Upgrading to 0.15.3 lost ethernet for my GLEDOPTO Elite ESP32 WLED Controller

[first-cong-archivist]

What happened?

I've got a GLEDOPTO Elite ESP32 WLED Controller controlling a strip of LED lights. It was working fine but I thought I would do the "right" thing and update to the newest firmware.
It was running version 0.15.1 ESP32_Ethernet ESP32-DOWDQ5 build 2507300. I downloaded WLED_0.15.3_ESP32_Ethernet.bin and did the upgrade. It said it was successful and that it was rebooting but after the reboot the controller is completely unresponsive over Ethernet. I even did the factory reset (held the function button down for 14 seconds) with no effect.

1. Is there any way to revive this controller?
2. Is this a known bug / incompatibility?

To Reproduce Bug

Install version 0.15.3 onto a GLEDOPTO Elite ESP32 WLED Controller

Expected Behavior

Updated software ran

Install Method

Binary from WLED.me

What version of WLED?

0.15.3

Which microcontroller/board are you seeing the problem on?

ESP32

Relevant log/trace output

Anything else?

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[coderabbitai]

📝 CodeRabbit Plan Mode

Generate an implementation plan and prompts that you can use with your favorite coding agent.

• Create Plan

Examples

• Example 1
• Example 2

---

🔗 Similar Issues

Possible Duplicates

• Update 0.15.0 to 0.15.1 breaks Ethernet on ABC! WLED V43 Controller #4854

Related Issues

• WT32-ETH01 GPIO14 no longer available  #4441
• GLEDOPTO issues with Home Assistant #5033
• Upgrading from 0.15.1.beta2 to 0.15.3 fails for ESP8266 #5208
• WLED AP not showing after Factory Reset #4850

👤 Suggested Assignees

• t2000
• joelhauxwell
• robinkesting
• Depechie
• tomware03

---

🧪 Issue enrichment is currently in open beta.

You can configure auto-planning by selecting labels in the issue_enrichment configuration.

To disable automatic issue enrichment, add the following to your .coderabbit.yaml:

issue_enrichment:
  auto_enrich:
    enabled: false

💬 Have feedback or questions? Drop into our discord or schedule a call!

[DedeHai]

GLEDOPTO uses a custom firmware which they only told us about recently even though they should have done so immediately as a licensee. That is why stock firmwrae is not compatible and you need to flash it using their Firmware OR update to nightly build where it is incorporated.
You should still see the AP and be able to control it though wifi.

[first-cong-archivist]

Thanks for the rapid and informative response!

I found what seems to be the right GLEDOPTO page, but as far as I can tell it ONLY downloads directly to the device over serial (I can't download a file from their site that I then download to the GLEDOPTO over WiFi).

So instead I downloaded what I assume is the correct nightly build file (WLED_0.16.0-alpha_ESP32_Ethernet.bin and can't do anything with it. I connect to the WLED-AP WiFi, and it brings up the Wled page, and I click on "To the Controls", then Config, then Security & Updates, then Manual OTA Update, and I get the WLED Software Update page but the "Choose File" button is unresponsive and I can't manually enter anything in the edit field. What's the magic sauce for doing a WiFi update?

[first-cong-archivist]

The "Choose File" button doesn't work on my Android tablet, but did on my Windows laptop. I was able to download the BIN file and over WiFi it says it worked and I'm able to see & control the system, but it's not showing up on my LAN at all.

[first-cong-archivist]

Making progress ... to set the Ethernet, you go to the "WiFi settings page" (not obvious) and then ignore the "Experimental" heading, and then set the Ethernet Type to GLEDOPTO. But now it's giving me "server refused connection"

[netmindz]

I'm going to change the title of the issue as it's not accurate. To brick a device is to make it non functional with no return. To soft-brick is for it to be non-functional but you can still recover by flashing the right firmware.

You simply lost support for ethernet access because you assumed that a vanilla WLED build would work in the same way as the firmware used by a 3rd party hardware vendor.

When we release 0.15.4 or 0.16.0 then ethernet will work as they have contributed their changed back to us, but this happened after 0.15.3 was released

[netmindz]

So with regards to your message about connection refused, did you see that after doing a full power cycle after enabling ethernet?

When you saw this error, were you trying to connect via WiFi or Ethernet?

[RaymondMouthaan]

I had the same GLEDOPTO Elite 2D-EXMU (GL-C-616WL) on 0.15.1 and wanted to update.
Solution: Use GLEDOPTO's own web flasher instead of stock WLED:
https://gledopto.com/h-col-381.html
This flashes their custom 0.15.3 firmware with working Ethernet support.
If the device isn't detected, install the CH9102/CH343 driver first.
Successfully upgraded 0.15.1 → 0.15.3 with Ethernet working!

[first-cong-archivist]

@RaymondMouthaan - just to make sure I understand your solution. You connected the GLEDOPTO to your Windows/Mac device using the USB cable, installed the necessary driver so your computer could see the serial device, and then used the GLEDOPTO web site to download to the controller?

[RaymondMouthaan]

@RaymondMouthaan - just to make sure I understand your solution. You connected the GLEDOPTO to your Windows/Mac device using the USB cable, installed the necessary driver so your computer could see the serial device, and then used the GLEDOPTO web site to download to the controller?

Yes, exactly 💪