Cannot flash a generic ESP32

[jonnor]

I am trying to flash an M5StickC PLUS 2. I use a ESP32_GENERIC image with SPIRAM variant usually. It works great when flashing using esptool.py - but it does not work with mpflash which I just installed with "pip install mpflash".

Using no arguments

mpflash flash

Expected: Board is automatically identified, or if that fails, either fallback to generic - or inform me as use how to specify required information.

Actual, errors with UNKNOWN_BOARD

14:11:02 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD version v1.25.0
14:11:02 | ⚠️ No v1.25.0 firmware found for UNKNOWN_BOARD on /dev/ttyACM0.
14:11:02 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD version v1.25.0
14:11:02 | ℹ️ Downloading v1.25.0 firmware for UNKNOWN_BOARD on /dev/ttyACM0.
14:11:02 | ℹ️ Found 0 potentially relevant firmwares
14:11:02 | ❌ No relevant firmwares could be found on https://micropython.org/download
14:11:02 | ℹ️ versions=['v1.25.0'] ports=['esp32'] boards=['UNKNOWN_BOARD', 'UNKNOWN_BOARD']
14:11:02 | ℹ️ Please check the website for the latest firmware files or try the preview version.
14:11:02 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD version v1.25.0

mpflash list is able to see that this is an ESP32 with SPIRAM

Using specific board and variant

mpflash flash --erase --variant spiram --board ESP32_GENERIC

Expected: Flash using the board/variant information I specify, regardless of what the device reports

Actual: Errors with UNKNOWN_BOARD

14:05:14 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD-spiram version v1.25.0
14:05:14 | ⚠️ No v1.25.0 firmware found for UNKNOWN_BOARD on /dev/ttyACM0.
14:05:14 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD-spiram version v1.25.0
14:05:14 | ℹ️ Downloading v1.25.0 firmware for UNKNOWN_BOARD on /dev/ttyACM0.
14:05:15 | ℹ️ Found 0 potentially relevant firmwares
14:05:15 | ❌ No relevant firmwares could be found on https://micropython.org/download
14:05:15 | ℹ️ versions=['v1.25.0'] ports=['esp32'] boards=['UNKNOWN_BOARD', 'UNKNOWN_BOARD']
14:05:15 | ℹ️ Please check the website for the latest firmware files or try the preview version.
14:05:15 | ⚠️ No firmware files found for board UNKNOWN_BOARD-spiram version v1.25.0

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/bin/mpflash", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(mpflash())
             ~~~~~~~^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/mpflash/cli_main.py", line 29, in mpflash
    result = cli(standalone_mode=True)
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/rich_click/rich_command.py", line 404, in __call__
    return super().__call__(*args, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1442, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/rich_click/rich_command.py", line 187, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1830, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1226, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
           ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 794, in invoke
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/mpflash/cli_flash.py", line 229, in cli_flash_board
    jid.ensure_firmware_downloaded(worklist, version=params.versions[0], force=params.force)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/jon/projects/emlearn-micropython/examples/har_trees/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/mpflash/download/jid.py", line 47, in ensure_firmware_downloaded
    raise MPFlashError(f"Failed to download {version} firmware for {mcu.board} on {mcu.serialport}.")
mpflash.errors.MPFlashError: Failed to download v1.25.0 firmware for UNKNOWN_BOARD on /dev/ttyACM0.

[Josverl]

There was an error in the v1.25.0 logic that even when specifying a BOARD_ID on the commandline , or by selection , that mpflash would still do a scan of the connected boards, and then use that (possibly incorrect) info.

I have fixed that, and also made it simpler to flash all connected boards boards with the same firmware.
v1.25.0.post4 is on PyPI, please give that a test.

mpflash flash --board ESP32_GENERIC --variant SPIRAM --erase

or for a custom firmware folder:
mkdir ./custom
MPFLASH_FIRMWARE="./custom" mpflash flash --board ESP32_GENERIC --variant SPIRAM --erase

[jonnor]

@Josverl tested with both 1 device, and 3 devices at the same time. Works great! Thank you so much for the superfast response time!

[Josverl]

Thanks for being a vocal guinea pig

[jonnor]

@Josverl Unfortunately, it does not seem that the --variant spiram is respected. It still ends up flashing the non-spiram version

(venv) [jon@jon-thinkpad har_trees]$ time mpflash flash --board ESP32_GENERIC --variant spiram
01:18:11 | ℹ️ Flashing ESP32_GENERIC spiram v1.25.0 to 3 serial ports
01:18:11 | ℹ️ Target ports: /dev/ttyACM0, /dev/ttyACM1, /dev/ttyACM2
01:18:11 | ℹ️ Updating ESP32_GENERIC on /dev/ttyACM0 to v1.25.0
01:18:11 | ℹ️ Flashing custom/esp32/ESP32_GENERIC-v1.25.0.bin on ESP32_GENERIC on /dev/ttyACM0
01:18:11 | ℹ️ Running esptool --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 -b 921600 write_flash --flash_mode keep --flash_size detect
--compress 0x1000 custom/esp32/ESP32_GENERIC-v1.25.0.bin

In the verification step, the listing output is also missing variant SPIRAM.

I copied the SPIRAM binary over the generic one as a workaround for now. Then it shows variant SPIRAM at the end

[Josverl]

Sorry, my bad for dropping the --variant in this scenario.
mpflash v1.25.1 works , on my machine at least.

My Hardware in the Loop testrig needs a rebuild , and I need to up the test scenarios.