ESP8266 Community Forum

Hi, I'm having problems with flashing my ESP8266-01 module. After successful communication with the module on 115200 baud rate via TeraTerm using AT commands, I grounded GPIO0 and tried moving on to flashing new firmware (AT22SDK100-2015-03-20-boot1.2.bin) but I got stuck.

When using FT232RL FTDI, I always get 'Invalid head of a packet' error at about 47%. Various flashing programs such as FLASH_DOWNLOAD_TOOLS_v1.2_150512, nodemcu-flasher-master or esp8266_flasher were used, but with the same outcome.

When I try to flash other firmware, I usually end at 7% or so.

I also tried using Arduino Uno or Mega as serial to usb converter (grounding RST pin and connecting RX-RX, TX-TX) but in this case, I was not able to flash any percentage at all (although AT commands were working).

I have no clue, please help.

I had same issues with a FT232RL FTDI by banggood: http://www.banggood.com/it/FT232RL-FTDI-USB-To-TTL-Serial-Converter-Adapter-Module-For-Arduino-p-917226.html?p=PU22124098863201603C

I needed to replace the TTL converter with a PL2303 based to fix the flashing.
You can eBay it here http://www.ebay.it/itm/PL2303HX-USB-To-RS232-TTL-Auto-Converter-Adapter-Controller-Modulo-For-Arduino-/301317022265?hash=item4627e4e239:g:kfcAAOSwq7JUGTMQ

Just a note: there are some issues installing pl2303 drivers on w8 and w10.
In fact the official drivers are not compatible with these OS as you can read here: http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProduct.aspx?p_id=225&pcid=41

Try looking for an old driver version and disable the automatic updates.

Thanks for your tip

Finally, I solved this problem using homemade USB-serial build up from TS232CPE DIP16 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (basically any R232 transceiver/receiver is fine), few tantalum capacitors and modified spare cable. Flashing was done in a minute and without any further problems. I find this method cheap and I strongly recommend it since it has very high reliability in comparison to ebay merchandise