Electron always in safe mode

Hi, suddenly every program i flash on my electron puts my electron into save mode (flashing magneta). Does anybody know how I can solve this ?
I don´t think the programs cause the problem beacuse they allready worked and even this code snippet puts the elctron into save mode:

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println(F("test"));

}

void loop() {
    Serial.print("test2");
}

Now the same thing is happening to me with my photon…
Putting in DFU mode and doing the flash of tinker app works … but any other software written by me does not work …

1 Like

This would indicate that your application firmware is targeted at a higher version system firmware than is installed on the device.
Either upgrade the system or select a lower version targetfor your app.

Just a few days ago the release of 0.5.1 was announced - this might be the reason.

how do I install a higher version on my device ?

Have a look here

(Sorry wrong link)

OK now works.

@antdem @ScruffR Sry if I ask but where do I have to select the newer version ? I can´t find that devices drawer

To use, select the 0.5.1 version dropdown from the devices drawer.

If you use Web builder IDE on the left select “devices” button then click on the right of your device and then select a firmware version in “Building with firmware:”. If you use “local” particle dev IDE I believe it is not selectable… but I’m not sure. (in my opinion automatically select latest version).

ah I see, it tells me that i have Version 1.5.0 on my device not 1.5.1,… but how can I upgrade my device to 1.5.1 ?

if i remember correctly the firmware is updating over the air… (if you connect device to the cloud).

than test for example in this manner if you have the right version…
https://docs.particle.io/reference/firmware/photon/#system-calls
System.version().c_str());

I prefer the manual update so in mac…

  1. sudo npm update -g particle-cli (for updating the client software)

  2. put your device in DFU mode

  3. particle update (for firmware update)

1 Like

Could you screenshot that, because there isn’t a version 1.5.0
If you want to upgrade your device, select the (higher) version you’d like to use, and click “flash”. Should upgrade automatically :smile:


If you’re using an Electron, this will do an OTA upgrade, which can cost quite a bit of data. To circumvent this, you could do the upgrade over USB using the CLI for example.

@Moors7 Sry I meant 0.5.0 :smiley:

@moors7, @antdem: Electron does not receive an auto-update due to data usage considerations.

And currently you won't be able to flash 0.5.1 OTA via Build because Build fails to recognize your 0.5.1 device as such.

To see what versions your firmware modules have you can use

particle serial inspect

0.5.0 would be displayed as #14 and
0.5.1 as #15

2 Likes

Ah OK… I don’t have an Electron module but I am interested in it. You can launch the OTA update for the user application program only? (If I understood correctly).

Yes, that’s so.
And even the app firmware should be OTA flashed with caution since each flash uses a bigger chunk of your data allowance.

I thought I would reply here just in case someone else has the same problem as me. I had a new version of the firmware however I was always getting placed into Safe Mode on boot.

Turns out I was compiling my code for v0.6.2 and I was running v0.6.0.

You can change this in build.particle.io, go to devices on the left, once in there click on the > next to the device you are using and there should be a drop down box.