Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

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sunjayw
 
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Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

Hello Adafruit:

I recently ordered two raspberry pico w in Order #2963592-5543003331. I was not able to load firmware for one unit, and the other unit worked fine. For the working unit, I was able to load the firmware and Thonny would connect as an interpreter. However, whenever I copied the firmware to the non-working unit, the mass storage ejected and mounted back as a mass storage, and Thonny was not able to detect the device. I was not able to make any further progress. Could we arrange an exchange?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Try using this utility to do a deep-erase on the board:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pico-w-wifi- ... f2-3128829

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

adafruit_support_mike wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 7:24 pm Try using this utility to do a deep-erase on the board:

https://learn.adafruit.com/pico-w-wifi- ... f2-3128829
Thank you for your reply. I nuked the pico w, but it still refused to load firmware. I actually attempted to nuke (not sure if it is the same nuke in your link) multiple times yesterday, all failed.

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

What firmware are you loading onto the Pico W?

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 2:13 pm What firmware are you loading onto the Pico W?
Hello, Adafruit Support:

I tried two firmwares. One from MicroPython (https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico-w/) and one from Thonny IDE. They both work on one of my Pico W but do not work on the other.

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

The board is probably fine in terms of hardware. This is most likely some software related issue. And it could be a combination of things.

Is via Thonny the only way you're using the Pico W?

Are you able to get the RPI-RP2 folder to show up if you hold the BOOTSEL button down while powering the Pico W?

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:10 pm The board is probably fine in terms of hardware. This is most likely some software related issue. And it could be a combination of things.

Is via Thonny the only way you're using the Pico W?

Are you able to get the RPI-RP2 folder to show up if you hold the BOOTSEL button down while powering the Pico W?
Hello, Adafruit Support:

If I hold the BOOTSEL button down while powering the Pico W, it shows up as a storage device for both Pico W. For the faulty unit, whenever I copy the firmware over, it ejects and mounts back in as a storage device without the firmware. For the working unit, it does not mount back and can be connected as an interpreter.

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

The firmware being copied is a file with a .uf2 extension?

How exactly are you copying over the firmware? Via Thonny? By dragging the UF2 file to the RPI-RP2 folder via Windows file manager? other?

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:37 pm The firmware being copied is a file with a .uf2 extension?

How exactly are you copying over the firmware? Via Thonny? By dragging the UF2 file to the RPI-RP2 folder via Windows file manager? other?
I am using a Linux distro, so Windows file manager is not involved. I copied and pasted with shortcut ctrl c and ctrl v.

I understand that there a lot of things we can dig into, including operating system, my computer hardware, etc, but the bottom line here is if I apply the same procedures to the working unit, I can get everything working. What we are discussing here are simple operations, and I hope you could have some confidence in me.

If you are still convinced that I or the software are the problems, I can film myself perform the firmware gang bang and send you a Youtube link. If you worry I play tricks under my sleeves, I can strip all naked, but I am afraid that it has to be a OnlyFans link.

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

sunjayw wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 4:31 pm
adafruit_support_carter wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 3:37 pm The firmware being copied is a file with a .uf2 extension?

How exactly are you copying over the firmware? Via Thonny? By dragging the UF2 file to the RPI-RP2 folder via Windows file manager? other?
I am using a Linux distro, so Windows file manager is not involved. I copied and pasted with shortcut ctrl c and ctrl v.

I understand that there a lot of things we can dig into, including operating system, my computer hardware, etc, but the bottom line here is if I apply the same procedures to the working unit, I can get everything working. What we are discussing here are simple operations, and I hope you could have some confidence in me.

If you are still convinced that I or the software are the problems, I can film myself perform the firmware gang bang and send you a Youtube link. If you worry I play tricks under my sleeves, I can strip all naked, but I am afraid that it has to be a OnlyFans link.
Forget to answer your first question. Yes, the firmware has a .uf2 extension.

I really wish you could come to the conclusion that I got a faulty unit and offer me an exchange. I do not mind snail plain letter. If it really has to come down to filming my procedures, I can do that.

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adafruit_support_carter
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by adafruit_support_carter »

There's no need to film anything. Just working through specific details of your setup and how you are performing each step as part of troubleshooting what is happening.
However, whenever I copied the firmware to the non-working unit, the mass storage ejected and mounted back as a mass storage
By "mass storage" do you mean getting the RPI-RP2 folder again?

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

adafruit_support_carter wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 4:55 pm There's no need to film anything. Just working through specific details of your setup and how you are performing each step as part of troubleshooting what is happening.
However, whenever I copied the firmware to the non-working unit, the mass storage ejected and mounted back as a mass storage
By "mass storage" do you mean getting the RPI-RP2 folder again?
Yes, I was referring to the "RPI-RP2 folder". The term "mass storage" comes from MicroPython instruction (https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico-w/).

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danhalbert
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by danhalbert »

Hi, another Adafruit engineer here. We know of a timing problem with CircuitPython on only certain samples of Pico W that was fixed in the latest beta of CircuitPython, 8.0.0-beta.5. So if it's CIrcuitPython you are trying, it's possible to have one board work and one not. I had some questions:

1. What is the exact name of the UF2 you are trying to load?
2. Have you tried copying the UF2 using just cp in a terminal:
cp something.uf2 /media/yourusername/RPI-RP2
3. Using cp to copy, try this UF2, which should just blink the LED on the board:
https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/soft/blink_picow.uf2
4. If you are using CircuitPython, try the latest beta.5:
https://circuitpython.org/board/raspberry_pi_pico_w/

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

danhalbert wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:25 pm Hi, another Adafruit engineer here. We know of a timing problem with CircuitPython on only certain samples of Pico W that was fixed in the latest beta of CircuitPython, 8.0.0-beta.5. So if it's CIrcuitPython you are trying, it's possible to have one board work and one not. I had some questions:

1. What is the exact name of the UF2 you are trying to load?
2. Have you tried copying the UF2 using just cp in a terminal:
cp something.uf2 /media/yourusername/RPI-RP2
3. Using cp to copy, try this UF2, which should just blink the LED on the board:
https://datasheets.raspberrypi.com/soft/blink_picow.uf2
4. If you are using CircuitPython, try the latest beta.5:
https://circuitpython.org/board/raspberry_pi_pico_w/
Hello,

The exact name of the uf2 is rp2-pico-w-20221201-unstable-v1.19.1-724-gfb7d21153.uf2 from nightly of https://micropython.org/download/rp2-pico-w/ .

I performed the following operation using the cp command:
- nuke the pico w
- load the pico w with blink_picow.uf2 firmware (does not blink and shows up back again as RPI_RP2 with no firmware in the directory)
- nuke the pico w again
- load the pico w with adafruit-circuitpython-raspberry_pi_pico_w-en_US-8.0.0-beta.5.uf2 firmware (shows up back again as RPI_RP2 with no firmware in the directory)

I am not an expert of hardware, but it seems there may be something wrong with the bootsel button on the device. The behavior is almost like the button is held down all the time.

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sunjayw
 
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Re: Unable to Refresh Firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico W

Post by sunjayw »

I have a multimeter on hand. If you could give instructions on what to measure, I can check the voltage of the components.

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