Back to the future!

As a Community Helper for the Creality Cloud app, I'm asked questions from time to time that are difficult to answer in the limited "comments" space. Its at these times that I write these occasional "tutorials" to try and give a more comprehensive answer.

Some users over the past year or so that I've been using this app have come across issues when they've updated their printer to the latest firmware. These things happen from time to time and usually in the process of trying to fix a fault with the previous version, the programmers accidentally cause another issue. If you look at the firmware download page on the Creality website, it states that "It is not recommended to update the firmware if the machine is in normal condition". Now I'm a firm advocate of the philosophy, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and I guess that's basically what Creality are saying.

It's not always possible to avoid firmware updates if they're done automatically for you. However, if your printer was working fine before the update and now it's not, it maybe worth reverting to the previous firmware version. It should be noted though that this is a "last resort" after you have tried every other alternative to fix the issue at hand.

Re-flashing the firmware

In order to re-flash the firmware, you're going to need to find the previous version before the last update. This may not be possible directly from the Creality site but you can usually find older versions if you look around on third party sites.

Once you've found the correct version, download and save it to a micro-SD or TF card as they're also known. The card should be formatted to FAT32 before doing this. Also ensure that there are no other files on the card apart from the firmware.

Next, you need to rename the firmware file to simply "firmware" instead of the longer file name it was given. Be sure to "eject" your card properly from your computer as well otherwise it may corrupt it.

Ensure your printer is "off" and insert the card with the firmware file into the appropriate slot, usually at the front of the machine. Turn the power "on" and wait for the printer to boot up properly until it's in the expected state ready for use. Remove the card and then hopefully you've completed the re-flash of the firmware.

To check what firmware is installed now on your printer go to the settings and, depending on the printer, there should be an "about" or "information" tab. This will show you the currently loaded firmware.

Of course, this process isn't foolproof and may not work first time but persistence is the key so try the process again from the start if it fails on the first attempt.

This process also works for manually updating to a newer firmware if for instance you've reconfigured your machine.

I hope this helps any of you that might need the info but I'm aware that there are a lot of that know more than I do about this! Either way, hopefully this will be of service to someone.

Thanks for reading and as I always say; stay well, stay safe and keep a level bed!