BLHeli_32 Server Down For Maintenance - Safety Critical Firmware

[MadRC]

Hi, first of all we are shocked and sad to see BLHeli stop trading and stop development on BLHeli_32.

There are customers who have purchased ESCs already with older firmware flashed from the factory with known potentially critical bugs that could cause harm and injury to themselves and others that are now no longer able to update via BLheli Suit as the servers are now offline.

We understand there will be no new updates however will you be providing users ongoing access to the last update V31.10 for BLHeli32 for all ESCs supported ?

Further more as you will no longer be providing updates there may be yet unknown bugs in BLHeli_32 32.10 that you will be no longer addressing.

As such will you be providing a bootloader unlock for users to allow them to install alternative software on their hardware.

I am sure you can appreciate the inherent risks around multirotors and the importance of safety in all aspects and being able to update or replace firmware is not only a basic user requirement but also will be required by many regulators around the globe where uas are used for commercial and industrial use.

We would appreciate some clarity on the future for current BLHeli_32 users who have supported the project and business.

Regards

Mads Tech.

[OTRFlyer]

Has anything changed? I have not been able to update. I really don't know why this has happened but it's pretty messed up that just because a few use a tool for evil, the rest of us are punished, and unable to use the tool for good. It's as simple as it sounds. I love the new telemetry by d shot option in 32.10 and I have a brand new esc that I'd love to enable that function via update but am unable.

[MadRC]

We are very sorry for this current server operation interruption, we are working very hard to get the required clarifications to put it back in operation.

First of all thank you for your feedback. I appreciate the information.

I hope you can provide further updates around this as soon as possible for the community.

A message to everyone else.

Please can we keep this thread clean to comments/suppport on getting a resolution to this. Peoples personal opinions about what has happened or reasoning right now are unhelpful, I will also add threats are unacceptable.

This is a complex situation and we want to push for a good outcome and not cloud this is.

Thanks

Mad.

[Blake1777]

Please be responsible to the thousands of people who have supported you over the years and for all the hardware old and new that exists needing your software. "Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain."

[DarthPlasma]

You should release the last supported HEX, just like the others test HEX files. Without we cannot update the ESCs in out stockpile for repairs and replacements. We paid the license along with the device, so it is our right!

[master0id]

Yes, totally agree - that such approach is quite strange... Lot's of people bought licenses, and now the community got no chance to flash or recover the ESC. Sometimes with power spikes / crashes - MCU's are going down to recovery mode, and the only way to bring them back - is to re-flash the MCU...

[kupecz]

I just built my drone and want to update everything on the ESCs, but I can't! I paid a lot of money for this stack, and now I can't work with it. This is unacceptable. I demand a resolution!

[mmosca]

I just built my drone and want to update everything on the ESCs, but I can't! I paid a lot of money for this stack, and now I can't work with it. This is unacceptable. I demand a resolution!

Contact the shop you got it from, or the manufacturer of the stack.

[FullwattsFPV]

I just built my drone and want to update everything on the ESCs, but I can't! I paid a lot of money for this stack, and now I can't work with it. This is unacceptable. I demand a resolution!

Contact the shop you got it from, or the manufacturer of the stack.

There's absolutely nothing the manufacturer or retailer can do to help. Unless BLHeli32 puts the license server back online that ESC is stuck on whatever version it shipped with. You can change settings with the configurator but upgrading/downgrading is impossible right now. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we're all in the same dung heap.

[absolut79]

I just built my drone and want to update everything on the ESCs, but I can't! I paid a lot of money for this stack, and now I can't work with it. This is unacceptable. I demand a resolution!

Contact the shop you got it from, or the manufacturer of the stack.

I've bought Kakute H7 v1.3 | Tekko32 F4 Metal 4in1 65A ESC It's on very old firmware.... I cant send back to china. I paid a lot of money .. what is the resolution? I can not and will not respect people if they dont respect me and whole community ether.

[absolut79]

@sskaug Could Yoou please update us at least one at week ? If you decided to close the project - tell us .

[RoccoRakete]

@sskaug any updates regarding this situation?

[Martivip]

Dear @sskaug according whole geopolitical situation and sanctions OK you stopped providing the new licences to manufacturers. But you should provide possibility to upgrade to the most recent version any hardware that is already sold to us Clients. 32.10 give us not only safety improvements but new telemetry options via DShot as well. Please enable your servers for a week give us all the message that firmware servers will be active for only a week and that's it. So first message then shut down. I keeping fingers crossed that your upgrade servers will be active soon, even if that will be only limited time.

[criegit]

ANY new information?

We are desperatly wating at work. 2 Aircraft that we cannot fly due to safety concerns and no possibility to update! We need to know if we have to try to update to AM32. That would be a lot of work and if it does not work it blocks the way back! So PLEASE tell us about the progress. I guess the backlash will be much harsher if you do not provide any information but let the end user hanging in the air.

[Kraligor]

What an absolute sh*tshow. I guess it serves us as the community right for trusting a commercial, closed-source platform instead of supporting open source alternatives like AM32.

We should have collectively abandoned BLHeli when they closed the source and introduced server validation with BLHeli32.

[haslinghuis]

:mega:

• So the reality is BLHeli32 was shutdown on government demand as it was obvious not a business decision to let it's customers down so please stop condemning the wrong party and target the originator.
• Users have to await any legal attempts to bring it back or consider alternatives which for common users would not be easy to adopt.
• Wonder if manufacturers would have backups of firmware available.
• Perhaps some companies could offer a migration service for AM32 for example.

[Kraligor]

• So the reality is BLHeli32 was shutdown on government demand as it was obvious not a business decision

Sorry, but this very much reads like a business decision. Due to increased government pressure, maybe, but certainly not "on government demand". And it's not like this was a sudden development that required sudden cessation of all services, including the only way to apply safety-critical updates, without any prior notice.

They deserve all the heat they get.

[haslinghuis]

Anymore heat (blaming) won't have any effect on a business shutdown. We need to think in solutions.

[Kraligor]

The solution for the community is to ditch closed source products in the future, unless there is healthy competition going on. And even then, open source is the way to go.

For affected businesses? I have no idea. Maybe someone cracks the authenication process so they can at least update their remaining stocks of BLH32 ESCs. No idea about the legal implications though.

[FullwattsFPV]

We all need to realize that BLHeli32 is 100% dead. As unfortunate as that is in the short term, even putting the servers back online will not fix the problem in the long term, in fact that will probably just delay the real solution which is to focus on the open source alternatives and find ways to re-flash our existing hardware. The support community needs to work on content which shows users how to accomplish these ends and ALL OF US need to focus on helping speed the development of AM32 and any other open source projects. Contribute in any way possible. If you can code, help out. If you can test, test. If you can donate, donate. If you are a manufacturer you need to donate hardware, if you are a retailer you need to give generously. Together we can get past this, but crying over the grave of BLHeli32 gets us nowhere. It's over. Just accept it.

[sugaarK]

Please BLHeli_32 Devs let us be able to change firmwares! We already paid for the licenses! This is so wrong! What is happening in the world with war has nothing to do with you! Please let us change FW that we paid for! Thank you!

lols you paid for licenses ... please provide the Invoices... and suing them lols you people are pretty F'ing funny. maybe you need to do some research on what you can expect such a course of action is likely to cost you..

[robhaswell]

Unfortunately you bought closed software and companies can always go out of business for any reason. If you don't want this to happen, stick to open-source.

[sugaarK]

not even true you brought from a Chinese company which gives you basically no legs to stand on ... no one here has Brought any thing from blheli32

[Baggsz]

@sugaarK O so what your saying here is when you buy milk your not actually buying the milk your paying a bottling company for a jug that just so happens to have milk in it? Come on now. Buy the way! I love your work! Cheers

[florinnitu2007]

Please BLHeli_32 Devs let us be able to change firmwares! We already paid for the licenses! This is so wrong! What is happening in the world with war has nothing to do with you! Please let us change FW that we paid for! Thank you!

lols you paid for licenses ... please provide the Invoices... and suing them lols you people are pretty F'ing funny. maybe you need to do some research on what you can expect such a course of action is likely to cost you..

@sugaarK , I totally love the work you do for the community, but you're completely wrong on this one. Yes, people did paid for licenses, even if they don't have an invoice directly from BlHeli AS. They have the right to be frustrated and they are entitled at least to be able to upgrade to the latest version. The way BlHeli AS closed the door shows the lack of respect for the community and a lot of hypocrisy. Just look at the numbers of their revenue and profit in the last two years and you'll understand more. You are also right that suing them is pointless. However, the way you put the problem is way below your level, in my humble oppinion.

[sugaarK]

And all the reeeing and pitchforks isn’t been very productive… the way people are carrying on up in here is appalling making threats etc.. but you guys do you

[absolut79]

All we need is upgrade to the latest version. Service was closed rapidly. This is absolutely wrong way. Please : Open service for 30 days , all people who have ESC already and people who have orders on the way will have option to upgrade their esc’s. after that : no complains.

[Martivip]

The truth is that regulations that BLHeli AS is not able to comply with, don't falls from the sky rapidly.... BLHeli AS has been aware for a months before total shutdown. Yes we all community users are not direct partner to BLHeli AS in terms of hardware but in terms of their update service, yes we are a direct partner. IMHO BLHeli AS should give us users a public statement with some transition period ie. 30 days with the information that after update service will be closed. This is a good practice in the business and this is only that our community expect from BLHeli AS no lesss..... no more....... Of course I respect decision BLHeli AS to not provide any further licences to manufactures due to this whole geopolitical/regulations situation. But once more ...... I still believe that BLHeli AS will unlock update service for a while to allow all the current hardware users upgrade their hardware to the most recent version.

[Siclair]

Glad to see the community upset. Some say don't bother, stop whining. Some say we have rights (transactions of money). While life goes on and wars too, sadly, we can at least make our voices heard. They might be indifferent, but we tried. Our request isn't absurd.

Everyone says open source is the thing. What are the guaranties? It's like life in general, there aren't any.

[idiotsniff]

@sugaarK you guys are real awsome ppl to have 🤬'd this whole community into submission. I have about 20 esc's and more on the way just got back into the hobby dropped thousands and cannot move forward because they all have bad firmware that either can't be used with or has major issues. I personally will have to get out of the hobby because of this. You ppl should be absolutely and utterly ahsamed of what you have done. You could have put the word out this was coming, you could give us the ability to update or release the code so it can be worked on by others or at very minimum allow us to unlock the boot loader. You know what you are. You've 🤬'd us all as far up and as hard as you could.

[sugaarK]

@idiotsniff WTF man.. none of the people here from other projects putting their 2 cents in had any idea or warning this was coming.. your comment is idiotic.

[idiotsniff]

Please BLHeli_32 Devs let us be able to change firmwares! We already paid for the licenses! This is so wrong! What is happening in the world with war has nothing to do with you! Please let us change FW that we paid for! Thank you!

lols you paid for licenses ... please provide the Invoices... and suing them lols you people are pretty F'ing funny. maybe you need to do some research on what you can expect such a course of action is likely to cost you..

What a low life comment imo of course.

[pfeerick]

You could have put the word out this was coming, you could give us the ability to update or release the code so it can be worked on by others or at very minimum allow us to unlock the boot loader. You know what you are. You've 🤬'd us all as far up and as hard as you could.

You're directing this at the wrong person @idiotsniff... we all found out about this at the same time you did... not in advance.

And I may be misunderstanding something here, but IMO sugaarK was spot on... I think it was actually the manufacturers that paid for the licenses for BLHeli_32 as part of being able to use it in the first place, the cost of which is naturally included in the cost of the product. No differently to how other proprietary software and code is licensed as part of a product. So in point of fact, BLHeli_32 owe nothing to us, the end users, as we have no agreement with them. Depending on what the licensing terms were, however, they may owe something to the manufacturers.

[sugaarK]

how did I... and there are maybe 300k in this hobby not millions.. I am not part of the Blheli team so I know as much as you or any one else does. and the comments here of threats and pitch fork shaking are F'ing idiotic and not going to get a helpful reaction or response from the people behind this software. Given that this is a grownups hobby im shocked at the childish attitudes on display in this thread.

You knew damn well

what exactly did I know? maybe I had a 6hr head start on this info vs @MadRC but given the time zones and stuff that's to be expected...

[idiotsniff]

how did I... and there are maybe 300k in this hobby not millions.. I am not part of the Blheli team so I know as much as you or any one else does. and the comments here of threats and pitch fork shaking are F'ing idiotic and not going to get a helpful reaction or response from the people behind this software. Given that this is a grownups hobby im shocked at the childish attitudes on display in this thread.

You knew damn well

what exactly did I know? maybe I had a 6hr head start on this info vs @MadRC but given the time zones and stuff that's to be expected...

Other commenters made it sound like you were part of the dev team I saw a comment saying we are working on getting the servers back up. I appolgize if I directed this at the wrong person. I thought you were part of the company.

[mmosca]

how did I... and there are maybe 300k in this hobby not millions.. I am not part of the Blheli team so I know as much as you or any one else does. and the comments here of threats and pitch fork shaking are F'ing idiotic and not going to get a helpful reaction or response from the people behind this software. Given that this is a grownups hobby im shocked at the childish attitudes on display in this thread.

You knew damn well

what exactly did I know? maybe I had a 6hr head start on this info vs @MadRC but given the time zones and stuff that's to be expected...

Other commenters made it sound like you were part of the dev team I saw a comment saying we are working on getting the servers back up. I appolgize if I directed this at the wrong person. I thought you were part of the company.

Even if he was, your comments don't help. If you want to vent your anger, go for a walk, find a punching bag, do something other than type furiously at strangers on the internet.

Quite a few people that commented here asking for calm are involved in different open source projects in the hobby and were caught as much by surprise as all the manufacturers.

Your escs will still work. No one was worried about what version firmware they had on their escs before this news came up. If you think they are not suitable for use today, they were not suitable for use when you bought them either.

And if you just bought the escs, you might as well explore your return options and look for ESCs with https://github.com/am32-firmware/AM32 or 8 bit escs you can flash https://github.com/bird-sanctuary/bluejay

[zdkroot]

No one was worried about what version firmware they had on their escs before this news came up.

Oh you mean before people knew there was a safety issue, nobody was concerned about that safety issue, which they didn't know about? Astounding observation.

[mmosca]

The "issue" has been known for ages. Not new, and we don't even know if 32.10 fixes it, as there is no documented way to reproduce it. It changes nothing.

[zdkroot]

The "issue" has been known for ages. Not new, and we don't even know if 32.10 fixes it, as there is no documented way to reproduce it. It changes nothing.

Many people learned about it because this whole situation made their news feeds. And if it changed nothing they wouldn't have made an update. You can't really make any argument to me about using a less safe version when I know a more safe one exists. I understand I am always taking a risk, and it will never be zero, but less chance is always better than more chance.

[nerdCopter]

_[edit: as per SnowLeopardFPV's findings, these hex are of no use due to client licensing call-home/check-backs :frowningface: -- sorry! ]

# This BLHeli repo sometimes contains test-code.
git clone https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli.git
cd BLHeli

# view the commits
git log --date=short --pretty=format:"%h%x09%an%x09%ad%x09%s"

# this test-code 32_95 seems to be equivalent of 32.10 (32_100), but i cannot confirm
# https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli/tree/f5f3d1c6b7b8471091e6727e78ca715192c1b967/BLHeli_32%20ARM/Dshot%20extended%20telemetry%20testcode (dated Jun 14 2023)
git checkout f5f3d1c6
ls "BLHeli_32 ARM/Dshot extended telemetry testcode/"

# this test-code 32_72 seems to be last test code before variable PWM, but i cannot confirm
# https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli/tree/4765955b8d81abd63f9f303dae56ce008a8a2ded/BLHeli_32%20ARM/Rev32.7.2%20SBUS%20and%20S.PORT%20testcode (dated Jul 17 2020)
git checkout 4765955b
ls "BLHeli_32 ARM/Rev32.7.2 SBUS and S.PORT testcode"

good luck :four_leaf_clover: , i do not plan to test as i don't want to lose my official 32.10 flashes.

[But we still want officially released 32.7 and 32.10 hex. furthermore would love bootloader unlocker.]

[edit: added links to the github hosted files at those commits points] [edit: do note that in some cases there is updated test-code after these commits for specific targets -- most likely bugfix test-code; using any test-code hex is at your own peril]

[course-up]

# This BLHeli repo sometimes contains test-code.
git clone https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli.git
cd BLHeli

# view the commits
git log --date=short --pretty=format:"%h%x09%an%x09%ad%x09%s"

# this test-code 32_95 seems to be equivalent of 32.10 (32_100), but i cannot confirm
git checkout f5f3d1c6
ls "BLHeli_32 ARM/Dshot extended telemetry testcode/"

# this test-code 32_72 seems to be last test code before variable PWM, but i cannot confirm
git checkout 4765955b
ls "BLHeli_32 ARM/Rev32.7.2 SBUS and S.PORT testcode"

good luck 🍀 , i do not plan to test as i don't want to lose my official 32.10 flashes.

[But we still want officially released 32.7 and 32.10 hex. furthermore would love bootloader unlocker.]

@sskaug made a "cleanup" a couple of days ago and deleted the testcode files: https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli/commits?author=sskaug&since=2024-05-31&until=2024-06-21

I'm curious if someone (who has a lot of knowledge) is able find something useful in the test-code that might help us? Something to replace the bootloader or just to flash AM32?

[nerdCopter]

[...] made a "cleanup" a couple of days ago [...]

you can just click the commit hashes on the right of your link, they will list the changes, but those seem insignificant to me. the ones i listed seem most pertinent, at least maybe to get off some known "bad" versions. :crystal_ball:

[SnowLeopardFPV]

Unfortunately, even though we can still retrieve the deleted 32.95 test code firmware files from the repo history, they are no use because the BLHeliSuite32 configurator tries to validate the BLHeli_32 ESC licenses on the remote server before it allows flashing of either online or offline firmware files to the ESCs.

We need some clever people to come along who have the skills to reverse engineer the BLHeliSuite32 software and create a hacked / patched version that bypasses the license validation check on the server and allows the offline firmware files to be flashed without either a connection to the server or a successful licence validation check.

[nerdCopter]

[...] no use because the BLHeliSuite32 configurator tries to validate the BLHeli_32 ESC licenses on the remote server before it allows flashing [...]]

Thank you kindly, i did not realize this would occur. :(
Sorry to pollute the thread further in this case.

[SnowLeopardFPV]

[...] no use because the BLHeliSuite32 configurator tries to validate the BLHeli_32 ESC licenses on the remote server before it allows flashing [...]]

Thank you kindly, i did not realize this would occur. :( Sorry to pollute the thread further in this case.

Unfortunately it wasn't originally clear that offline firmware files were also unflashable without a live server connection and a successful license validation check.

Is there anyone on here who is handy with IDA Pro or Ghidra?

[Kraligor]

Everyone says open source is the thing. What are the guaranties? It's like life in general, there aren't any.

You don't need guarantees in open source. No authentication server that can be shut off on a whim. No sudden deletion of firmware files. No packing it all up and disappearing. If development stops, anyone else can just pick it up again.

[robhaswell]

If development stops, anyone else can just pick it up again.

E.g. when Baseflight became Cleanflight which became Betaflight. Or when OpenTX became EdgeTX. Or when BLHeli_S became Bluejay.

[pimaciej]

Unfortunately, even though we can still retrieve the deleted 32.95 test code firmware files from the repo history, they are no use because the BLHeliSuite32 configurator tries to validate the BLHeli_32 ESC licenses on the remote server before it allows flashing of either online or offline firmware files to the ESCs.

We need some clever people to come along who have the skills to reverse engineer the BLHeliSuite32 software and create a hacked / patched version that bypasses the license validation check on the server and allows the offline firmware files to be flashed without either a connection to the server or a successful licence validation check.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple, the blheli_32 configurator communicated with the server not only to check the serial number, but also to download the key necessary to unlock the bootloader.

[felipeng]

does anyone knows where the blheli_32 configurator saves the firmware with the key? Maybe we could compare the firmware with and without the key (I was able to used this process in order to find the unlock key on FalcoX :) ). A few days before servers went down, I flashed a ESC, so maybe the firmware with key is somewhere on my PC, I tried to search but no luck.

[moonberry-pl]

does anyone knows where the blheli_32 configurator saves the firmware with the key? Maybe we could compare the firmware with and without the key (I was able to used this process in order to find the unlock key on FalcoX :) ). A few days before servers went down, I flashed a ESC, so maybe the firmware with key is somewhere on my PC, I tried to search but no luck.

No, the key is not stored anywhere, forget about blheli32, this project is already dead. If you "really" have problems with your ESC, try flashing AM32 or Escape32.

[SoloMadrone]

I have completed the AM32 flashing, the whole process only takes 5 minutes to complete，solder it to the back, read and import the AM32 boot program to complete

Did you do this to bypass the BLHeli Configurator? I have 3 older ECU I’m trying to update and can’t get working.