Notecard is outputting to terminal emulator but ignores any json command input I type i

Troubleshooting
1

I am a new user. I have received my very first notecard, my notecarrier F, and my HUZZAH32 processor. I am following the ESP32 tutorial, but have not been able to establish basic communications to the notecard.

I reverted to the Quickstart tutorial, but immediately hit the same wall.

Here is what I am experiencing:

I am on a Windows 10 PC. When I attach the micro USB it all seems to go as expected: A COMx port appears, and the lights start blinking on the ESP32. The blues.io terminal emulator that runs in the browser (Edge in this case) finds the COM port just fine. I click on USB, it connects, and says Notecard USB Connected.

It appears the notecard immediately goes into a mode where it is scanning for available wifi networks. It prints a “WiFi scan start”, then “WiFi Scan done”, then “n networks found”, and lists the networks. All SSID’s are as I expect to see. This sequence keeps repeating every few seconds.

At the bottom of the emulator window I cut and paste in this command: {“req”:“card.version”}

I transmit that (either via hitting return or hitting the > button on the right).

The json command text is echoed to the terminal output window, and is shown in blue text.

That is it. There is no other response. I am not seeing the expected response to the {“req”:“card.version”} command. I am not seeing any response.

I have tried several different USB-A to microUSB cables to ensure that is not the problem.

Please advise.

2

Hi @bradleyward,

Make sure you’re plugging the USB cable directly into the Notecarrier (not the ESP32) when using the in-browser terminal. That’s my first guess. If that isn’t the issue, can you please show a picture of your hardware so we can take a closer look?

Thanks,
Rob

3

That was it! I was so used to plugging the USB cable into the ESP32 that I did not even notice that there was also a USB connection on the Notecard.

Working great now.

Suggestion: Add something like this to the tutorial page:

If you are seeing output from the Notecard, but any json input that you send back to the Notecard is ignored, verify that your USB cable is plugged directly into the Notecard and not into the ESP32.

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Also, for the benefit of others who may find this thread later: The information I was seeing being output to the terminal emulator where it was scanning and reporting local Wi-Fi networks was apparently being transmitted by the HUZZAH ESP32. I had never downloaded a sketch to this new HUZZAH, so apparently it defaults to that behavior.

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