DFU ready but not "outboard-ready"

1

I have a WBNAN notecard, its on custom board w/ an ESP32S3. When I do a FW update and query dfu.status I see ( below ) and “mode”: “ready”. The doicumentation says :slight_smile:
The current DFU mode. Will be one of:

"idle": There is no firmware download in progress, and no data previously downloaded.

"error": The download or verification has failed. In this mode, the status field will contain the reason.

"downloading": The download is in progress. In this mode, the status field will contain info about progress.

"ready": The firmware data is fully downloaded.

"outboard-ready": The firmware data is fully downloaded and ready for an outboard DFU operation, where the Notecard will flash the firmware to the host MCU via the AUX or ALT_DFU pins.

"completed": The firmware has been installed.

When will it switch the mode to "outboard-ready"? Its been hours and I sync every 60min.

{
“status”: “successfully downloaded”,
“mode”: “ready”,
“on”: true,
“body”: {
“crc32”: 3895191406,
“created”: 1781058783,
“firmware”: {
“builder”: “gomario”,
“built”: “Jun 9 2026 19:32:48”,
“description”: “Dogwood-S3”,
“firmware”: “Dogwood-S3”,
“org”: “IRZ”,
“product”: “IAP”,
“ver_build”: 76,
“ver_major”: 1,
“version”: “1.0.0.76”
},
“length”: 450592,
“md5”: “d620a64fe1e1672ecc8ca4ee7b5aef2f”,
“modified”: 1781058783,
“name”: “blues_logger.Dogwood-S3.1.0.0.76-S3.ino$20260610023303.bin”,
“notes”: “branch.release-v0.0.2”,
“source”: “blues_logger.Dogwood-S3.1.0.0.76-S3.ino.bin”,
“type”: “firmware”,
“version”: “1.0.0.76”
}
}

2

Hi @Mario_Guthrie and welcome to the Blues community!

So it looks like your response to dfu.status shows "mode": "ready" / "status": "successfully downloaded". This means the firmware download part is working. The problem is that your Notecard has probably not been configured for outboard DFU, so it’s defaulting to host-based DFU and will stay at ready indefinitely.

You need to do a couple more things potentially:

  1. Configure the Notecard for Notecard Outboard Firmware Updates:
{ "req": "card.dfu", "name": "esp32", "on": true }
  1. If the pins you wired are the Notecard’s default AUX pins, also free them up so nothing else claims them:
{ "req": "card.aux", "mode": "off" }

NOTE: If your custom board instead routes to the dedicated ALT_DFU pins, add "mode": "altdfu" to the card.dfu request.

  1. Since this is your own custom Notecarrier board, ODFU only works if you’ve physically connected the Notecard’s DFU pins to the ESP32 per the Required Wiring section. Blues Notecarriers like Notecarrier F and CX have this built in.

Let us know if this helps!

Rob

3

Hi Rob

Thanks for the response, can I set this OTA?

4

Hi @Mario_Guthrie,

Unfortunately, no, this must be performed on device/in firmware.

Thanks,
Rob

5

Darn, I was hoping not to visit all the remote units, was hoping “_dfu_enabled” env variable would work but it controls something else.