Blynk Board ESP8266 unable to provision

This is one of my first projects/attempts with electronics and could use some help. I followed the provisioning guidelines for a newly purchased Blynk Board ESP8266. Once plugged in, I noticed the LEDs followed a sequence of R, G, B repeatedly with no pause. I was unable to find any other topics describing this issue with this board. Next I looked at the wifi names, there weren’t any named “Blynk” in the list, but “ESP_3CD1E4” did show up for this board. I connected to that wifi network and inputted the given 192.168.4.1 anyways to give it a try and received a message that the site can’t be reached, ERR_CONNECTION_FAILED. The procedure was done with an iPhone running current software and chrome. I tried the laptop browser-based provisioning, no luck. Opened Arduino IDE, selected com port, and attempted to communicate in the steps provided in Option 2 of the provisioning alternatives and received one communication from the board, pic attached. I was unable to get any sort of a help menu as shown in the examples. Searched the forum, suggested reloading the firmware from Github. Not too sure how to do that one, copied and pasted the info into the IDE, and received an error of a missing directory file and have given up. I’d love to know if I overlooked something simple. Thank you.

Hi dirtclod,

Is this a brand new Blynk board or had it been used prior to your attempts to provision it? Restoring the stock firmware is probably the best course here and you were probably just missing some libraries or files when you tried to upload the firmware. Can you please take a screenshot of the error Arduino is throwing when you try to upload? That will help us troubleshoot this problem.

I followed the provisioning guidelines for a newly purchased Blynk Board ESP8266. Once plugged in, I noticed the LEDs followed a sequence of R, G, B repeatedly with no pause.

OK, so this indicates the board is getting stuck in the self test we use for testing the board when they are manufactured. The easiest way to get it out of self test is to modify the firmware to bypass the self test and then upload that to the board with Arduino.

Searched the forum, suggested reloading the firmware from Github. Not too sure how to do that one, copied and pasted the info into the IDE, and received an error of a missing directory file and have given up.

There’s several other files needed to compile the firmware so a simple copy/paste won’t work for code. Here’s what you need to do:

  • - Grab the core firmware from [this link.
  • - Unzip the core firmware file and navigate to the Firmware folder.
  • - Navigate to the BlynkBoard_Core_Firmware folder
  • - Open the BlynkBoard_Core_Firmware.ino file in Arduino. You should see 4 other tabs open inside Arduino. Those are the other files needed to compile the code.
  • - On the 29th line of the BlynkBoard_Core_Firmware file there's a line that says: ``` #define SELF_TEST_ENABLED ``` What you need to do is comment that out by adding a // in front of the line so that it looks like this: ``` //#define SELF_TEST_ENABLED ```
  • - Then save the file and upload it to the Blynk Board and you should be set.
  • If you’re still having trouble, just let us know. :-)](https://github.com/sparkfun/Blynk_Board_ESP8266/archive/master.zip)

    Thank you for the help so far.

    In response to TS-Mark, this board was brand new out of the bag. I have not tried to upload anything to the board yet. I stop when I see error messages after clicking verify.

    TS-Chris, great info, thank you. I did not know about tabs until now :smiley: . I now receive the following error prompt under the settings tab “Adafruit_NeoPixel.h: No such file or directory” when attempting to verify. Screenshots of copied error messages:


    I ordered a few books to learn more about how all this works. I appreciate your patience in the meantime.

    Thank you.

    OK, it sounds like you’re missing several libraries needed to compile the code.

    You’re going to want to go to the library manager and search for and install the following libraries.

    Search for: - Install:
    
    Neopixel - Adafruit NeoPixel by Adafruit
    blynk - Blynk by Volodymyr Shymanskyy
    htu21 - SparkFun HTU21D Humidity and Temperature Sensor Breakout
    tls-2561 SparkFun TLS2561 by Mike Grusin@SparkFun Electronics
    

    Once those are installed, the code should compile and you can upload it.

    If you’re still having trouble, let me know what your order number is and I’ll see what I can do for you.

    I’ve installed the libraries below and am still stuck. There is a fatal error listed, no such file or directory for version.h?

    If you see a simple fix in the error pic, I’d love to give it a try. Thank you.

    Order #5679598.

    Hi dirtclod.

    I’m sure I could figure it out given enough time, but it’s easier to just replace this at this point. Thanks for being a good sport and trying to figure it out though! It’s a good learning experience even if the end result doesn’t work out.

    I’m going to pull a replacement, verify it’s working correctly and get that sent out to you. Keep the old board and feel free to continue trying to get it working. If you do get it figured out, you will then have a spare!

    Replacement ticket # 21724 has been issued. A customer service representative will process the ticket and send a replacement Blynk Board out free of charge using a similar shipping method you used for your original order. You should also receive an E-mail notification that the replacement is on the way. Please do not send your device back.

    I’m having almost the same issue. The difference is that there IS a pause between the four colors so I don’t think it’s stuck in self test. Is there any benefit to try to flash the device from source?

    We’ve tried from two different iPhones and the laptop method. Most times it connects to the Blynks wifi and then the app just does nothing. Once it connected to our wifi but then when we created a project the app said the board never connected.

    Also, we’ve scanned the QR code to retry to restart so now we’re out of energy. :slight_smile:

    Any advice?

    Hey Gogrilla. Thanks for posting.

    If you are trying to connect to a network that requires credentials, it may not work. Based off your description, the board sounds like it is running fine.

    I can go ahead and work on getting you a new QR code if you want to try connecting to a home network that is more of a controlled environment.

    Let me know. Cheers for now.

    This is just a standard Eero home network.

    I just sent you a new QR code to try out. I would advise you try a different network if you can and see if that works.