My Spark Core (probably less than a year old) all of a sudden last month dropped offline, it took me a while to get it (remote install) but I have now recovered it and found that no matter what it is stuck pulsing white (I have tried three resets and all sorts, separate power supplies etc)
I have searched around and details for this appear a little vague but potentially the wifi module has been disabled? I’m at a loss to why because it has one program running on it and I have not touched it for some months.
I’ve had a confusing morning with dfu-util, .js and all sorts but essentially I can get it into DFU mode so it is not dead but I am at a loss as to what to do from here. I have tried to reflash the firmware using 0.4.9 with the instructions here https://github.com/spark/firmware/releases/tag/v0.4.9-rc.3 but using the CLI method I get ‘no system firmware updates available for this device’.
I’m at a loss as to what to do now - could anyone help me turn the wifi back on or reflash the system firmware?
Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Opening DFU capable USB device...
ID 1d50:607f
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 1024
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash "
Downloading to address = 0x08005000, size = 79996
Download [=========================] 100% 79996 bytes
Download done.
File downloaded successfully
Transitioning to dfuMANIFEST state
Invalid DFU suffix signature
A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!
Cannot open DFU device 1d50:607f
Flash success!
I'm not convinced that it has flashed anything, running dfu-util -l I get the devices but I am not sure what the invalid dfu suffix signature means, searching on Google seems to suggest that comes up for reflashing attempts.
It goes back to pulsing white - tried a reset and again it sits at pulsing white. One thing is that when I hold down the reset D7 does light dimly whilst reset is held if that is indicative of anything?
Thanks both…It’s sitting in a breadboard on it’s own without anything connecting to it, I’m afraid I have tried different cables (including the cable which came with it), different ports (USB2/3), different power supplies (genuine iPad supply). I’ve checked 3V3 and VIn and they are both sitting at the correct voltages so I am not sure it is a power issue.
I’ve gone to flash the cc3000 and it did start to blink magenta, unfortunately it has never returned to blinking yellow and that was after 10 minutes. I’ve tried a reset by the button and notice that D7 is still lit up, I have tried reflashing the CC3000 again and again it never goes back to DFU mode/blinking yellow and just sits blinking magenta. I take it that should not take more than 10 minutes?
Does your code that ran for a long time do anything to write the TI CC3000 such as add WiFi credentials or set the maximum WiFi channel to non-defaults every time it runs?
Such code can “wear out” the flash in the CC3000 running for a long time.
Hi - no nothing complex, the code was completely standard and quite simple. I monitored an analogue input, a couple of digital inputs and a DS18B20. I just posted that data and had a couple of callbacks to the cloud service when the inputs triggered.
It was probably in use for 2/3 months before it gave up connecting…
Thanks again for the reply, I am still not getting anywhere though I am afraid. Again it reports a success but the device just sits there blinking magenta and never returning back to yellow. Do you have any more ideas for me?
Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Opening DFU capable USB device...
ID 1d50:607f
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #0 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuERROR, status = 10
dfuERROR, clearing status
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 1024
DfuSe interface name: "Internal Flash "
Downloading to address = 0x08005000, size = 25240
Download [=========================] 100% 25240 bytes
Download done.
File downloaded successfully
Transitioning to dfuMANIFEST state
Invalid DFU suffix signature
A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!
Cannot open DFU device 1d50:607f
Copyright 2005-2009 Weston Schmidt, Harald Welte and OpenMoko Inc.
Copyright 2010-2014 Tormod Volden and Stefan Schmidt
This program is Free Software and has ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
Please report bugs to dfu-util@lists.gnumonks.org
Opening DFU capable USB device...
ID 1d50:607f
Run-time device DFU version 011a
Claiming USB DFU Interface...
Setting Alternate Setting #1 ...
Determining device status: state = dfuERROR, status = 10
dfuERROR, clearing status
Determining device status: state = dfuIDLE, status = 0
dfuIDLE, continuing
DFU mode device DFU version 011a
Device returned transfer size 1024
DfuSe interface name: "SPI Flash : SST25x"
Downloading to address = 0x00020000, size = 79996
Download [=========================] 100% 79996 bytes
Download done.
File downloaded successfully
Invalid DFU suffix signature
A valid DFU suffix will be required in a future dfu-util release!!!
Cannot open DFU device 1d50:607f
Flash success!
I'm starting to think I am running out of options?
@misguided I’m having precisely the same issue with one of my Spark Cores – line for line. I have no solution
I’m writing it off as dead. Already swapped it out with another older core I had – which I’ll need to eventually replace with a photon… I think my core was around 2 years old. But hey, $19 and my problem goes away! Unless it happens again!
I’d be tempted to throw a Raspberry Pi Zero at my problem if this does happen again. If it’s just an issue with the Particle (Spark) Core and not the Photon, I think I can live with that. But I need some of these things to work long term. This one runs my backyard chicken coop and those freeloaders aren’t even laying eggs right now… they’re lucky I feed them!
To just update I put a ticket into Particle and they very kindly replaced it free and sent it internationally via express mail. I cannot fault their service one bit and I was honestly not expecting them to replace it at all (no questions asked either) so was just asking for any ideas or guidance. I think that they probably reached the same conclusion that it was either dead or not worth any more time to debug and sending a new one out is cheaper.
I have the exact same thing with one of my particle core devices. As this is an older post is there any way to get the particle core working again. It seems not completely dead as it goes into dfu mode with blinking yellow led and with particle flash --usb cc3000 it goes to blinking magenta but stays blinking magenta and never reverts to blinking yellow.
Anything I can do to get it alive?
The CC3000 updater goes back to flashing magenta so you can update your software further. It is a one-time run updater.
If you have updated the CC3000 and then updated the system firmware and put Tinker for the Core back on, your device will either work or not. If you are still getting flashing white after all that, the CC3000 may just be worn out–it has a limited number of flash write cycles and some software wears it out quickly.
Can you switch to Photon? It is a much better platform!
- if I try and do the factory mode it still just sits there blinking yellow at me.
