M5stack Atom S3 Lite (which compile settings?) - Totally freaking out after 3 night/days

Hardware
1

Hello,

I am trying to get WLED 0.14 working on a M5Stack Atom S3 Lite. (link: https://shop.m5stack.com/products/atoms3-lite-esp32s3-dev-kit )

After compiling and flashing the device with esptool, the device stays in a boot loop… (hearing that bwop…unplug…whop…plug-in…whop…unplug sound all the time on my Windows PC).

I have read all topics about it, even about the (older, non S3 version) and tried 20+ rebuilds… Some people said the older (M5stack Atom Lite) was doing a boot-loop because the led pin was mapped to the reset pin… (see: Both .13 betas cause loop reboot on M5stack atom lite · Issue #2108 · Aircoookie/WLED · GitHub ). But setting the LED pin correctly did not work.

Facts:
According to the pictures, it shows that BTN PIN: G41 and RGB LED: G35.
The device has 8MB Flash and -not- 8MB ram.

What I’ve tried:

  • Compile with: -D LEDPIN=35 -D BTNPIN=39
  • Compiled with default_envs=sp32s3dev_8MB as well as esp32s3dev_8MB_PSRAM_opi as well as m5atom. I am quite sure it are not those last two because it has no 8MB PSRAM and the m5atom is just esp32dev, not esp32s3.
  • Compiled with: board_build.flash_mode = qio and board_build.flash_mode = dio
  • Compiled with: D ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=0 and -D ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=1 as well as -D ARDUINO_USB_MODE=1

Now trying to terminal monitor this device, but I am a little new on that (from platform IO).

Help me fixing this and I send you a free M5Stack Atom S3 :slight_smile:

Update: I get exactly the same when I only flash the bootloader to the device and unplug it… then when plugging it… it will also boot loop. Is that normal behavior?

2

I also tried the custom bootloader, partition table and firmware from this post: Support for the ESP32-S3 · Issue #2735 · Aircoookie/WLED · GitHub

3

Update: I can flash the device using TASMOTA web installer: Install Tasmota
Select Type: ALL and for firmware: Tasmota, Tasmota-4MB or Tasmota-CDC (all did work).
This is the Logfile when booted with Tasmota:

ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x15 (USB_UART_CHIP_RESET),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4210de3e
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce3808,len:0x128
load:0x403c9700,len:0xb90
load:0x403cc700,len:0x28cc
SHA-256 comparison failed:
Calculated: 6ff891185212526dc4a8a02f94359cdb7c96c9ee016fd617c4433ef60c921ae8
Expected: 2fccfe0baabcabc13349ed33dd0cb9dda386de5630d8160a25c7b2d9a6dc3df3
Attempting to boot anyway...
entry 0x403c98b8

After this, I tried the WLED Web installer again… but it did not came up with Wifi and when doing a Serial monitor, I saw this:

ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x7 (TG0WDT_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x400454d5
SPIWP:0xee
mode:QIO, clock div:1
load:0x3c0f0020,len:0x47624
ets_loader.c 78 
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x7 (TG0WDT_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x400454d5
SPIWP:0xee
mode:QIO, clock div:1
load:0x3c0f0020,len:0x47624
ets_loader.c 78 
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x7 (TG0WDT_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x400454d5
SPIWP:0xee
mode:QIO, clock div:1
load:0x3c0f0020,len:0x47624
ets_loader.c 78 
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327

I now compiled a firmware based on esp32s3dev_8MB with the following changes:

 -D ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=0  ;; -D ARDUINO_USB_MODE=1 ;; for boards with serial-to-USB chip
;-D ARDUINO_USB_CDC_ON_BOOT=1 ;; -D ARDUINO_USB_MODE=1 ;; for boards with USB-OTG connector only (USBCDC or "TinyUSB")
  -D LEDPIN=35
;board_build.flash_mode = qio
board_build.flash_mode = dio   ;; try this if you have problems at startup

And it looks that it will boot just a little further…:

ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x3 (RTC_SW_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x403cd9ea
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce3808,len:0x128
load:0x403c9700,len:0xb90
load:0x403cc700,len:0x28cc
SHA-256 comparison failed:
Calculated: 6ff891185212526dc4a8a02f94359cdb7c96c9ee016fd617c4433ef60c921ae8
Expected: 2fccfe0baabcabc13349ed33dd0cb9dda386de5630d8160a25c7b2d9a6dc3df3
Attempting to boot anyway...
entry 0x403c98b8
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x3 (RTC_SW_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x403cd9ea
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce3808,len:0x128
load:0x403c9700,len:0xb90
load:0x403cc700,len:0x28cc
SHA-256 comparison failed:
Calculated: 6ff891185212526dc4a8a02f94359cdb7c96c9ee016fd617c4433ef60c921ae8
Expected: 2fccfe0baabcabc13349ed33dd0cb9dda386de5630d8160a25c7b2d9a6dc3df3
Attempting to boot anyway...
entry 0x403c98b8
ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x3 (RTC_SW_SYS_RST),boot:0x28 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x403cd9ea
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
4

Hey @Roeller, I’m trying to do the same thing as you with a Atom S3 Lite, but currently I have the same issue as you on windows, “bwop…unplug…whop…plug-in…whop…unplug”.

Tried to connect on a linux machine and do esptool erase_flash and also tried to flash all the firmware/booloader from Support for the ESP32-S3 · Issue #2735 · Aircoookie/WLED · GitHub but so far no success, I always get some I/O errors.

How did you managed to re-flash a firmware while in boot loop?

5

For reference what drove me to the boot loop:

  1. Install WLED 0.14.0 using WLED web installer
    => Flash succeed, but the “WLED_AP” never appears
  2. Try to flash WLED_0.14.0_ESP32-S3_8MB.bin from release of october 13th using the Windows WLED ESP Flasher https://github.com/srg74/WLED-wemos-shield/tree/master/resources/Firmware/WLED_%20ESP_Flasher
    => Flash succeed … and start to cycle boot
6

Well, I hope that can give you a good Christmas light controller then because I found the issue :slight_smile:

  1. Use a 4mb partition table
  2. Use a start start offset of 0 (0x0), not 0x1000 !

To do it easy, flash with WLED S3 4MB image! Go to wled-install.github.io and select ESP-S3 4MB flash. (First connect it to your computer while holding the side button, then release the side button, then flash)

To do it with esptool, use, all in once, using:
bootloader_esp32s3.bin with offset 0x1000
partitions_v2022.bin with offset 0x8000
boot_app0_v2022.bin with offset 0xe000 (don’t forget this, it is not always mentioned!)
The wled image with offset 0x10000

Have a nice light show! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
7

Ho great, it worked with http://wled-install.github.io/ (used the standard version 0.14.0 S3 4MB) :tada:. To re-flash I had to hold the reset button for few seconds: while connecting, but also hold few seconds after, windows stopped its “melody” and I was able to flash.

Thanks a lot @Roeller :slight_smile:

8

A small update: I saw a lot of crashes (flash/crash dumps) happening with QIO flash mode. So I switched WLED platformio.ini to DIO mode and also flashed with esptool using DIO mode. Then I didn’t saw any crash dumps anymore…

9

@Roeller thanks for this thread: using the correct partition table (4Mb) worked!

I got the UI working and everything: I was wondering if you had any trouble configuring the light strips LED output pins?

In my case, I’m trying to run some Govee H705A (WS281x), but as soon as the correct GND + data pin is connected, they turn off, and that’s it (no white smoke, UI still working, just no LEDs lighting up). I’m wondering if it was smooth sailing for everyone else, or if the AtomS3 Lite is just a bit cursed :smiley:

10

@Ocramius No issue with pins on my side

The only issue I have so far, is that after a reboot I get some flickers on the LED strips. To “fix” that I have to go to the “LED Preferences” page and click “Save” (without even changing anything!) …

11

Hey @dr1rrb!

Turns out that the ESP32 that is inside the M5Stack Atom S3 Lite works just fine: my problem was with wiring by Govee (unrelated to this topic), who had two cable colours swapped in an odd joint, so I ended up shorting my entire strip, frying both the LED strip and my Atom: curse you, Govee!

That said, once the wiring was done, I re-flashed another M5Stack Atom S3 Lite with the approach proposed by @Roeller ( http://wled-install.github.io/ - 4MB partition table), and all worked perfectly.

As for the boot-up/flickering behavior, I’m considering forcing a full remote reboot via Home Assistant every day or so.

12

Hi! I’ve just try to flash my Atom S3 lite with the approach proposed by @Roeller. The flashing works perfectly but I’m not able to see the link for the Wifi configuration. Did I miss something? :confused:
I’ve try with multiple version S3 (4MB) and also 8mb

image
image1420×815 56 KB

Thanks for you help!

13

Just use a phone/tablet/pc and look at available wifi networks and connect to WLED-AP pw: wled1234. Go to wifi config and enter your network details.

14

Awsome! Thanks :slight_smile:

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