hi all.
I have mistakenly upgraded an electron from 0.6.2 to 0.8.0-rc1 and would like to downgrade to 0.6.4. Before proceeding, I would like to make sure this is the correct way.
I have downloaded :
system-part1-0.6.4-electron.bin
system-part2-0.6.4-electron.bin
system-part3-0.6.4-electron.bin
To downgrade: set the electron in DFU mode and flash in reverse order:
particle flash --usb system-part3-0.6.4-electron.bin
particle flash --usb system-part2-0.6.4-electron.bin
particle flash --usb system-part1-0.6.4-electron.bin
is this correct?
Thank you.
That should work, but particle updaet might do the same too as that command (with most recent CLI) should flash the most recent official release version (haven’t tried tho’)
1 Like
Thank you ScruffR.
Here is what I have done, not sure if that was the best way, but it worked:
npm update -g particle-cli -> Version 1.27.0
electron in DFU mode
particle update -> System firmware update successfully completed!
electron in Listening Mode
particle identify -> Unable to determine system firmware version
electron in DFU mode
particle flash --usb system-part1-0.6.4-electron.bin
particle flash --usb system-part2-0.6.4-electron.bin
particle flash --usb system-part3-0.6.4-electron.bin
electron in Listening Mode
particle identify -> Your system firmware version is 0.6.4
Best.
Sharly
And to complete, upgrading an electron from 0.6.2 to 0.6.4
electron in DFU mode
particle update -> System firmware update successfully completed!
electron in Listening Mode
particle identify -> Your system firmware version is 0.6.4
For newbies who might find this.
For Electron, I always have to find and download the system files, and then download them to electron via usb cable with “particle flash” in the CLI (command line interface).
Despite documentation and suggestions on the forum here, “particle update” in the CLI has never done anything when I use it. It writes that it updates and update done but it is not (according to the IDE when trying to flash some code - despite refreshing etc.).
The firmware manager referenced in the docs only goes up to 0.6.0 for mac OS X and Windows. It was extremely useful. It seems that trail was dumped. Nobody seems to know why.
Firmware updating automatically via the IDE also do not work for electron, despite the notes for the 0.6.4 release indicating that you can just select 0.6.4 as a target.
When you just join the platform it seems like glaring omissions, going through all these non starters.
At least “downgrading” the documentation to reality would be good.
The particle update command updates to the system firmware version for the version of the CLI you have installed, not the latest system firmware release.
For Windows users who used the Particle CLI installer, it will be updated automatically so it usually is the latest system firmware release.
For Mac and Linux users who installed manually earlier, you need to manually update the CLI to get newer system firmware versions.
sudo npm install -g particle-cli
However it’s not a bad idea to switch to using the automatically updated version. To do that, uninstall the old version, then install the new version using the CLI installer. In addition to auto-updating, the new version doesn’t require sudo and doesn’t depend on your global node install.
sudo npm uninstall -g particle-cli
bash <( curl -sL https://particle.io/install-cli )
There are two parts to a firmware update, the version you are targeting, and the version installed on the device. For Wi-Fi devices, there isn’t really much of a difference, because when you target a higher system firmware version than is on the device, it goes into Safe Mode (breathing magenta) and then gets a system firmware update over-the-air using the safe-mode-healer.
Non-product Electrons have safe-mode-healer disabled, because the updates occurs OTA and can use a lot of data. Thus if you target a higher version that is installed, the device will just sit in safe mode, breathing magenta, waiting for you to manually upgrade the Electron (either by USB, or manually OTA).
Thanks. I am on Mac with CLI v1.22.0 seen with “particle --version”. Upgraded manually with
sudo npm update -g particle-cli
“Particle update” still did not work today updating a device from 0.6.2 to 0.6.4, despite succesful message. I had to do it downloading the files again.
I am sure updates from the IDE are blocked for a good reason. I just wish that people who do not know what sudo means, could also have the choice to get easily started with Electron updating system firmware. Even if it would be expensive (as already warned).