Why is updating firmware so complicated?

[EliotBR (Eliot)]

Hi @Marengsen,

@Marengsen

I’m running Ping Viewer version 2.3.2 (which is different than the one linked on your website btw)

Our docs download link is to the latest version that’s been tagged as stable - later releases may not be stable, or may not have been tested as thoroughly. That said, it does seem like the stable tag has been lagging behind by quite a bit, so thanks for letting us know - I’ve raised this internally and we’ll likely update it soon (probably to the latest release, but possibly a slightly earlier one).

@Marengsen

The so called “status bar” in the firmware window doesn’t show anything when pressing the “Firmware Update” button. The pinging stops but there’s no progress bar or indication showing me anything.

I’ve tried to start Ping Viewer both in 9600 and 115200 baud, but it makes no difference. The downgrading never happens and after 2 hours of “patching”, I can unplug the USB cable (tried 2 brand new USB cables) and reconnect and Ping Viewer will find the device again, but it’s still in 3.28 version.

That does sound like a bug - did you also try updating using the Ping Viewer version from the website?

Note also that we’ve just released an update to the ping-arduino library (0.1.1), so that it’s now able to work properly with the 3.28_auto firmware instead of needing to downgrade it. That should be available from the Arduino library manager within a few hours, although if necessary it’s possible to install manually by downloading the release .zip and using Sketch / Include Library / Add .ZIP Library.... We’re in the process of updating the guide you were following - it should be the same other than the recommended firmware version.

@Marengsen

I cannot think of anything I’ve forgotten to test or try out. It should be pretty straight forward, right?

Yes, it should be straight forward. Given what you’ve tried, if it’s not working that’s most likely a bug/issue in the software rather than you doing something wrong.

@Marengsen

Are there any error logs I can find somewhere or where should I start with debugging? I guess some of you would want to see some kind of log (myself included).

The log files you/we would be after are the GUI Logs. We’d definitely appreciate if you can upload one from where the update didn’t work, but beyond that you’re welcome to install the updated Arduino library and move on with what you actually wanted to do with it

It would be great if you could submit a bug report (requires a GitHub account)

If we’re unable to replicate the firmware updating issue then we might ask for your help/some more logs, but it’s mostly important that you’re not being actively held back from using the device.