How to change the firmware of Arduino UNO WiFi

There are four different ways to change or upgrade the firmware on your Arduino UNO WiFi:

• burn the firmware using UNO WiFi Firmware Updater tool (for all O.S. via Serial);

• burn the firmware using Arduino Software (IDE) 1.7.x (for all O.S. via OTA );

• burn the firmware using ESP recovery (for all O.S. via Serial);

• burn the firmware using ESP Flash Download tool for Windows user (Only Windows via Serial).

All these ways are shown in below paragraphs.

Burn the firmware using UNO WiFi Firmware Updater tool

If you are using the Arduino 1.8.x or later then you can upgrade the Esp firmware using the UNO WiFi Firmware Updater tool. The complete guide is in this link.

Note: This procedure is recommended for all Operating System and it is usable via serial.

Burn the Firmware using the Arduino Software (IDE)

If you want burn the firmware using the file into Arduino Software (IDE) 1.7.x, then continue to follow the guide, if instead you are using the Arduino Software (IDE) 1.8.x then follow the Arduino UNO WiFi Firmware Updater guide.

Note: This procedure is reccommended for all Operating System and it is usable only via OTA.

• Download the latest Arduino Software (IDE) version. Click here.

• Launch the Arduino Software (IDE).

• Plug the Arduino UNO WiFi to PC.

• Select the board: Arduino UNO WiFi from Tools>Board menu.

• Select the Port from Tools>Ports>Network ports menu.

• Select the Programmer from Tools>Programmer>ESP8266 Over The Air menu.

• Click on Burn Bootloader from Tools menu.

Burn the firmware using EspRecovery

This procedure is recommended for all Operating System and it is usable only via Serial.

1 - First you must upload the EspRecovery sketch on your Arduino UNO WiFi:

• Connect the Arduino UNO WiFi to PC with a USB cable.

• Open the Arduino Software (IDE).

• Select the correspondent port and board.

• Upload the ESPRecovery sketch from File>Examples>Arduino UNO WiFI>Tools menu of Arduino Software (IDE):

2 - Enter the board in bootloader mode:

• Disconnect the Arduino Uno WiFi
• Reconnect the board while pressing the ESP B/L button.

3 - Open your terminal as Administrator. 4 - Download the ESPtool, you can download from here or you can use the command:

sudo pip install esptool

5 - Test the esptool, for example, inserting the below command to read the MAC address:

• python esptool.py -p your port -b baudrate read_mac

• Set the baudrate at 9600.

For linux user, for example, the port will be /dev/ttyACM0:

sudo python esptool.py -p /dev/ttyACM0 -b 9600 read_mac

For Mac user, for example, the port will be /dev/tty.usbmodem1411:

sudo python esptool.py -p /dev/tty.usbmodem1411 -b 9600 read_mac

For Windows user:

for example in case that the tools is in **\Users\XXXX\Desktop\esptool\esptool** folder and the COM is 30:

python \User\XXXX\Desktop\esptool\esptool\esptool.py -p COM30 -b 9600 read_mac

If it appears on your MAC terminal, then continue the procedure:

Connecting... MAC: 18:fe:34:10:e2:85

7 - Use this command to write the firmware but PAY ATTENTION to set the correct path and insert your correspondent port:

sudo python esptool.py -p /dev/ttyACM0 -b 9600 write_flash -ff 80m -fm qio -fs 32m
0x00000 20151223/boot_v1.4.bin_rep 0x1000 20151223/user1.bin 0x3FC000
20151223/esp_init_data_default.bin_rep 0x3FE000 20151223/blank.bin

For Windows user: for example in case that the tools is in \Users\XXXX\Desktop\esptool\esptool** folder and the COM is 30**:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>python \Users\xxxx\Desktop\esptool\esptool\esptool.py -p COM30 -b 9600 write_flash -ff 80m -fm qio -fs 32m 0x00000

C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop\esptool\esptool\20151223/boot_v1.4.bin_rep 0x1000

C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop\esptool\esptool\20151223/user1.bin 0x3FC000

C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop\esptool\esptool\20151223/esp_init_data_default.bin_rep 0x3FE000

C:\Users\xxxxx\Desktop\esptool\esptool\20151223/blank.bin

8 - Wait some minutes that the process ends

Note: You can find the updated user1.bin file directly into Arduino Software (IDE), here the path: arduino-1.7.x\hardware\arduino\avr\firmwares\esp8266\unowifi\firmware_arduino_esp8266_20xx_xx_xx_file1.bin

Burn the firmware using ESP Flash download tool

If you are a Windows user and you want to upgrade the firmware using a baudrate higher than 9600 then follow the procedure below:

Note: This method allows to burn the firmware quickly (baudrate to 115200) but it needs an USB2Serial and some welding.

1 - First you must upload the Blink sketch on your Arduino UNO WiFi:

• Connect the Arduino UNO WiFi to your PC with a USB cable.

• Open the Arduino Software (IDE), you can download it here.

• Select the correspondent port and board.

• Upload the Blink sketch from File>Examples>Basics menu.

2 - Create a jumper between TP_GPIOESP test point and Ground, as shown in the image below:

3 - Connect the board to the USB2Serial:

• Using some jumpers follow these connections:

USB2SerialArduino Uno WiFiRXRXTXTXGNDGND

• Connect the USB2Serial converter to your PC.

4 - Put the board in bootloader mode:

• Disconnect the Arduino Uno WiFi
• Reconnect the board while pressing the ESP B/L button.

5 - Open the ESP FLASH DOWNLOAD TOOL, you can download it from here Δ.

• Extract it;

• Click on flash_download_tool_v1.2_150512.exe.

6 - Setting the the esptool:

• Select the first row and insert the boot.bin_rep file and set the address: 0x00000.

• Select the second row and insert the user1.bin file and set the address: 0x40000.

• Select the third row and insert the esp_init_data_default.bin_rep fileand set the address: 0x7C000.

• Select the quarter row and insert the blank.bin file and set the address: 0x7E000, as shown in the picture.

Note: You can find the updated user1.bin file directly into Arduino Software (IDE), here the path: arduino-1.7.x\hardware\arduino\avr\firmwares\esp8266\unowifi\firmware_arduino_esp8266_20xx_xx_xx_file1.bin

• Select the correspondent USB2Serial COM.

• Setting the baudrate to 115200.

7 - Execute the Firmware writing.

• Click on START

• Wait the ending of the process; Finish will appear when done, as shown in the image below.

8 - Now remove the jumper between TP_GPIOESP and Ground.

See also

• Getting started with Arduino Uno WiFi
• Firmware updater

The text of the Arduino getting started guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Code samples in the guide are released into the public domain.