[SOLVED] mBot 2 firmware update issues

#1

Hello there, fellow tinkerers.
I bought the mbot2 to introduce my kid to programming and to have some fun. And both of these goals are going very well, it works very well so far. Except for one important aspect;
I can not for the life of me get the thing to firmware update!

This came to light when I wanted to experiment with the AI stuff. this would not upload at all, stuck at no progress, where other code uploads in a second. This was on windows > chrome > online IDE > upload mode with mlink and usb driver installed. After some reading, I figured the latest firmware would be required (makes sense) and tried installing that.

When I try 'update firmware on the cyberpi connected to mbot2 I see (besides usually 'no internet)
44.01.011 <ā€” I suspect this is the latest firmware, this is also what I see in IDE > firmware update
27.01.006 <-- I suspect this is the currently flashed version, as it was shipped

so far I tried:

  1. online IDE on chrome with mlink, CH340 driver, official cable > upload mode > settings > firmware update
  2. online IDE on chrome with mlink, CH340 driver, different cable > upload mode > settings > firmware update
  3. offline (latest) IDE with mlink, CH340 driver, official cable > upload mode > settings > firmware update
  4. offline (5.4.3?) IDE with mlink, CH340 driver, official cable > upload mode > settings > firmware update
    • I read somewhere that an earlier version might help when trying to update from a low firmware version.
  5. offline (5.3.0?) IDE with mlink, CH340 driver, official cable > upload mode > settings > firmware update
  6. connect with cable > enter wifi credentials > while connected, select update firmware on cyberpi
  7. connect with cable > write wifi connection logic > upload to bot > select update firmware on cyberpi

Edit: when trying to update through online/offline IDE, I tried BOTH cyberpi and MBOT2 as update targets.
online instructions mention selecting cyberpi, but some users suggested selecting mbot2 as target for connection > firmware update

This all failed, and therefore Iā€™m here asking the world - you fine people :slight_smile: - for some insight.
Might this (27.01.006) be a broken firmware version? Am I doing something wrong, I follow all instructions to the letter. Any insight or tricks for updating the firmware? Is it mandatory for the AI blocks?
Help would be greatly appreciated

#2

Great news, I got it to work!!!

Thanks to some buried post; i got the idea of trying updating on a machine with 0 peripherals attached through usb. lucky for me that I had another laptop lying around to try this.

There, I tried Chrome > online IDE > mlink + official cable > mbot2 selected as target (may be important, cyberpi is the default and has a different firmware name) > firmware update

and slowly but surely it started the upgrade, without constant auto-rebooting(!), where this was what seemed to be happening before.

So I hope my posts will save some unknown frustrated tinkererer, and also that makeblock adds some user-feedback/error catching to the update process, so users know what they are doing wrong.

#3

@grabbster Glad you got this working!