Posted at 2022-09-24 by @fanoush

try this https://www.espruino.com/Bangle.js2#resetting-without-loading-any-code and then the step below it - delete all code

Posted at 2022-09-24 by myxor

Sadly this does not work. Pressing the button keeps continuing the boot loop

Posted at 2022-09-25 by @fanoush

Button should be released as described, if you still keep holding it then it will reboot.
If you don't hold it then maybe your button is in fact stuck? See this
http://forum.espruino.com/conversations/378516/ Do you see the bootloader ===== line going across the screen even if you don't hold the button? Then it is probably stuck being pressed.

Posted at 2022-09-25 by myxor

The instructions say

You should now have the Bangle.js logo, version, and MAC address on screen, and you can release the button

but my watch does not get into this state. It keeps rebooting with "Checking storage...
Storage OK" and "Watchdog.
DFU 2v12
Check storage.
No new FW.
Booting...".

My button is not stuck as I can switch to DFU mode by releasing the button while === are on the screen.

I already let the battery run flat and charged it but it is still stuck.

Posted at 2022-09-25 by @fanoush

then maybe try to release button earlier - already when checking storage shows, if it says watchdog then you are holding too long and watchdog reboots it

Posted at 2022-09-25 by myxor

No chance to get between those two messages "Checking storage..." and "Storage OK" - it's like 1ms time between them.

I tried several times to release the button at various times in the boot loop but no success.

Maybe @gfwilliams has an idea what to do here :)

Posted at 2022-09-26 by @gfwilliams

Do you have any idea what might have caused this? Did it 'just happen' one day, or were you developing with it?

Holding the button should really have allowed you to boot to the Bangle logo and reconnect (unless you'd uploaded code that 'runs on reboot' - but that's hard to set up and there are warnings in the IDE).

You could try installing the attached firmware - it'll use internal flash for Bangle.js rather than external, so might work ok. It'd help narrow down what the issue is - if it's code saved to flash then we might have to try and send some commands to clear out the external flash.

Attachments:

• espruino_2v15.13_banglejs2_noflash.zip

Posted at 2022-09-26 by @fanoush

if it's code saved to flash then we might have to try and send some commands to clear out the external flash

I now see you removed also the https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/boards/BANGLEJS2.py#L171 SPIFLASH definition from NOFLASH build. Not sure it can break anything but in my experience with other watches it is harmless to keep it in and it is enough to just not use it in saved_code like you do here https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/boards/BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH.py#L102

The advantage when keeping SPIFLASH definition there is that while it is not available for require('Storage") you can still access it via require("Flash") so in this case one could read/write/erase it a bit more easily.

Posted at 2022-09-26 by myxor

@gfwilliams the watch was stuck on friday morning and i reseted it by pressing the button for 6 seconds. It then switched into bootloop mode. I was wearing the watch before and did not upload any code for days.

The firmware you attached boots!
Should i stay on this or try to reflash a flash-build again?

Posted at 2022-09-26 by @fanoush

Should i stay on this or try to reflash a flash-build again?

With this build the 8MB SPI flash storage with your (broken?) data is unused. If you flash normal build back it will start rebooting again (you can try). You first need somehow to erase the SPI flash to get rid of the stuff that breaks the boot there and then you can go back.

Posted at 2022-09-26 by myxor

You first need somehow to erase the SPI flash to get rid of the stuff that breaks the boot there and then you can go back.

How do i do this?

Posted at 2022-09-26 by @fanoush

Well, it is a bit tricky but still doable, you need to send direct spi flash commands like in https://www.microchip.com/forums/m910893.aspx but I don't have exact line here, needs some experimenting. Maybe @gfwilliams has the code ready.

What is easier for me is to enable the SPI flash for Flash API as mentioned in my post #9 and then the js code is easier, basically calling Flash.erasePage() described at https://www.espruino.com/Reference#Flash for addresses of external SPI flash which starts at 0x60000000 should do it so if you are adventurous you may try attached build or wait for @gfwilliams

with attached build require("Flash").erasePage(0x60000000) should clean first block which should be enough, if not then more blocks can be cleared

EDIT: attached build removed, newer one is in post below

Posted at 2022-09-26 by @fanoush

I made another build, there were more lines removed in the NOFLASH build, here is another one with also this line https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/boards/BANGLEJS2.py#L52 added back

full change in board file I used is here

diff --git a/boards/BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH.py b/boards/BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH.py
index c741b4dd3..0d2424743 100644
--- a/boards/BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH.py
+++ b/boards/BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH.py
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ info = {
      'LDFLAGS += -Xlinker --defsym=LD_APP_RAM_BASE=0x2ec0', # set RAM base to match MTU
      'DEFINES += -DESPR_DCDC_ENABLE=1', # Use DC/DC converter
      'ESPR_BLUETOOTH_ANCS=1', # Enable ANCS (Apple notifications) support
+     'DEFINES += -DSPIFLASH_SLEEP_CMD', # SPI flash needs to be explicitly slept and woken up
      'DEFINES += -DAPP_TIMER_OP_QUEUE_SIZE=6', # Bangle.js accelerometer poll handler needs something else in queue size
      'DEFINES+=-DBLUETOOTH_NAME_PREFIX=\'"Bangle.js"\'',
      'DEFINES+=-DCUSTOM_GETBATTERY=jswrap_banglejs_getBattery',
@@ -162,7 +163,17 @@ devices = {
             'addr' : 0x76, # both versions use the same address
             'pin_sda' : 'D47',
             'pin_scl' : 'D2'
-  }
+  },
+  'SPIFLASH' : {
+            'pin_cs' : 'D14',
+            'pin_sck' : 'D16',
+            'pin_mosi' : 'D15', # D0
+            'pin_miso' : 'D13', # D1
+#            'pin_wp' : 'D', # D2
+#            'pin_rst' : 'D', # D3
+            'size' : 4096*2048, # 8MB
+            'memmap_base' : 0x60000000 # map into the address space (in software)
+          }
 };

 # left-right, or top-bottom order

Attachments:

• espruino_2v15.18_banglejs2_noflash.zip

Posted at 2022-09-26 by myxor

@fanoush i tried your build and erased that flash page. It worked!

The Bangle booted with

Checking storage...
Storage is corrupt.
Erasing Storage Area

and now welcomes me with the welcome screen. I will restore my backup and see if everything works.

Thank you so far!

Posted at 2022-09-27 by myxor

After almost one day of usage it seems that everything works again as expected and before.

Thanks again to fanoush and Gordon for the help.

Posted at 2022-09-27 by @fanoush

Nice that it is working for you again :-)

However it looks that with some bad luck the watchdog reboot caused by holding the button may break stuff. In this case I guess the reboot was triggered in the middle of flash write and for some reason the check at boot time did not detect this corruption and yet some other code later crashed on such bad data. If that happens again it would be good to have backup of SPI flash storage to reproduce and fix this crash (or maybe it was never ending loop).

BTW, the watchdog reboot can be delayed a bit by enabling watchdog interrupt but I am not sure that the code handling the interrupt could do something about the pending flash write to avoid such corruption.

Posted at 2022-09-28 by @gfwilliams

@myxor have you managed to run require("Flash").erasePage(0x60000000) and return to 'normal' firmware now?

@fanoush thanks! I've just updated the NOFLASH firmware with those changes.

This seems particularly rare - but if it happens to anyone again please post up before running require("Flash").erasePage(0x60000000). If I can clone the contents of flash memory and reproduce here I can figure out why it bootloops and ensure this doesn't happen again

Posted at 2022-09-28 by myxor

have you managed to run require("Flash").erasePage(0x60000000) and return to 'normal' firmware now?

Yes, exactly this. I erased that page and was able to flash normal firmware and boot.

Posted at 2022-12-17 by yogsoy

Hi @gfwilliams, you wanted updates if this happened again! I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing the same issue myxor was having. My Bangle.js 2 is (currently) bootlooping in the same way they described and firmware reflashes aren't getting anywhere.

I've also tried flashing both the modified firmware you originally uploaded, and the newer one that fanoush uploaded, and those haven't produced any change.

Situ was, I had uploaded some new code of mine to the device from the web IDE maybe a minute ago, and was trying to get it connected back to my phone to try out a function I'd just written. The watch wasn't reconnecting to my phone after disconnecting from my computer, so I held the button to reset it. Screen went blank, got the normal WATCHDOG message, and after showing "BOOTING..." the backlight turned off and it rebooted into the same screen.

Unsure if the code I uploaded caused the issue directly (doesn't look like it should, I can upload snippets) or I've done the same thing as myxor and corrupted the SPIFLASH.

Can cooperate helping you get a clone of the flash if that's what you need.

Posted at 2022-12-19 by @gfwilliams

Wow, ok - what firmware version were you on before?

I've also tried flashing both the modified firmware you originally uploaded, and the newer one that fanoush uploaded

So you mean even with the noflash builds, you can't get it to stay running without rebooting? If so that sounds like a different issue - please could you take a video of what the boot loop looks like?

... Or if the noflash images do at least boot, it'd be great if you could do me a flash dump so I can see if I can reproduce/fix it here.

Posted at 2022-12-19 by yogsoy

Update! Got annoyed by the screen flashing next to my bed while I was waiting for it to discharge, so I kept looking around for any other ideas (sorry!). Saw some of the same recommendations to upgrade the firmware, and was reminded that there's a cutting-edge build I could try. Pushed through flashing that twice in the web IDE and once through nRF Connect on my android phone and it eventually loaded up alright. I checked the firmware version reported using the "About" app and there's been no issue since (about 30hrs have passed). Haven't reinstalled the "default apps" or had to upgrade the bootloader.

Before this, I was running the most recent stable firmware, which I believe is 2v16?
Bootloader said 2v15, which I gather is normal as you mentioned (somewhere else?) that the BL and FW dont necessarily have the same version. Rebooting the device now, it still says bootloader 2v15.

Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to take video of the loop, but from memory, I was seeing the white screen of the bootloader with the version number, "NO NEW FW" after checking storage(?), and the line "Booting...".
The backlight would then turn off after a second, and after 5 or so more seconds it would go blank for a few ms and boot back up into the same screen.
I was able to get into DFU mode just fine by holding the button during boot and releasing during the <====>, and as I've found flashing did work eventually. I was not able to boot without loading code by holding the button longer (tried up to a minute) and at no point was I able to get to the Bangle.js loading screen with the MAC address.

Everything seems alright from my end now, but if you reckon there's anything I can do to help diagnose this in future, I'm able to help (again, sorry for moving forward on this so impatiently).

Posted at 2022-12-19 by @gfwilliams

Before this, I was running the most recent stable firmware, which I believe is 2v16?

Yes, it should be. That's very odd though as nothing's really been done in 2v16 that would impact the reliability too much: https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/ChangeLog

Bootloader said 2v15, which I gather is normal as you mentioned (somewhere else?)

Yes, absolutely.

Well, I'm just glad it's fixed for you! I'm not sure if there's much you can do now - unless you feel like trying to reinstall 2v16 and see if it errors again - then we could try imaging flash to track it down.

... but I'd be inclined just to leave it as-is!

Posted at 2022-12-20 by yogsoy

I've switched back to 2v16 as I think I was having stability issues with the cutting-edge firmware, I'll let you know if this happens again.

Posted at 2023-03-23 by Ocim

Hi, would it be possible to make a noflash for the latest firmware? My bangle has intermittent flash issues and I would like to run it without but still be on the latest release.
Thanks

Posted at 2023-03-23 by @fanoush

I have tested @gfwilliams 's idea https://forum.espruino.com/conversations/384817/#16909373 and it works, github makes the build for you without having any build environment. I have forked Espruino into new patch-1 branch by trying to edit the BANGLEJS2 board file. And then it was enough to create 'fake' pull request to my own main branch (not to upstream Espruino so it does not pollute it with extra PR).

The changes I did are here https://github.com/fanoush/Espruino/pull/5/files
and the result is here REMOVED, see bottom of edited post
just try the "BANGLEJS2" build if you trust it.

Basically I copied the BANGLEJS2_NOFLASH board file to BANGLEJS2 because that one is built as part of the workflow. Then it showed it actually does not build as is https://github.com/fanoush/Espruino/actions/runs/4501570382/jobs/7922189470 so I needed to trim some stuff down in second commit.

After you download it I will close the pull request without merging. Too bad it is not possible to abandon/delete pull request completely on github.

EDIT: another build (third commit) here, with removed initial factory content there is 80KB more available for storage
https://github.com/fanoush/Espruino/actions/runs/4501950691#artifacts

Posted at 2023-03-23 by Ocim

Thanks, I downloaded the BANGLEJS2 build.

Posted at 2023-03-24 by @fanoush

Thanks, I downloaded the BANGLEJS2 build.

And does it work?

If you have github account you can also make the build yourself any time in the future as I described. Before creating pull request you just need to "enable allow actions and reusable workflow" for your forked Espruino repo as per attached picture. After making pull request and letting it do the builds you can disable it again if you want it disabled. It looks like this is free service of github, not sure what are the limitations.

Attachments:

• Clipboard01.jpg

Posted at 2023-03-24 by @gfwilliams

Thanks for documenting this!

It looks like this is free service of github, not sure what are the limitations.

Well, if I haven't hit limitations yet, I doubt you will! It does seem 'too good to be true' really :)

Posted at 2023-03-24 by Ocim

I will try tonight, I am in London this week, forgot to bring a charge cable and yesterday the watch ran out of battery... Thanks a lot for your hep

Posted at 2023-03-27 by Ocim

It did not work, tried it a few times via the Android DFU app and got an error (see attached). Then I tried it this morning using the Web IDE but that tried to flash the default v17 automatically before I could select the file. I hit the cancel button but that was a mistake because now I the watch is not doing booting properly anymore and I get a bank0 invalid message. I cannot connect to the watch anymore, so I guess it is bricked?

Attachments:

• signal-2023-03-27-111335_002.jpeg

Posted at 2023-03-27 by @fanoush

Not bricked, you still have the DFUTarg device so you need to repeat/finish the DFU. Just checked and it looks like the build artefact is zip inside zip! Please unpack the BANGLEJS2.zip and use the espruino_2v17.2437_banglejs2_noflash.zip inside for DFU.

Also if that zip would not work you can recover via some official Bangle2 zip from http://www.espruino.com/Download

Posted at 2023-03-28 by Ocim

Flashing the unpacked file worked, however it is now showing "Erasing Storage area..." for about 2 hours already and it does not seem to complete. How long should this take maximum?

Attachments:

• signal-2023-03-28-112244.jpeg
  
• signal-2023-03-28-103702_002.jpeg

Posted at 2023-03-28 by Ocim

I disabled bluetooth on my phone and noticed later that the watch had booted. It seems to be completely empty though. 0 apps installed.

Attachments:

• signal-2023-03-28-115707.jpeg

Posted at 2023-03-28 by @fanoush

Yes, it is completely empty and you need to upload stuff again. You stopped using external 8MB SPI flash storage and now you are using small internal flash - only about 480KB free. This is enough for few apps but not for much so not sure how many apps will fit.

It even does not contain the initial flash content because you would otherwise have two copies there and I hope it is not needed(?) and everything can be uploaded via app loader(?)

@gfwilliams is it OK or is this https://github.com/espruino/Espruino/blob/master/boards/BANGLEJS2.py#L76 needed to be there as the initial content is not part of the app loader upload?

@ocim in case the default content I removed in last build is really needed and you won't get it working with just the apploader you can take previous build which still has is (and the storage is smaller)
https://github.com/fanoush/Espruino/actions/runs/4501685793#artifacts

Posted at 2023-03-28 by Ocim

It works, I loaded 10 apps and it seems fine. more responsive even, compared to the old version

Device Type BANGLEJS
Firmware Version 2v17.2437
Apps Installed boot (0.57), berlinc (0.07), launch (0.20), messageicons (0.05), messagegui (0.65), widmessages (0.04), messages (0.58), android (0.23), setting (0.59), widclk (0.07)

Posted at 2023-03-29 by @gfwilliams

Great!

more responsive even, compared to the old version

And yes, it would be - internal storage is a lot faster. It's just you get a lot less of it