E (66829) esp_image: invalid segment length 0xffffffff about esp32_ble_ota_arduino

[fbiego]

160000? looks like the last part was not written to the file. This usually happens when using SPIFFS.
A delay before installing the update may resolve the issue

[Fabchick]

I am getting the same error when I am following your tutorial carefully and setting the partition table to "minimal SPIFFS".
I am working with platform.io plugin on VSCode. There I added board_build.partitions = min_spiffs.csv to the platformio.ini file and added this csv partition table to the root in the filesystem.

But! everything works when I disregard your advice to set that minimal spiffs partition table. platformio uses the default partition table which works fine for me.

Sadly, I dont know why it works, because I am new to this and I have to get more knowledge about how those partition stuff works and why I even have to alter it.

ps: fbiego, thanks for the nice tutorial and codes. Really appreciate it because it accelerates my project on OTA over BLE.

[fbiego]

Hello @Fabchick,
here is a brief description.

app0 stores the uploaded code via serial and the esp will boot from that by default.
When the OTA file is transferred via BLE it will be stored in spiffs temporarily.
The installation process involves transferring the update file from spiffs to app1, if successful esp will set a flag to boot from app1 which now contains the new firmware.

So app0 and app1 must be greater than your compiled code, your spiffs must also be large unless you're using external storage such as an SD card to store the file temporarily

[Fabchick]

This was an awesome and on-point explanation of it. Thank you! ☺️
Also I have to excuse myself. I have messed up by thinking that you have written this similar tutorial.

back to topic:
So If you do not have an SD card, you have to ensure that app0, app1 and spiffs is greater than the compiled code.
The "minimum spiffs table" I pointed out earlier has a size of 0x30000 - which is much smaller than app0 and app1.
Could this have been the problem I have got the #9 error?
Also: I just successfully flashed an 725KB binary file via your app to my ESP32. How is this possible when the default partition options give app0 and app1 a size of 0x140000? 0x140000 < 725KB binary file, right? Or is the size of the binary file much bigger than the actual size of code transfered?

[fbiego]

Yeah, app0, app1 & spiffs must be greater.

0x30000 (hex) translates to 196,608 bytes, which was not enough to store the update file

0x140000 is 1,310,720 bytes

[Fabchick]

Oh, I did not know the hex number is given in bytes. I thought I must divide it by 8 to get the bytes. 😣

You helped me a lot bro!
Also - I like your projects, keep it up.

[itsaname]

I also have some error #9 when use spiffs, but it seem no problem in ffat system, everything is same except filesys.