Hi, I'm having difficulty using a Photon. I've used Arduinos many times and also used Teensy and Raspberry Pi a little, so I have decent skills at using devices but somehow can't do anything with the Photon. Here's what's happening:
Node.js, drivers, and Particle CLI install fine in Windows 7 as long as I use an old version of Node.js
When I type "particle setup" it cannot auto detect WiFi network. Manual mode can't connect, just hangs and keeps repeating "obtaining device information..." forever while the Photon blinks blue. SSID, password, and encryption mode are identical to what it says on a laptop that I can use to successfully connect to the same router and browse the Internet. If I unplug and replug the Photon, it blinks green.
I tried these instructions:
It says "Error: Command failed: 'dfu-util' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. 1 killed: false, code 1, signal: null" and continues blinking yellow.
When I type "particle serial wifi" it can auto detect the network if I'm using a laptop but not with a desktop. If I enter the correct information the indicator LED hangs on solid blue but never goes to cyan of any kind.
I can obtain the ID using putty or command line, but I cannot claim the Photon while logged into the web site. Particle Dev and Particle Build never recognize the Photon, even though command line does.
The Netgear N900 router does both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz. There's always a solid green light on 2.4 Ghz and a solid blue light on 5 Ghz. I don't know what those LED colors mean. The manual hasn't helped me, but maybe somebody with more experience will see something in here:
Help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. I'll check back on Monday and throughout next week to see if there are replies... (This is for my job.)
Hey there, glad to have you!
I'm just going to comment on some things, and we'll see for far we'll get before other chime in.
You say you have a Photon, yet try to do troubleshooting steps for a Core. That's not going to help.
You have either not installed DFU-util (properly), or have not added it to your path. Take a look at this guide.
Has your desktop got a wireless network card? It needs to have wifi in order to detect wifi.
That is correct. In order to be able to claim the device, it needs to be online (breathing cyan).
The Photon only supports 2.4GHz. Trying to set it up on 5GHz will not work, and might lead to the problems you're currently facing.
They certainly have nothing to do with your router, so that manual is pretty useless The LED colors for the Photon are describes over here.
So, with that said, could you try to get DFU-util installed properly. Then, put your device in DFU mode (blinking yellow) while hooked up to your computer. In the CLI, do particle update, after which you place it in DFU mode once more. Then do particle flash --usb tinker. Once that is done, put the device in listening mode. In the CLI, execute particle identify, and copy the ID. Then do particle serial wifi and follow the steps. Put the device in listening mode and do particle device add [ID]. It should not be online and claimed.
Please don't wait that long, you'd be surprised how quick this community is to react
Thanks Moors7 for the reply. I’m optimistic about your advice. I’ll try it later this week… I just got pulled into another project with a short deadline, so I can’t test it today.
On this page, I don’t see version 0.8 in Windows, only version 0.6, and the tutorial specifically says that version 0.8 is needed. http://dfu-util.sourceforge.net/releases/
Thanks Kenneth. I couldn’t unzip the tar.xz file, but I was able to use the directory off sourceforge. Successfully ran particle update, now I’ll attempt to get it working on a laptop…
Wow! I can’t believe the Photon is breathing Cyan and actually connected to the cloud. Particle setup did not work, but particle serial wifi did. Thanks for the help.
I got the blink example working with Particle Build, after claiming. When I flashed it, it did a lot of magenta and green flashing for awhile, then eventually settled into breathing cyan while flashing the blue light next to D7. I think that means it’s fully functional.
The LED colors for the Photon are describes over