Hi, I encountered an error while upgrading the firmware on my Flipper Zero. It’s partially broken; I can’t boot it into normal operation, but I can seemingly connect it to the PC in DFU mode. I’ve provided an error log, but I’ll do my best to provide as much information as I can, in case the additional context is useful:
qFlipper-20230205-003214.txt (9.2 KB)
I wanted to upgrade the firmware to Release 0.76.0. I don’t remember exactly what version was installed on the Flipper Zero when I got it; I think it was 0.4X.X
So I downloaded qFlipper and tried to connect the Flipper Zero to the PC using the provided USB cable, but qFlipper wasn’t able to connect to the device. I’m guessing that I may have ran into problems because I tried connecting it to the PC before installing qFlipper / the drivers. Either way, I’m using Windows 10, so I started reading through the troubleshooting steps in the docs.
According to the docs, my DFU mode driver for the Flipper Zero was incorrect; I had a driver from STMicroelectronics rather than the libwdi one shown in the screenshot. I tried various things to resolve the driver issue, including uninstalling the device and uninstalling/reinstalling qFlipper and its drivers, but it always ended up giving me the same STMicroelectronics driver again. I tried forcing Windows to use the driver in C:\Program Files\qFlipper\STM32 Driver, but it gave me an error message that said something like “Windows has determined that the best driver is already installed”, without any way to override.
After some more digging, I found a comment from a qFlipper dev describing a method for forcing Windows to use a different driver with that device. I had to uncheck “Show compatible hardware” to get options besides “STM32 Bootloader”, but doing so gave me the option to select WinUsb Device > WinUsb Device. It’s maybe worth noting that the driver still doesn’t say “libwdi” or look like the one in the screenshot; it looks more like this:
DFU in FS Mode
Driver Provider: Microsoft
Driver Date: 6/21/2006
Driver Version: 10.0.19041.1
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows
Either way, once I forced the device to use a different driver, qFlipper was able to recognize the Flipper. I read through the Firmware Update docs and noticed that I should have a MicroSD inserted. So I booted back to normal mode, inserted a 64GB SanDisk (which I believe was formatted for ExFAT), and reformatted it on the Flipper. I did a speed test and everything was fine; the R/W speeds were slightly faster than the ones in the screenshot in the docs.
Then I booted back into DFU mode to upgrade the firmware. One thing that stood out to me was that the install button was different. In the docs, it was green and said “Install”; mine was blue and said “Repair” (like the one shown on the Firmware Recovery page of the docs). But I went ahead and clicked it. That’s when I got this error (complete log attached).
It’s possible that the drivers may not be operating correctly, because I noticed that I don’t get all the same information on the info page of qFlipper. Where this screenshot shows information on the firmware, build date, SD Card, etc. mine just shows “Hardware: 12.F7B9C6”. Another worth noting is that the SDCard is empty except for the file created by the R/W test; I was expecting to see some other data written by the Flipper.
Anyway, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know! I’ll also post back if I figure out a solution. Thanks!
