"factory" reset of waveshare rp2350-one

[f0rdprefect]

Not a bug!

I ran into the problem that I could not apply settings to one of my waveshare rp2350-one. Settings are not cleared when reflashing firmware (which is good for upgrades I guess).

However I could not get the neopixel working.

Looking for an easy way to "factory reset" I found https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-metro-rp2350/factory-reset-2 which did the trick for me. Thought it would be good to share this.

Thanks for taking a libre spin on this cool project!

[Lab-8916100448256]

Raspberry also provide a "nuke" firmware that is erasing the flash : https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/microcontrollers/pico-series.html#resetting-flash-memory

I found that it is not working on all boards though. More specifically I have a "TENSTAR RP2350-USB" with 16MB Flash where it is not working. After writing it to the board nothing happens (it should reboot automatically with empty flash). And if I reset it the pico-fido firmware is still there with all its settings.
The adafruit "factory reset" firmware isn't working either on this board. It is written to the board. But after re-flashing the pico-fido firmware all the setting are still as configured before.

I'll set this issue to Task type for anyone who would like to contribute a pull request to add some information about this subject to the documentation.
The file docs/Troubleshooting.md would be a god place to add this information.

Thanks for bringing that up @f0rdprefect

[Lab-8916100448256]

Maybe it is possible to erase the flash with the picotool utility

[Lab-8916100448256]

Maybe it is possible to erase the flash with the picotool utility

No luck with that either :

# picotool partition info
un-partitioned_space : S(rw) NSBOOT(rw) NS(rw), uf2 { 'absolute' }
partitions:
  0(A)       00000000->00100000 S(rw) NSBOOT(rw) NS(rw), id=0000000000000000, "Pico Keys Firmware", uf2 { 'rp2350-arm-s', 'rp2350-riscv' }, arm_boot 1, riscv_boot 1
  1(A ob/ 0) 00100000->00400000 S(rw) NSBOOT(r) NS(-), id=0000000000000001, "Pico Keys Data", uf2 { 'data' }, arm_boot 0, riscv_boot 0

from the above result the firmware configuration should be in partition 1.
But trying to erase it fails with a permission error :

# picotool erase -p 1 
Erasing partition 1:
  00100000->00400000
Erasing:              [                              ]  0%
ERROR: The RP2350 device returned an error: permission failure

I can erase partition 0, which contains the firmware itself. But that does not reset the configuration settings.

[Lab-8916100448256]

Yay! I found a way to erase the flash of this board :
First erase partition 0

# picotool erase -p 0
Erasing partition 0:
  00000000->00100000
Erasing:              [==============================]  100%
Erased 1048576 bytes

Then, if trying to erase partition 1 we get an error, because partition 0 contained the partition table, and it is no longer there : 
```bash
# picotool erase -p 1
ERROR: The RP2350 device returned an error: data is invalid

And if we try to delete the data of partition 1 by address range it still fails with permission error :

# picotool erase --range 0x10100000 0x10400000 
Erasing:              [                              ]  0%
ERROR: The RP2350 device returned an error: permission failure

But if we reset the board and try again to delete by address range, it works :

# picotool erase --range 0x10100000 0x10400000 
Erasing:              [==============================]  100%
Erased 3145728 bytes

Finally, after re-flashing the pico-fido firmware all setting are reset to their default values :-)

Note : for the address range to delete we take the values that were indicated in the partition table before deleting partition 0 :

# picotool partition info
un-partitioned_space : S(rw) NSBOOT(rw) NS(rw), uf2 { 'absolute' }
partitions:
  0(A)       00000000->00100000 S(rw) NSBOOT(rw) NS(rw), id=0000000000000000, "Pico Keys Firmware", uf2 { 'rp2350-arm-s', 'rp2350-riscv' }, arm_boot 1, riscv_boot 1
  1(A ob/ 0) 00100000->00400000 S(rw) NSBOOT(r) NS(-), id=0000000000000001, "Pico Keys Data", uf2 { 'data' }, arm_boot 0, riscv_boot 0

That is from 0x00100000 to 0x00400000 in the above example, and we add an offset of 0x10000000

[lockedmutex]

To nuke the flash on any rp2350 board with any size of flash use this: https://github.com/Gadgetoid/pico-universal-flash-nuke

[Lab-8916100448256]

To nuke the flash on any rp2350 board with any size of flash use this: https://github.com/Gadgetoid/pico-universal-flash-nuke

This one is also failing to erase the flash of the "Tenstar RP2350-USB 16MB Flash".

A simpler way to erase the flash of this board using picotool is to run picotool erase --range 0x10000000 0x10FFFFFF. It will start erasing the flash but fail at 6% progress :

# picotool erase --range 0x10000000 0x10FFFFFF 
Erasing:              [=                             ]  6%
ERROR: The RP2350 device returned an error: permission failure

Then unplug and re-plug the board, or press the reset button, and run the same picotool erase command, which this time will erase all 16 MB of flash :

# picotool erase --range 0x10000000 0x10FFFFFF 
Erasing:              [==============================]  100%
Erased 16777216 bytes

[lockedmutex]

Information like this can be added into a dedicated wiki page, that deals with board specific and pico-tool specific troubleshooting and handling.

[x-magic]

Just FYI if secureboot and securelock is enabled on pico-fido, you'll need a signed version of the tool.

[chaoticdracotech]

Just as a note, it seems like the Tenstar one might be a clone of the Waveshare board, but with different button placement and different LED Pin.

EDIT: I noticed that the waveshare has 4MB of flash, while the Tenstar has 16MB. I don't know if that's helpful with anything, but it's something I've noticed.