QTPY S3 will not load the WIPPER drive

[Timeline8]

Last night, following guide on https://io.adafruit.com/Timeline/device ... uf2/step-2
And also referencing https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-qt- ... pper-setup
Booted Qt Py S3 into bootloader mode with double press of the reset button. File INFO_UF2.TXT reports the following:

TinyUF2 Bootloader 0.18.2 - tinyusb (0.15.0-566-gf1e006d09)
Model: Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3 (4M Flash, 2M PSRAM)
Board-ID: ESP32S3-QTPy-N4R2-A
Date: Mar 22 2024
Flash Size: 0x00160000 bytes

Downloaded latest version of Whippersnapper for my board named wippersnapper.qtpy_esp32s3_n4r2.1.0.0-beta.83.uf2

Drag and dropped file onto QTPYS3BOOT

Board restarted but I was not offered a WIPPER drive nor any drive at all. Tried hitting reset and also hard power cycling the board by pulling the USB. No drive appearing and NeoPixel is showing a steady green-yellow color. Board was previously running CircuitPython however I am not presented with a CIRCUITPY drive either. Confirmed chip silkscreen on the board is “FHR2...” so 4MB Flash/2MB PSRAM.

Following instructions on https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-qt- ... tory-reset, downloaded Factory Reset Firmware UF2 and after soft reset confirmed visually by the LED "NeoPixel rainbow swirl example” was running.

Double tapped reset button to re-enter boot loader. Drive QTPYS3BOOT connected. Dragged and dropped same wippersnapper.qtpy_esp32s3_n4r2.1.0.0-beta.83.uf2 onto it. After it loaded and drive ejected, back to green-yellow steady Neopixel and no drives showing. Unplugged USB and plugged back in. Same result. Steady green-yellow neopixel and no drive loaded at all let along the WIPPER drive expected. So impossible to progress past https://io.adafruit.com/Timeline/device ... uf2/step-6

Running an intel 2019 iMac on Sonoma 14.5 (23F79)

Additional background info: Ordered board from Digikey and it was back ordered. Once Digikey got new stock I got my board last week, so I assume a newer build (W22553A). When received it had an older bootloader (I think it was v0.15.x) so I booted into the ROM bootloader, used the ESP Web Flasher (on Chrome) to erase the board then load the v0.18.2 combined.bin file. Then loaded the latest beta version of CircuitPython and ran a few things. Then I wanted to try it on IO and went through the process outlined above. Nothing has been added (no header pins), removed, or changed from the QTPY. It is as it came out of the pink bag.

And just for yucks, just now downloaded a fresh copy of the WipperSnapper u2f (has the same name), entered bootloader, and drag/dropped it in again. No change to behavior and no drive appearing.

[brentru]

@tyeth Do you have a Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3 (4M Flash, 2M PSRAM) you can try this with?

[tyeth]

I'm afraid not with me this week, but will schedule for next week when I'm back at base.

[Timeline8]

New information. Short version is it would seem there is something wrong with the beta.83 (latest as of this writing) version of WipperSnapper.

Today I received my backordered S3 REV TFT Feather that I ordered at the same time as the QTPY S3 from Digikey. I tried to load WipperSnapper on it and had the exact same experience as the QTPY S3... no WIPPER drive.

When I first got my S2 version some months again I had connected that one (and since removed it from the IO service) so I know that one worked. Downloaded the latest beta.83 for that S2 board and the exact same behavior. No Wipper drive and the NeoPixel stays a sort of greenish-yellow color.

Found the online archive of older versions and went back to https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Wippersnapper_Arduino/releases/tag/1.0.0-alpha.80 as that was released about the same time as I got my S2.

Downloaded the S2 REV TFT version and loaded it. Success! Was running CircuitPython previously so it did show up as CIRUITPY drive, but verfied it had the wipper_boot_out.txt file showing.

I then repeated the same version for the S3 REV TFT (which never had CircuitPython loaded) and again successful and I get the WIPPER drive.

I then repeated this for the QTPYS3, SUCCESS!

By the way, on all of these "alpha.80" versions the wipper_boot_out files says "Firmware Version: 1.0.0-alpha.79".

And finally on the QTPY S3 I tried the latest beta.83 again to see if maybe loading the older version helped. Nope. Now boots up showing no drive at all.

I didn't bother to check the three versions (alpha.81, alpha.82, & beta.82) between the alpha I tried and the latest beta.83 so I have no idea which version broke it. I would recommend that someone reading this try any IO compatible board loading beta.83 and seeing if you can get it to work. You apparently don't need only the QTPY S3.

[tyeth]

Brilliant, thanks for that useful extra information @Timeline8

Can you try another go with v83, but when the drive fails to show up then manually reboot the device (using the reset button) and see if the drive shows up afterwards. Secondly can you try viewing the data sent over the serial port, as the device boots, it should be informing us of the problem. You can use a chrome based browser to do this at https://webserial.io/ or with some software on your mac like Thonny/Mu/Tio/ArduinoIDE.

In addition to that testing, can you try this collection of build assets instead of v83.
It has a little more error logging and recovery than v83, so more should be displayed in the serial monitor: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Wippersnapper_Arduino/actions/runs/9481598472/artifacts/1593474436
[You will need to be logged in to download the zip]

[Timeline8]

I should have mentioned in my original posts that in every case I both pushed the reset and disconnected/reconnected the USB in attempts to get the WIPPER drive to show up. With "83" none of the three boards came up with a drive.

I brought the S3 REV TFT to work with me this morning and had a slightly different experience on my Win 10 machine but still ultimately failed. Basically, plugged in the board, verified I still had Alpha.80 loaded, double RST into the Adafruit Bootloader which by the way, I should mention this time on this board I decided not to upload the bootloader and left it as received which is...

TinyUF2 Bootloader 0.12.3 - tinyusb (0.12.0-203-ga4cfd1c69)
Model: Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 Reverse TFT
Board-ID: ESP32S3-FeatherRevTFT-revC
Date: Feb 2 2023

I can update that to 0.18.2 if you like.

Anyway, downloaded the standard beta.83 automatically offered via the "Add new device" screens at the IO adafruit page, dragged and dropped it onto the FTHRS3BOOT drive and I this time I got the WIPPER drive. Checked the wipper_boot_out to verify it was beta.83 (it was). Weird thing is the TFT was still showing the Adafruit multicolor bootloader screen which I don't think is normal. So I pressed the RST button. No more WIPPER drive after restart and TFT is blank. Pulled the USB, reconnected, still no WIPPER drive. So my one opportunity to see it was right after the programming when it auto restarted and loaded WIPPER. All subsequent attempts via RST button or power cycling to get it back have failed.

I did go to the webserial IO page on Chrome browser and I can see that it is "CONNECTED - Unknown Device (303a:1001)" and changes to "unplugged" when I remove the board or RST into the bootloader and then reconnects automatically when I restart the board. But I am not seeing anything else on the screen. So either no data is coming through or I need to open something first maybe? I didn't mess with the defaults which are 115200, buffer=255, 8, none, none, 1.

When I get some free time today while at work I will try the collection of build assets (already downloaded), but if I don't get back to it today then I will try it tonight at home on the iMac.

[brentru]

Running an intel 2019 iMac on Sonoma 14.5 (23F79)

Just because I haven't seen this before and that Sonoma is an older OS, do you have another computer to try this on?

[Timeline8]

Ummm, Sonoma is 14. OS 15 (Sequoia) was just announced literally 4 days ago. Perhaps you were thinking of a different earlier OS?

And as I stated in my previous post

I brought the S3 REV TFT to work with me this morning and had a slightly different experience on my Win 10 machine but still ultimately failed.

and described the same issues trying load Wippersnapper on a Windows 10 computer. I will allow you to call that one older though. ;)

[brentru]

I was able to load the latest version of WipperSnapper onto my QT PY ESP32-S3 this morning. I'm running macOS Ventura.

TinyUF2 Bootloader 0.13.0 - tinyusb (0.14.0-364-gc0d79457f)
Model: Adafruit QT Py ESP32-S3
Board-ID: ESP32S3-QTPy-A
Date: Mar 14 2023

Adafruit.io WipperSnapper
Firmware Version: 1.0.0-beta.83
Board ID: qtpy-esp32s3
MAC Address: F4:12:FA:44:07:EC

However, the exact hardware I tested on is different from what you tested on. I'm going to order the ESP32-S3 Feather Reverse TFT and the Adafruit QT Py S3 with 2MB PSRAM WiFi Dev Board with STEMMA QT from the shop so I have stock, and can test these for you as soon as I get them this week.

Becuase you are running Sonoma, and we've seen similar issues with CircuitPython (which uses the same USB fs method for loading firmware), could you try the steps outlined on this page: https://learn.adafruit.com/welcome-to-circuitpython/troubleshooting#macos-sonoma-14-dot-x-disk-errors-writing-to-circuitpy-3160304