A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet content - problem after writing to SPIFFS memory of ESP32

[electromania]

I noticed there are several threads related to this problem, but i am creating new because this is the problem i am encountering after writing to SPIFFS memory of ESP32. I have raised issue on github here https://github.com/espressif/esptool/issues/263

After writing to SPIFFS memory for long time (overnight), the problem of . I had perfectly working wemos board. i kept it running overnight (accidentally) with measurement data being stored into SPIFFS memory. In the morning, i noticed my OLED display was Frozen - i.e. no values were changing. I restarted the ESP32 and then......... everytime i try to upload any sketch i get errors shown at the end of this post.

I did tons of google searchers and forums, tried all options mentioned everywhere. Tried Arduino IDE, Eclipse Oxygen, platformIO. Tried to skip onboard USB-Serial IC of Wemos and use external USB-Serial adapter. Pressed Boot, Enable buttons, reduced baud rate, changed USB ports, updated drivers, etc. Nothing help and problem remains same. My PC is windows 8.1 64bit. Arduino ide 1.8.1, Eclipse Oxygen, esptool.py v2.1.

But when i program my other ESP32 bare boards or dev boards all are working fine, so i am sure i have not messed up with my PC settings etc.

Could it be that since i was writing to SPIFFS memory (unfortunately in infinite loop - accidentally) it might have just filled up whole memory ? if that is so, there should be some way of Clearing this memory ??? because, if someone does this accidentally again , then each time the ESP32 board will be useless.

Is the flash memory separate from esp32 chip ? can only that be replaced with new IC ?

Is it a hardware issue or software issue ?
------------------------------Following is error from Arduino IDE----------------------
Sketch uses 184176 bytes (14%) of program storage space. Maximum is 1310720 bytes.
Global variables use 11040 bytes (3%) of dynamic memory, leaving 283872 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 294912 bytes.
C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32/tools/esptool.exe --chip esp32 --port COM3 --baud 115200 --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash -z --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 80m --flash_size detect 0xe000 C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32/tools/partitions/boot_app0.bin 0x1000 C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Arduino\hardware\espressif\esp32/tools/sdk/bin/bootloader_qio_80m.bin 0x10000 C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_147733/SPIFFS_Read_Write_sample.ino.bin 0x8000 C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_147733/SPIFFS_Read_Write_sample.ino.partitions.bin
esptool.py v2.1
Connecting........_
Chip is unknown ESP32 (revision (unknown 0xe))
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Configuring flash size...
Warning: Could not auto-detect Flash size (FlashID=0xffffff, SizeID=0xff), defaulting to 4MB
Compressed 8192 bytes to 47...

A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet content
A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet content

-----------------------following error is from Eclipse-----------------
Flashing binaries to serial port COM3 (app at offset 0x10000)...
python /home/xxxx/esp/esp-idf/components/esptool_py/esptool/esptool.py --chip esp32 --port "COM3" --baud 115200 --before "default_reset" --after "hard_reset" write_flash -z --flash_mode "dio" --flash_freq "40m" --flash_size detect 0x1000 /home/xxxx/esp/blink/build/bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x10000 /home/xxx/esp/blink/build/blink.bin 0x8000 /home/xxxx/esp/blink/build/partitions_singleapp.bin
esptool.py v2.1-beta1
Connecting....
Chip is unknown ESP32 (revision (unknown 0xe))
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Configuring flash size...
Warning: Could not auto-detect Flash size (FlashID=0xffffff, SizeID=0xff), defaulting to 4MB
Flash params set to 0x0220
Compressed 17552 bytes to 10304...

make: *** [/home/xxxx/esp/esp-idf/components/esptool_py/Makefile.projbuild:53: flash] Error 2
A fatal error occurred: Timed out waiting for packet content

14:00:28 Build Finished (took 1m:19s.935ms)

[ESP_Angus]

Hi Electromania,

Please don't post the exact same thing in multiple places at the same time.

I've replied to you on the Github issue you opened: https://github.com/espressif/esptool/issues/263


Angus