderdag 13 augustus 2015 19:52:52 UTC+2 schreef Gildas Knight:

[Werner M.]

Hi Michael,

From everything you've posted, the interesting bit is this:

No DFU capable USB device available

What this tells me (clearly) is that you forgot to put your photon in DFU mode.

So if you got this far, try once again with the photon in DFU mode, run:

dfu-util -d 2b04:d006 -a 0 -s 0x8020000 -D reset.bin

dfu-util -d 2b04:d006 -a 0 -s 0x8020000:leave -D system_pad_BM-09.bin

After that, follow the rest of the procedure I described in my post to @Rahul.

[Werner M.]

Btw, just so we're clear: This procedure (DFU mode) also means your photon is connected via USB (and with proper drivers installed as well - refer to the links on my post to @Rahul).

[Michael Teer]

Hi Werner,

I verified the unit was in DFU mode, after re-installing the device drivers. Unfortunately, I get the same error. I believe I am receiving the dfu-util error because:

- In the Windows Device Manager, when the Photon is put in DFU mode, the device shows the drivers are not properly installed.

In listening mode, the Device Manager shows the Photons drivers are installed properly.

Any suggestions on how to get the drivers properly installed when in DFU? Thank you so much!

Michael

[Werner M.]

Any suggestions on how to get the drivers properly installed when in DFU? Thank you so much!

Yep Michael - make sure you've accomplished these guidelines all the way through, before you retry connecting your photon in DFU mode.