Particle CLI Error (invalid json)

Troubleshooting
1

I’m getting an error when flashing a locally built firmware to a Photon. It’s not an incredibly useful error, and I’m unsure of how to get more debugging data from the CLI app. Here’s the error (and, dfu-util flashing with the particle-cli is working fine)

flash device said  {"error":"invalid_request","error_description":"Error: invalid json"}

Anyone got any ideas? Or at least how to get debugging info? I don’t know much about NodeJS, or troubleshooting it. The photon is showing online, and everything else with this install seems to work ok.

2

I see the same problem. Here’s the whole command and errors

particle flash ntk4 system-part1-0.4.3-photon.bin
Including:
    system-part1-0.4.3-photon.bin
attempting to flash firmware to your device ntk4
flash device said  {"error":"invalid_request","error_description":"Error: invalid json"}
1 Like
3

Pinging @nexxy (at least, I think you’re the CLI dev :-)) FYI, my error presents on Win7 32-bit.

4

hey @mumblepins, @pvanallen,

This is definitely no good. I know we made some recent changes, so I will take a look.

thanks for the ping!

5

I’ve tried this myself with version 1.5.16 of the CLI and it seems to work for me. Could you verify that you’re using the latest version?

Thanks!

6

Yup, 1.5.16. Even did a fresh install on a VM. Here’s the output of reinstalling and trying with just tinker.

C:\Users\IEUser>npm uninstall -g particle-cli
unbuild particle-cli@1.5.16

C:\Users\IEUser>npm install -g particle-cli
npm WARN engine particle-cli@1.5.16: wanted: {"node":"^0.10.0"} (current: {"node
":"0.12.7","npm":"2.11.3"})
-
> serialport@1.7.4 install C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\part
icle-cli\node_modules\serialport
> node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build

[serialport] Success: "C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\particle
-cli\node_modules\serialport\build\serialport\v1.7.4\Release\node-v14-win32-ia32
\serialport.node" is installed via remote
C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\npm\particle -> C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\
npm\node_modules\particle-cli\bin\particle.js
particle-cli@1.5.16 C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\particle-cl
i
├── cli-spinner@0.2.1
├── xtend@4.0.0
├── node-wifiscanner2@1.0.0
├── chalk@1.1.0 (escape-string-regexp@1.0.3, ansi-styles@2.1.0, supports-color@2
.0.0, strip-ansi@3.0.0, has-ansi@2.0.0)
├── when@3.7.3
├── glob@4.5.3 (inherits@2.0.1, inflight@1.0.4, once@1.3.2, minimatch@2.0.9)
├── request@2.59.0 (aws-sign2@0.5.0, forever-agent@0.6.1, caseless@0.11.0, oauth
-sign@0.8.0, tunnel-agent@0.4.1, stringstream@0.0.4, isstream@0.1.2, json-string
ify-safe@5.0.1, extend@3.0.0, node-uuid@1.4.3, combined-stream@1.0.5, qs@4.0.0,
form-data@1.0.0-rc1, mime-types@2.1.3, http-signature@0.11.0, bl@1.0.0, tough-co
okie@2.0.0, hawk@3.1.0, har-validator@1.8.0)
├── hogan.js@2.0.0
├── softap-setup@1.1.4 (nconf@0.7.1, node-rsa@0.2.24)
├── moment@2.10.3
├── inquirer@0.8.5 (figures@1.3.5, ansi-regex@1.1.1, cli-width@1.0.1, through@2.
3.8, readline2@0.1.1, lodash@3.10.0, rx@2.5.3)
└── serialport@1.7.4 (bindings@1.2.1, sf@0.1.7, async@0.9.0, debug@2.2.0, nan@1.
8.4, optimist@0.6.1)

C:\Users\IEUser>particle list
CorePrime [55ff6d065075555337361887] (Core) is offline
PinlessPhoton [2c002f000447343232363230] (Photon) is offline
PinPhoton [1b0034000447343233323032] (Photon) is online
  Functions:
    int digitalread(String args)
    int digitalwrite(String args)
    int analogread(String args)
    int analogwrite(String args)

C:\Users\IEUser>particle flash PinPhoton tinker
Including:
    C:\Users\IEUser\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\particle-cli\binaries\spark
_tinker.bin
attempting to flash firmware to your device PinPhoton
flash device said  {"error":"invalid_request","error_description":"Error: invali
d json"}
7

@mumblepins,

Thanks for the error output! I will try to reproduce this and make a fix.

8

@nexxy that sounds more like a server side issue no?

9

@kennethlimcp, it’s possible! I haven’t been able to reproduce this issue on OS X.

1 Like
10

I never saw that issue before and that response {"error":"invalid_request","error_description":"Error: invalid json"} is from the :cloud: side.

Don’t see anything major change in CLI V1.5.16 that would break that.

Might want to check in with @dave

2 Likes
11

I had exactly the same issue earlier.

I had used

particle flash -usb tinker

to try and put tinker on a device and got the strange invalid json error.

Turns out I needed to use

--usb

Might be the same for you.

12

You might be referring to a separate issue.

They are using OTA while you are using USB DFU transfer.

13

@mumblepins, @TinamousSteve any updates here? :wink: