ESP8266 Community Forum

- Wed May 11, 2016 11:47 am #47298 I've posted this as a new topic although it is a very old one I'm sure. I've posted questions in the past regarding issues with flashing nodeMcu to several types of 8266 modules; specifically ESP-07, and ESP-12. I have been successful, then unsuccessful, now successful again in the process. (Those who've read my posts are probably sure I'm insane). The flashing of the '07 modules produced what seems to be usable items. However I am still having issues with the '12s. The "can" on the module indicate an "ESP-12MOD". I can flash this module (presumably) using the nodeMcu flasher, but it will not accept commands from ESPlorer as the '07's will. When flashing, the nodeMcu flasher indicated in the lower right corner of the ui, that says "size 461984 bytes". Is that the size of the bin to be flashed? I'd thought this particular module had 4Mb of memory, so I set that value in the "flash size" selection under the advanced tab of the nodeMcu flasher. The module flashed, but didn't function. I then set the flash size for 512KB, it flashed and FUNCTIONED?!?! I then opened Esplorer, and queried the module using the button to do so for "chip info" the returned information was:
0 9 6 128751 1458400 4096 2 40000000 in the format of:
NodeMCU version, chipid, flashid, flash size, flash mode, flash speed
This indicates the flash size at 4096KB. This has me totally confused. Why wouldn't it function when flash size was set for 4MB? What is the size of the flash memory in my ESP 12mod?
I know there have been several versions of ESP-12s, and I've searched for a table showing that information but can't seem to find one. Apparently I'm looking in the wrong places. Forgive my slow startup on these modules, much of the terminology, as well as concepts are new to an old guy who worked with discreet IC's and processors. Add to that efforts to get started, changing platforms, IE: nodeMcu vs Arduino IDE, or using ESPtool vs Esplorer, has helped in confusing me. Thanks for any insight and/or direction.

- Wed May 11, 2016 4:19 pm #47315 Hi,
I too am pulling my hair out due to a trivial issue (I am certain it is due to my lack of understanding). I am using Amica boards with ESP-12 modules for my development and cheaper ESP-01 for my development, while Amica boards flash and function, ESP-01s flash but don't function, I only manage to see the SDK boot up and put some info on the terminal, after this, there is no activity seen on the serial terminal.
This link has info on the SPI flash size and ID
http://www.esp8266.com/viewtopic.php?p=31787

- Wed May 11, 2016 6:00 pm #47320 On a side note : what ever the kind of modules you are using, they are all based on the same ESP8266 with external Flash.
Although flash size can vary from one module to another, the UpLoad process still the same.
So, if you have problems with one and not the other, I would say check your wiring again and again ...

- Wed May 11, 2016 9:01 pm #47328

On a side note : what ever the kind of modules you are using, they are all based on the same ESP8266 with external Flash.
Although flash size can vary from one module to another, the UpLoad process still the same.
So, if you have problems with one and not the other, I would say check your wiring again and again ...

Agreed Martin, I'm sure you remember my frustration last fall with flashing issues, I can't say why, other than AS suspected at one interval I suspected the breadboard connections. I seem to have gotten past that. Now flashing seems to be consistently good, I've flashed these modules several times. Now I am confused as to why the nodeMcu flasher will flash a usable system when set to 512k then Esplorer reports the flash to be 4096K. I read on another site that the output of the node.info() function reports the memory size (along with other info described above) in Kilobytes so I'm confused as to why it wasn't usable when the nodeMcu flasher was set for 4MB. It goes through the flash process fine, but the end result doesn't work. I wonder if I'm missing an offset somewhere, but truthfully I can't say I totally understand the memory map yet. Thanks for the comeback.
As an update, I should mention that the above refers to the ESP-12 modules and not the '07s. Both of those I'm using report 512KB. I should also mention that I'm not totally out of the woods with the ESP-12s either. One flashes as stated above and seems to run well, however after running a few commands and snippets from Esplorer, I attempted to connect to my router. Somewhere in that sequence a pop up window occurred, in Esplorer reporting that the module experienced an internal power failure. I'd never seen that before. I powered it down, and back up and it seemed to clear. I could not duplicate it again. The other appeared to flash but had the symptoms discussed above. it appeared to boot up but nothing could be done with it.