Add first version of Sonoff flash post

content/posts/flashing-zha-dongle.md

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+title = "Flashing SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle with new firmware"
+date = "2024-01-22T22:30:00+01:00"
+author = "Daniel Carl Jones"
+cover = ""
+tags = ["smart-home", "guide"]
+keywords = ["smart", "home", "flash", "zigbee", "sonoff"]
+description = ""
+showFullContent = false
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+
+I have one of the [SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle](https://sonoff.tech/product/gateway-and-sensors/sonoff-zigbee-3-0-usb-dongle-plus-p/).
+It is attached to my home server and provides me with Zigbee connectivity for smart home integrations.
+The problem is that occasionally I have two sensors that drop off the network, after which I need to pair them again to get them working again.
+I'm hoping that flashing the latest firmware on to the Zigbee dongle may help.
+
+I wanted to use an ARM-based Macbook to flash the new firmware.
+I heavily relied on [Smart Home Addict's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzoiT0mUdkg), adapting at each point to follow along on macOS.
+
+I've written this post for future reference, and hopefully it may help someone out there too.
+
+_Of course, I cannot be responsible and you follow this guide and others at your own risk._
+
+For the rest of this process, I recommend changing into a directory that you won't accidentally lose.
+For example, creating a directory on your desktop which you can delete later.
+
+## Preparing packages and software
+
+This section will download a bunch of drivers, Python packages, and firmware.
+
+### Drivers
+
+First, we needed a bunch of drivers that help the software on macOS interact with UART devices over USB.
+
+The [Silicon Lab's USB to UART bridge device driver](https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers) is needed.
+I preferred to pull it down using Homebrew.
+
+```
+$ brew install silicon-labs-vcp-driver
+```
+
+### Python packages and scripts
+
+Two Python projects are used in this guide:
+one to read the current firmware for a backup,
+the other to write the new firmware.
+
+~~At this point, I should probably be recommending to use a virtual environment - but I never did get around to figuring out how they worked so I skipped that bit.~~
+
+I installed a bunch of pip packages as recommended in the video I was following:
+
+```
+$ pip3 install \
+    wheel \
+    pyserial \
+    intelhex \
+    python-magic \
+    zigpy-znp
+```
+
+After that, I downloaded a copy of this software: https://github.com/JelmerT/cc2538-bsl.
+
+Since I'm used to Git, I just performed a Git clone but downloading the zip and deexpanding the archive would work too.
+
+```
+$ git clone [email protected]:JelmerT/cc2538-bsl.git
+```
+
+### New firmware
+
+The last thing to download is the new firmware you wish to flash.
+There's a bunch of firmware available in this repository.
+
+https://github.com/Koenkk/Z-Stack-firmware/tree/master/coordinator/Z-Stack_3.x.0/bin
+
+The video and the documentation both recommend "Coordinator firmware" (which sounds about right).
+The file should look something like this: "CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_*.zip".
+Download and unzip this into your working directory.
+
+At this point, all the software should be installed and/or prepared.
+
+## Identifying the Sonoff device
+
+Before attaching the dongle, run the following command and observe which entries are present.
+For example, I see two entries.
+
+```
+$ ls -a1 /dev/tty.*
+/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
+/dev/tty.DannysHeadphones
+```
+
+It's time to plug-in the Sonoff USB dongle.
+Then run the command again - you should see a new device.
+That should be the Sonoff device.
+
+```
+$ ls -a1 /dev/tty.*
+/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
+/dev/tty.DannysHeadphones
+/dev/tty.usbserial-0001
+```
+
+Note down the new device for later.
+
+## Backing up the Sonoff firmware
+
+Before flashing the new firmware, you should backup the current firmware.
+
+You can learn a bit more about the script being run on the [Zigpy's GitHub documentation](https://github.com/zigpy/zigpy-znp/blob/e3c9fcfdd249e089c578f99c4ed22159e9325c42/TOOLS.md#nvram-backup).
+
+I ran the following, substituting the device noted earlier.
+
+```
+$ python3 -m zigpy_znp.tools.nvram_read \
+    /dev/tty.usbserial-0001 \
+    -o sonoff-firmware-backup.json
+```
+
+## Flashing the new firmware
+
+Now it's time to flash the device.
+We use the Python script to flash the new firmware, both downloaded earlier.
+To better understand the script, you can run it with the flag `--help`.
+
+Run the following, replacing the device and location of the firmware.
+
+```
+$ python3 cc2538-bsl.py \
+    -p /dev/tty.usbserial-0001 \
+    -e -v -w \
+    --bootloader-sonoff-usb \
+    CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_coordinator_20230507.hex
+```
+
+You should see a bunch of output, and ideally this ends by verifying the CRC32 calculation correctly.
+Below is an example of the output I saw.
+
+```
+$ python3 cc2538-bsl.py -p /dev/tty.usbserial-0001 -e -v -w --bootloader-sonoff-usb ~/Downloads/CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_coordinator_20230507.hex 
+sonoff
+Opening port /dev/tty.usbserial-0001, baud 500000
+Reading data from /Users/danny/Downloads/CC1352P2_CC2652P_launchpad_coordinator_20230507.hex
+Your firmware looks like an Intel Hex file
+Connecting to target...
+CC1350 PG2.1 (7x7mm): 352KB Flash, 20KB SRAM, CCFG.BL_CONFIG at 0x00057FD8
+Primary IEEE Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:00
+    Performing mass erase
+Erasing all main bank flash sectors
+    Erase done
+Writing 360448 bytes starting at address 0x00000000
+Write 104 bytes at 0x00057F988
+    Write done                                
+Verifying by comparing CRC32 calculations.
+    Verified (match: 0xe83aa727)
+```
+
+At this point, you should be done and can try it out.
+It worked well for me, everything came back as normal.
+I'll wait and see if those devices that were dropping off are now more reliable...
+
+Again, a big thanks to [Smart Home Addict's video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzoiT0mUdkg) on the topic which showed the steps using a Windows machine.