Hardware FAQ

What is this FAQ for?

This FAQ addresses hardware-specific issues relating to the NodeMcu firmware on NoceMCU Inc Devkits and other ESP-8266 modules.

Hardware Specifics

Why file writes fail all the time on DEVKIT V1.0?

NodeMCU DEVKIT V1.0 uses ESP12-E-DIO(ESP-12-D) module. This module runs the Flash memory in Dual IO SPI (DIO) mode. This firmware will not be correctly loaded if you use old flashtool versions, and the filesystem will not work if you used a pre 0.9.6 firmware version (<0.9.5) or old. The easiest way to resolve this problem s update all the firmware and flash tool to current version.

  • Use the latest esptool.py with DIO support and command option to flash firmware, or

  • Use the latest NodeMCU flasher with default option. (You must select the restore to default option in advanced menu tab), or

  • Use the latest Espressif's flash tool -- see this Espressif forum topic (without auto download support). Use DIO mode and 32M flash size option, and flash latest firmware to 0x00000. Before flashing firmware, remember to hold FLASH button, and press RST button once. Note that the new NodeMCU our firmware download tool, when released, will be capable of flashing firmware automatically without any button presses.

What's the different between DIO and QIO mode?

Whether DIO or QIO modes are available depends on the physical connection between the ESP8266 CPU and its onboard flash chip. QIO connects to the flash using 5 data pins as compared to DIO's 3. This frees up an extra 2 IO pins for GPIO use, but this also halves the read/write data-rate to Flash compared to QIO modules.

How to use DEVKIT V0.9 on Mac OS X?

How does DEVKIT use DTR and RTS enter download mode?