Three red flashes after firmware update (plus bonus reggae lyrics)

Troubleshooting
1

Okay, this one has me stumped.

Had a functional Photon that I upgraded to firmware v0.4.5. After that, when I reset I get the normal startup sequence, but after blinking cyan, I get three red blinks, and then a breathing cyan. It still shows up after "particle list' but I can't refresh the user firmware. So I guess it works so long as I never change the user firmware (lucky for me, my programming is always perfect the first time!).

Anyhoo, I've tried the following:

  1. Different ways of upgrading firmware (particle update, download from github and DFU directly, OTA).

  2. Reload server keys.

  3. Doctor photon keys.

  4. Different ways of flashing user program (OTA, DFU)

  5. After firmware update, just load Tinker.

  6. Reload wifi credentials.

  7. Wipe all wifi credentials and reload.

After all of these, I am left with my three red flashes followed by breathing cyan.

I'm stumped. But it did cheer me up to think of what Bob Marley would say:

Rise up this morning
Smile with the rising sun
Three little blinks
Red on my photon
Singing sweet code
Of programming pure and true
Sayin', this is my message to you-ou-ou:

Singing don't worry 'bout a thing
Cause every little thing gonna be all right
Singing don't worry 'bout a thing
Cause every little thing gonna be all right

As always, help appreciated from any and all. Cheers,

L3

2

@leo3linbeck,

What happens when you flash a user firmware? Can you use dashboard.particle.io and watch the event to see if the Photon comes online?

3

@kennethlimcp,

Sorry for the slow reply - I’ve been deep in a sprint the last few days.

What I’ve found is that the three little red flashes don’t really impact functionality; after the trip through the red zone, the Photon appears to retry, and then successfully connects to the cloud. It must be some sort of timeout-retry cycle that eventually resolves. I notice it only happens on my home router; if I connect to a cell hotspot, or at work, it never flashes.

Regardless, it’s working. Thanks for your help. Cheers,
L3

4

It could be that it failed to connect to the cloud, giving the red flashes, retrying and succeeding. I experienced something similar on my Core yesterday.

By working you mean you can also upload new firmware? :smile:

5

The 3 red flashes are from the CFOD code on the core that we’ve now introduced to the photon. I think I will change the color red to orange, to indicate that it’s not a critical error.

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