Unbricking Flashforge Dreamer

[freeifier]

Hey I wanted to configure the firmware differently changed two parameters. After I built and flashed it via fw update trigger it is stuck in the boot screen, so I guess I messed something up. I just ordered an ST Link adapter, because I tried firmware flash tool on linux and also flashprint but I was not able to get into bootloader mode as it seems.

I read through some articles and but I don't know what I woudl have to do when my adapter arrives.
Maybe you could give me some help and probably others can use this as reference for unbricking their machines.

Cheers

[moonglow]

Hi @freeifier !

Please provide information about your printer model first. Some printers does not support update via bootloader ( as example Dremel 3D20 ) and if you update it to your own custom firmware it can soft break your printer... it is not a problem.. but need some time to order st-link or something like that to bring your printer back to life.

[freeifier]

So St link is on the way will be here tomorrow I guess.

I have a Flashforhe dreamer for sure. Also had Marlin up and running. i also reflashed it via Firmware update trigger to different Marlin Version with dir swap both worked.

But when trying to flash my custom Firmware.
write file success was displayed but printer now is stuck in Boot screen.

I want to reflash Software with St link.

[moonglow]

Hm... looks like your Dreamer has an old bootloader without update support... If our script updater under Linux does not works ( it does not give you any information ? ). Anyway if you will flash it, i recommends you also to update printer bootloader ( it supports update via bootloader mode, you will able refresh your firmware from any state without jtag ). You can get new bootloader image here: #116

[freeifier]

Ah yes that would be awesome. Maybe you could hell me through that Seen you gave some explanation to another guy.

[moonglow]

yeh no problem

[dr-mav]

Hello,

I have FF dreamer. After the first attempt to install the Marlin firmware I brick the printer. The process of upgrade went successfully, but printer never restarted into the new firmware. Is there a way to unbrick the printer?

PS I have very limited skills in programming so please use short words.

[moonglow]

Hi @dr-mav !

Can you provide us step by step what you did before ?

@freeifier

Yeah you can do it already, first of all you can backup your current bootloader how it explain HERE. I also recommends you to install STM32CubeProg it is GUI for ST-Link very easy and intuitive to use.

[dr-mav]

Hello @moonglow
I downloaded your repository. Installed VS. After that fixed the .h file. Build the .bin file. And using your instruction and fwriter flashed the printer. Got the message on the screen "write file successful" and nothing after that. Waited maybe 20 minutes, restarted and nothing pass the blue screen with logo.

[freeifier]

@moonglow So my ST link is here, I guess i would connect it up. I also have openocd installed and then I will update bootloader and try flashing working marlin version ?

@dr-mav I guess when I figured it out I could help you to outline the approach you would have to take the bottom panel of and then buy a ST link adapter looks like a usb stick and connect it up to the mainboard (4 wires). Using a programm on your computer you then can refllash the software to unbrick your printer.

[tracedgod]

@dr-mav i have a RevH CoreBoard. When I flash marlin, it never will get to the black screen portion for whatever reason, just sits on the blue FlashForge screen.

[dr-mav]

@dr-mav i have a RevH CoreBoard. When I flash marlin, it never will get to the black screen portion for whatever reason, just sits on the blue FlashForge screen.

I had issue with my programmer. My first one or didn't connect at all or didn't able to finish the programming.

@moonglow maybe we all should share our bootloaders here so people can use them in case the original is not working.

Plus, my usb stopped working. I think it is issue with Win10 and drivers. Dis anyone have that problem?

[tracedgod]

@dr-mav i have a RevH CoreBoard. When I flash marlin, it never will get to the black screen portion for whatever reason, just sits on the blue FlashForge screen.

I had issue with my programmer. My first one or didn't connect at all or didn't able to finish the programming.

@moonglow maybe we all should share our bootloaders here so people can use them in case the original is not working.

Plus, my usb stopped working. I think it is issue with Win10 and drivers. Dis anyone have that problem?

The USB problem was my main issue. Does your device show up in Device Manager at all when it's plugged in? Mine did not. I have since solved the issue by purchasing a new CoreBoard from eBay. As @moonglow mentioned, the MCU USB block was probably fried. I was able to use the program to write the firmware via USB with the new board, but I did have to flash the no-check bootloader to it first (the new board came with a weird firmware installed, looks like it might have been used internally to test the boards at FlashForge?).

[dr-mav]

@tracedgod In my case I can see unknow USB device with error code 43. As I understand it is a problem of drivers in win10. I'm not sure though.
Additionally maybe some one has nice settings for the dreamer (with 2 nozzle) in Cura. I'm trying to nailed it down, but still not as quite good results as I had with original firmware and Simlify3D.

[tracedgod]

@tracedgod In my case I can see unknow USB device with error code 43. As I understand it is a problem of drivers in win10. I'm not sure though. Additionally maybe some one has nice settings for the dreamer (with 2 nozzle) in Cura. I'm trying to nailed it down, but still not as quite good results as I had with original firmware and Simlify3D.

Gotcha, I think you need to install the STM32 Virtual COM Port Driver, as marlin uses the virtual COM port for USB connection I believe. (Edit: I have confirmed that Marlin indeed does show as the STM32 Virtual COM Port device.) As for the profile, I'm still sort of working on it as I go, but I was able to get my 2 extruders to show up and all that. There are some changes I had to make to the Start + End GCodes as well. I will commit the files to a repo when I get a chance.

[freeifier]

So I used cube programmer to flash bootloader and flash marlin firmware I have a similar issue as this guy Damaged boot loader on PowerSpec? #98 but it works when deleting the bin on the sd.

[moonglow]

@dr-mav

"After the first attempt to install the Marlin firmware I brick the printer."
"I have very limited skills in programming so please use short words."

But actually you do not use pretested prebuiled firmware and try to:

"After that fixed the .h file. Build the .bin file."

Thats why i ask you about more info... I assume you forget to encrypt your firmware before start to flash it to printer... You can try our Linux firmware upgrade script and if your printer bootloader is not too old you will flash it... another way to unbrick your printer is using St-Link programmer as @freeifier already tells before.

---

@freeifier

"Its not perfect the bootloader seems to have an issue with the fw checking but via this workaround"

Hm... whats wrong with that bootloader ?

[moonglow]

@freeifier !!!! thanx ... i will check it and fix such issue

[dr-mav]

Hello @moonglow I probably missed that part about encryption or it was in reedme file.

[tracedgod]

I always get check error fail and if there is firmware on sd then it will always flash it. So after flashing I deleted the dreamer.bin as mentioned in the post I got thsi from and then it boots fine.

Having the same issue. I have not been able to connect to my dreamer via USB to install marlin for a few months now, unsure why. FF support told me it could be firmware related but they didn't know how to fix it.. so I figured I would try my luck with the ST-Link adapter and re-flash the factory firmware first to see if it fixed my USB issue. Unfortunately, even though I took a backup of my original bootloader, it does not boot at all when reflashing. I can get it to boot with the bootloader from #116 but it just sits on the check error fail and does not boot at all, along with some other garbled mess on the screen. I have also tried placing an original, still encrypted firmware on the internal SD card in sys/dreamer.bin, a decrypted firmware, marlin firmware, none of them will boot at all even after I delete the bin file from the internal SD card.

EDIT: I just got it to boot back into the original firmware. I used an encrypted dreamer firmware (pulled from flashprint files, v2.15) and left it on the file write success screen for about 10 minutes. I then turned off the printer, and removed the dreamer.bin file on my internal SD and put it back into the printer. I then left it turned off for another 20 minutes, turned it back on, and it was booted up to the factory firmware. Unfortunately, after all that still no USB connection... 😢

I have attached my original firmware dump in case you wanted to take a look at it: ff-backup.zip

[moonglow]

@dr-mav
Yep rule is simple... if you want to load firmware via ff bootloader you must encrypt firmwre first ( my build script ( marlin_builder.sh ) will do it automatically, but if you build on your own you must ensure to encrypt it by yourself too ) and if you write firmware directly via JTAG it must be raw ( no encryption needed ).

@tracedgod
USB is not firmware related problem ( Marlin or FF nevermind ), sometimes it can be USB socket/soldering problem, so you can check wire connection from USB cable side to MCU pins and sometimes or your MCU USB block was damaged by static electricity or something like that ( some users report me that FF support team change whole motherboard in such cases )....

p.s: you ff_backup is only 4KB i think you save only part of firmware that you saw on flasher screen. Anyway make sure what other users can't run your bootloader because it linked to your motherboard thats why i provide patched one...

[tracedgod]

@tracedgod USB is not firmware related problem ( Marlin or FF nevermind ),

I didn't think so either, just wanted to try it out to see if it was potentially an issue. I think there was an issue with my original bootloader anyways, it never would update when I put dreamer.bin on the internal SD before I flashed the patched one.

sometimes it can be USB socket/soldering problem, so you can check wire connection from USB cable side to MCU pins and sometimes or your MCU USB block was damaged by static electricity or something like that ( some users report me that FF support team change whole motherboard in such cases )....

Sounds like the USB issue is probably going to be the MCU block as I have already replaced the port in the past with verification that all pins have continuity to their respective CPU pins, I'll look into possibly sourcing a replacement if at all possible (the block doesn't have any sort of labeling on it). EDIT: I read that wrong, you meant the actual peripheral block in the processor itself.

p.s: you ff_backup is only 4KB i think you save only part of firmware that you saw on flasher screen. Anyway make sure what other users can't run your bootloader because it linked to your motherboard thats why i provide patched one...

I noticed the backup didn't look right, I probably didn't do it correctly. Oh well, it's booted up fine with the patched bootloader you provided so I'm not really that worried about it.

@moonglow , what base address should I be writing the unecrypted firmware to via SWD/JTAG if I wanted to straight flash marlin? I want to run marlin but I can't load it via USB (though I suppose I could encrypt and put it on the internal SD card as well). Thanks for all the directions + info!