Stuck in AP Mode After Attempted Upgrade

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George Ioakimedes

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Jun 4, 2022, 4:42:29 PM6/4/22
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I have one of those sealed WiFi plugs that's been running Tasmota for a long time. Yesterday I decided to try an upgrade from I believe 11.1 (11.x for sure). After that I could not access the plug.

It boots up and goes into AP mode and is using the old Hostname. I can connect to the AP and I get assigned 192.168.4.2 yet I cannot access 192.168.4.1.

I've tried the 6 power cycles and also the button hold for 40 seconds but neither seem to do anything. The button on the side still toggles the relay so things are basically working. 

Does anyone have any other tricks or maybe is there another page I can test to access like 192.168.4.1/please-let-me-in  ??

Philip Knowles

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Jun 4, 2022, 4:57:00 PM6/4/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

If you are on the correct AP you could try sending the wifi configuration as a backlogged http request

http://192.168.4.1/cm>cmnd=backlog%20ssid1...

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

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George Ioakimedes

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Jun 4, 2022, 4:58:44 PM6/4/22
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Thanks!

Where's the link to this so I can get the full command correct?

Philip Knowles

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Jun 4, 2022, 5:00:49 PM6/4/22
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George Ioakimedes

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Jun 5, 2022, 2:12:55 PM6/5/22
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I popped on Discord yesterday to see if anyone had any ideas and tried a few things but nothing worked. First I tried:


and then I tried:

 which also didn't work. Both just displayed this in the browser:

{"Command":"Unknown"}

If I change the beginning to force an incorrect line (192.168.4.1/cm?Power%20On) I get a different response: 

 {"WARNING" : "Enter command cmnd="} 

So it's not totally bricked but possibly not alive enough to bring it back to life. It seems like there must be something that can be done since it does respond and it does boot up in AP mode

Philip Knowles

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Jun 5, 2022, 4:03:24 PM6/5/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

You need to put the code for ; (%3b) in the string to separate the commands not & and use %20 not = (commands don’t use =) as it explains on the commands page

 

http://192.168.4.1/cm?cmnd=backlog%20ssid1%20myssid%3bpassword1%20mypassword%3brestart%201

 

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: George Ioakimedes
Sent: 05 June 2022 19:13
To: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Re: Stuck in AP Mode After Attempted Upgrade

 

I popped on Discord yesterday to see if anyone had any ideas and tried a few things but nothing worked. First I tried:

 

 

and then I tried:

 

 which also didn't work. Both just displayed this in the browser:

 

{"Command":"Unknown"}

 

If I change the beginning to force an incorrect line (192.168.4.1/cm?Power%20On) I get a different response: 

 

 {"WARNING" : "Enter command cmnd="} 

 

So it's not totally bricked but possibly not alive enough to bring it back to life. It seems like there must be something that can be done since it does respond and it does boot up in AP mode

On Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 2:00:49 PM UTC-7 knowles...@gmail.com wrote:

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: George Ioakimedes
Sent: 04 June 2022 21:58
To: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Re: Stuck in AP Mode After Attempted Upgrade

 

Thanks!

 

Where's the link to this so I can get the full command correct?

On Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 1:57:00 PM UTC-7 knowles..@gmail.com wrote:

If you are on the correct AP you could try sending the wifi configuration as a backlogged http request

http://192.168.4.1/cm>cmnd=backlog%20ssid1...

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: George Ioakimedes
Sent: 04 June 2022 21:42
To: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Stuck in AP Mode After Attempted Upgrade

 

I have one of those sealed WiFi plugs that's been running Tasmota for a long time. Yesterday I decided to try an upgrade from I believe 11.1 (11.x for sure). After that I could not access the plug.

 

It boots up and goes into AP mode and is using the old Hostname. I can connect to the AP and I get assigned 192.168.4.2 yet I cannot access 192.168.4.1.

 

I've tried the 6 power cycles and also the button hold for 40 seconds but neither seem to do anything. The button on the side still toggles the relay so things are basically working. 

 

Does anyone have any other tricks or maybe is there another page I can test to access like 192.168.4.1/please-let-me-in  ??

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George Ioakimedes

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Jun 6, 2022, 11:56:03 AM6/6/22
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I was trying both ways but I guess I missed some URL replacements. Thanks for the correct format but that also come back with the command unknown. The button still toggles the relay and the LED flashes alternating colors so code is running, more than the AP code. 

Do you have any other ideas?

Philip Knowles

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Jun 6, 2022, 12:56:39 PM6/6/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

You could try each command individually

http://192.168.4.1/cm?cmnd=ssid1%20<myssid>

 

etc.

If it accepts commands in AP mode you shouldn’t get command unknown unless there’s a typo (or you have ‘special characters’ in the ssid or password in which case you need to substitute - %2a for * for example)

 

I presume that you’ve tried fast power cycling and holding button for 40 seconds to force a reset.

 

does

http://192.168.4.1/cm?cmnd=power1%201

 

operate the relay? It may not but if it does you know it’s not dead.

 

Phil K

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 6, 2022, 10:00:16 PM6/6/22
to Philip Knowles, TasmotaUsers
Good idea but same results unfortunately. It does not operate the relay when in AP mode (I wonder if on a working device if it does)?

I've tried holding the button in for more than 40 seconds but that doesn't appear to do anything.

The 6-7 times power cycling may be doing something but it's not working as expected. I think at one point I connected to a new AP name but it asked for a password and I can't find what the old default password was (is?).

Philip Knowles

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Jun 7, 2022, 1:38:45 AM6/7/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers
It may not work because the configuration has been reset. When trying the separate commands did you get the unknown command response?

From: George Ioakimedes <georg...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 2:59:59 AM
To: Philip Knowles <knowles...@gmail.com>
Cc: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 7, 2022, 12:08:15 PM6/7/22
to Philip Knowles, TasmotaUsers
Yes, I got the same unknown command. I do get a different response if I try to go to something like 192.168.4.1/info?. I think I get file not found and some other GET information. This is just so odd that it's able to get into AP mode and assign the phone an IP address when connected. Maybe the SPIFFs area is corrupt somehow which is why the main page doesn't display. I would think there must be some way to bring this guy back to life but I'm not sure when in AP mode what I can do to mimic interacting with the main page.

Philip Knowles

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Jun 7, 2022, 4:00:01 PM6/7/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

I wonder if

http://192.168.4.1/cm?cmnd=wificonfig%202

might force it to respond?

 

Phil K

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

From: George Ioakimedes
Sent: 07 June 2022 17:08
To: Philip Knowles
Cc: TasmotaUsers
Subject: Re: Stuck in AP Mode After Attempted Upgrade

 

Yes, I got the same unknown command. I do get a different response if I try to go to something like 192.168.4.1/info?. I think I get file not found and some other GET information. This is just so odd that it's able to get into AP mode and assign the phone an IP address when connected. Maybe the SPIFFs area is corrupt somehow which is why the main page doesn't display. I would think there must be some way to bring this guy back to life but I'm not sure when in AP mode what I can do to mimic interacting with the main page.

 

On Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 10:38 PM Philip Knowles <knowles...@gmail.com> wrote:

It may not work because the configuration has been reset. When trying the separate commands did you get the unknown command response?

 

Philip Knowles

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Jun 7, 2022, 4:05:54 PM6/7/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

http://192.168.4.1/cm?cmnd=reset%203

Might also clear scrambled memory

 

Sent from Mail for Windows

 

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 11:41:06 AM6/10/22
to Philip Knowles, TasmotaUsers
Same command unknown. I haven't had the time but I was thinking of looking at the code that runs when it's in AP mode and seeing what is done in the normal operation when you enter your WiFi information? So instead of trying to run commands I would mimic what the code does when you press the SAVE button.

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 12:35:58 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

So when I reset a spare device it’s

192.168.4.1/wi?s1=ssid&p1=password&save=

 

Good luck because I think that’s the last throw of the dice.

 

Regards

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 2:57:56 PM6/10/22
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WOW! I was looking through the source code and found this,  Tasmota/xdrv_01_webserver.ino at development · arendst/Tasmota (github.com)

So I decided to try getting to a console and it the console loads! It looks like it has an older WiFi SSID and it says that it's in MINIMAL firmware so I'm back to reading the commands to see if I can get it to connect

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 3:04:06 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

In console the

Backlog ssid1 ssid; password1 password; restart 1

Should work

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 3:53:30 PM6/10/22
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Looks it's teasing me again. I just have a nice web page that returns command unknown when I try any of the commands. It does tell me that it's running minimal firmware and for some reason it can't connect to my WiFi but it was before I tried the upgrade. 
2022-06-10 11.54.26.jpg

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 3:57:15 PM6/10/22
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Here's what it shows when I try to list the SSID. But it did take the restart command so once again it's just teasing me as it's so close...
2022-06-10 12.54.53.jpg

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 4:11:05 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers
What happened when you tried the 'wi' command as an http?
From: sonof...@googlegroups.com <sonof...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of George Ioakimedes <georg...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2022 8:57:14 PM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 4:25:17 PM6/10/22
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You get:

File Not Found 
 URI: /wi 
Method: GET 
Arguments: 0

I think the problem is that it's running the minimal firmware AND for some reason it can't connect to my WiFi (even though I have it 2M away from my router). There are only a handful of commands that seem to work which I guess makes sense when you're running minimal. If I could pull up a page to upload firmware I'd be set but I can't figure how to do that if it won't connect to my router

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 4:27:32 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers

It just occurred to me that the wifi code may be missing in minimal

 

In your console try (you might need to change the version if you in the process of bringing an olish one up)

Otaurl https://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota/release/tasmota.bin

upgrade

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 4:57:52 PM6/10/22
to TasmotaUsers
It was set to the .gz but I figured I'd try the uncompressed version. I think the problem is that it can't connect to my AP which means it can't grab the firmware. SSID1/Password1 aren't included in the minimal firmware (which seems really odd) because those give me the command unknown response.

So we know it's not dead, it's just not connecting my AP and stuck in minimal firmware. There must be a way to get it to pop up the window so I can load firmware from my device

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 5:29:41 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers
Well if you point otaurl to a file on your laptop....
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2022 9:57:52 PM
To: TasmotaUsers <sonof...@googlegroups.com>

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 5:31:10 PM6/10/22
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I doubt this helps but just for documentation purposes I thought I list the complete web log after setting it to mode 4 (one of the few commands that works in minimal firmware):

00:00:00.001 HDW: ESP8266EX
00:00:00.046 CFG: Loaded from flash at FB, Count 1724
00:00:00.050 Project tasmota - OctoPi-Plug Version 11.1.0(minimal)-2_7_4_9(2022-04-13T06:40:39)
00:00:00.051 WARNING This version does not support persistent settings
00:00:00.543 WIF: Connecting to AP1 iotech-2.4GHz Channel 8 BSSId 0E:02:8E:90:20:2D in mode 11n as OctoPi-Plug...
00:00:09.931 WIF: Connect failed as AP cannot be reached
00:00:09.932 WIF: WifiManager active for 3 minutes
00:00:10.572 HTP: Web server active on OctoPi-Plug with IP address 192.168.4.1
00:01:46.241 CMD: weblog 4
00:01:46.244 RSL: RESULT = {"WebLog":4}
00:01:53.524 CMD: upgrade
00:01:53.525 SRC: WebConsole from 192.168.4.2
00:01:53.527 CMD: Grp 0, Cmd 'UPGRADE', Idx 1, Len 0, Pld -99, Data ''
00:01:53.528 RSL: RESULT = {"Upgrade":"1 or >11.1.0 to upgrade"}
00:02:07.419 CMD: upgrade 1
00:02:07.420 SRC: WebConsole from 192.168.4.2
00:02:07.421 CMD: Grp 0, Cmd 'UPGRADE', Idx 1, Len 1, Pld 1, Data '1'
00:02:07.423 RSL: RESULT = {"Upgrade":"Version 11.1.0 from http://ota.tasmota.com/tasmota/release/tasmota.bin.gz"}
00:02:07.833 HTP: Redirected to captive portal
00:02:08.133 HTP: Redirected to captive portal

I tried removing security/password from my router and confirmed that the SSID is spelled exactly the same. No luck doing that and since it can go into AP mode and issue an IP address as well as interact in the console that means that the plugs WiFi must be working so I'm confused why it can't connect and I'm afraid of trying any reset functions as that might cause more harm than good.

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 5:33:02 PM6/10/22
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" Well if you point otaurl to a file on your laptop...."

How do you think it expects that? file://but-then-which-directory??

There must be a way to call the window that pops up to prompt you to select the file

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 5:38:57 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers
If you create a folder in the root of c:\tasmota and put the file in it and then create a share tasmota in Networks and Sgaring you can then point to 192.168.4.2\tasmota
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2022 10:33:02 PM

George Ioakimedes

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Jun 10, 2022, 5:57:15 PM6/10/22
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OK, today is my lucky day!

First, I could access 192.168.4.1/mn? but that just gave me a button for the console and a button for the main page. The console button worked but the main page just points you to 192.168.4.1/? which doesn't work.

So sleuthing the code again I saw /up was an option so I tried 192.168.4.1/up? and that brought up the upload page! From there it got me the window to upload and it performed the upgrade successfully. It still came back up in AP mode but this time I was in full mode so all commands worked. Once I entered my 2nd SSID (didn't get to the Password2) it restarted and it's connected and running.

Thanks for all the ideas and hanging in there. I never would have guessed this would work but maybe some day it will help someone else!

This must mean it's time for a beer!
OctoPi-PlugPage.png

Philip Knowles

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Jun 10, 2022, 6:15:31 PM6/10/22
to George Ioakimedes, TasmotaUsers
Got there in the end. Well done!
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2022 10:57:15 PM
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