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Version: 2.8

Flash nRF52/RP2040/RP2350 Factory Erase

Meshtastic uses the littlefs library to store configuration, logs, and other data in the internal flash of nRF52nRF52A microcontroller chipset made by Nordic, used by several devices such as the RAK Meshtastic Starter Kit and the Lilygo T-Echo. Lower power usage than ESP32., RP2040rp2040A microcontroller chip developed by Raspberry Pi, featuring dual ARM Cortex-M0+ processors., & RP2350rp2350A microcontroller chip developed by Raspberry Pi, featuring dual ARM Cortex-M33 or Hazard3 RISC-V processors. devices. Updating the firmware does not erase this additional data, which can cause issues when the format and location of data changes between releases.

info

You may now use the Meshtastic Web Flasher to Factory Erase your nRF52nRF52A microcontroller chipset made by Nordic, used by several devices such as the RAK Meshtastic Starter Kit and the Lilygo T-Echo. Lower power usage than ESP32., RP2040rp2040A microcontroller chip developed by Raspberry Pi, featuring dual ARM Cortex-M0+ processors., or RP2350rp2350A microcontroller chip developed by Raspberry Pi, featuring dual ARM Cortex-M33 or Hazard3 RISC-V processors.-based devices. Visit the flasher, select your board, and click the trash can icon to the right of the Flash button. This will open a dialogue to begin the erase procedure.

Alternatively, follow the instructions below.

nRF52​

Every nRF52nRF52A microcontroller chipset made by Nordic, used by several devices such as the RAK Meshtastic Starter Kit and the Lilygo T-Echo. Lower power usage than ESP32. device runs a small program called the bootloader before Meshtastic itself starts. It is what shows up as a USBUSB (Universal Serial Bus). The wired connection used to power a device, flash firmware onto it, and communicate with it over serial. drive when you double-click the reset button, and it installs whatever .uf2 file you copy onto that drive. Newer Meshtastic bootloaders can factory erase the device by themselves; older ones need a separate erase firmware. The steps below start the same way and then branch depending on which bootloader your device has.

To reset the flash storage on your nRF52nRF52A microcontroller chipset made by Nordic, used by several devices such as the RAK Meshtastic Starter Kit and the Lilygo T-Echo. Lower power usage than ESP32. board:

  1. Download and unzip the latest firmware from Meshtastic Downloads.
  2. Connect your device to your computer with a USBUSB (Universal Serial Bus). The wired connection used to power a device, flash firmware onto it, and communicate with it over serial. data cable.
  3. Double click the reset button on your device (this will put it into bootloader mode)
  4. Notice a new drive will be mounted on your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux)
  5. Open this drive and you should see three files: CURRENT.UF2, INDEX.HTM, and INFO_UF2.TXT
  6. Open the INFO_UF2.TXT file with a text editor. If it contains a line starting with Factory-Erase:, continue with Bootloader factory erase. If there is no such line, continue with Older bootloaders.

Bootloader factory erase​

  1. Download meshtastic_factory_erase.uf2 (attached to every Meshtastic nRF52 bootloader release from OTAFIX 2.4 on). One file works for every nRF52nRF52A microcontroller chipset made by Nordic, used by several devices such as the RAK Meshtastic Starter Kit and the Lilygo T-Echo. Lower power usage than ESP32. board, so there is no SoftDevice version to match.
  2. Copy it onto the drive.
  3. About half a second after the copy finishes, the drive disappears. A couple of seconds later it comes back. That is the erase done: no serial connection or command line is needed. (If you eject the drive instead, the device resets immediately.)
  4. Either copy the firmware .uf2 for your device from the firmware you unzipped at the start onto the drive, or just unplug the device. The firmware that was already installed is kept and starts as if the device were brand new.

The erase clears everything Meshtastic stores on the device: its settings, its encryption keys, its Bluetooth pairings, and its node database (the list of other Meshtastic devices, or nodes, it has heard from). The bootloader and the installed firmware are left untouched.

Older bootloaders​

Bootloaders without a Factory-Erase: line in INFO_UF2.TXT, which includes every bootloader before OTAFIX 2.4 and the stock bootloaders many boards ship with, silently ignore meshtastic_factory_erase.uf2. Use the erase firmware included with each Meshtastic release instead:

  1. In INFO_UF2.TXT, note the SoftDevice value (the version of the device's built-in Bluetooth software).
  2. Find the file included in the downloaded firmware matching your softdevice major version number (7.x.x or 6.x.x). Either use Meshtastic_nRF52_factory_erase_v3_S140_7.3.0.uf2 or Meshtastic_nRF52_factory_erase_v3_S140_6.1.0.uf2 and copy it onto the new drive. The device should reboot.
  3. With the Meshtastic CLI installed, open your Terminal/Console and enter the command: meshtastic --noproto.
  4. You should see the message: Formatting... Done.
caution

The erase file must match your SoftDevice version: the wrong one can overwrite part of the SoftDevice and leave the device needing a hardware programmer to recover. If you copied meshtastic_factory_erase.uf2 and nothing happened, your bootloader does not support it yet: use the steps above, or update the bootloader first and check INFO_UF2.TXT again.

Once the device has been erased, you can proceed to install the latest Meshtastic firmware on a clean storage filesystem by clicking the link below.

RP2040​

To reset the flash storage on your RP2040rp2040A microcontroller chip developed by Raspberry Pi, featuring dual ARM Cortex-M0+ processors. board:

  1. Download flash_nuke.uf2 to your computer.
  2. Press the BOOTSEL button and while keeping it pressed, connect it to your computer via a USBUSB (Universal Serial Bus). The wired connection used to power a device, flash firmware onto it, and communicate with it over serial. cable.
  3. The board should now appear as a mass storage device on your computer with the label RPI-RP2.
  4. Copy the flash_nuke.uf2 file to the device.
  5. The board will now restart and the flash memory will be erased.

Once the device has been erased, you can proceed to install the latest Meshtastic firmware on a clean storage filesystem by clicking the link below.

Flash nRF52/RP2040/RP2350 Firmware