How to Flash Brushed Betaflight Firmware

If you want to flash a different firmware or update Betaflight to the newest version, please follow these steps.

This manual is available for all BETAFPV flight controllers. But pay attention to choose the right target board. If you are not sure which target boards to choose from, please submit a ticket for help.

First, you should have to install Betaflight GUI on your PC. Now let's begin:

1) Click the Firmware Flasher tab

2) Choose the correct firmware for the FC board.

Select “SPRACINGF3EVO” as the board, and pick the version of Betaflight you wish to flash ----  For  F3 EVO FC with Frsky Rx.

Select “BETAFLIGHTF3” as the board, and pick the version of Betaflight you wish to flash ----  For F3 FC with Frsky Rx and OSD, F3 FC with DSMX Rx and OSD, and F3 FC with OSD and no Rx.

3) Click “Load Firmware [Online]” and wait for firmware to download and read release notes before flashing

The target firmware of F3 FC with OSD is different from the F3 EVO FC. Please confirm which FC board do you have before flashing. If no firmware is currently available do NOT attempt to flash. Flashing the wrong firmware can cause the FC to be permanently damaged.

Next, you have 2 situations to finish the firmware update operation. Be careful to choose the right steps for your work.

Situations 1

If you have lost communication with the board and no reboot sequence (also called bootloader) exit, you should do as following：
1) Enable “No reboot sequence”, enable “Full chip erase”

2) Jumper the BOOT pins and power on the board by connecting the USB cable. Then remove the BOOT jumper. ----  For F3 EVO FC with Frsky Rx.

Press the BOOT button and power on the board by connecting the USB cable. Then release the BOOT button. ----  For F3 brushed board that has a boot button included, like F3 FC with Frsky Rx and OSD.

3) Now DFU will appear in the list of ports and flashing via DFU will available. Click “Flash Firmware”. After flashing the virtual COM port will appear as “COMxx”.

Situations 2

If reboot sequence (also called bootloader) exit and work well, you could flash the firmware without jumper the BOOT pins (or press the Boot Button). This is the state when the stock firmware works well and you want to upgrade to the latest version. Do as following.
1) Disable “No reboot sequence”

2) Power on the board by connecting a USB cable. You could find the virtual COM port will appear on the upright corner. (Do NOT press the Boot Button).
3) Click “Flash Firmware”. First, the board will reboot into DFU mode. Then wait for the ST DFU DRIVER Automatic installation. It’s successfully installed when you see the DFU port on the upright corner.

Unable to Connect via DFU

A: Likely the correct DFU drivers are not installed. Put the board in BOOTLOADER mode (jump boot pins, connect USB cable). Then update DFU drivers.
Here is how to update DFU drivers:
Chrome may have problems automatically installed DFU driver for ST devices in DFU Mode on Windows. The solution is to replace the ST driver with a libusb driver.

1. Download and launch Zadig   http://zadig.akeo.ie/
2. Options -> List All Devices.
3. Select STM32 Bootloader from the drop-down.
4. Choose WinUSB as the replacement.
5. Click “Replace Driver”. Sometimes the replacement progress will be slow or no response, you can close it and do it again.
6. Restart Chrome (make sure it is completely closed, logout and login if unsure).
7. Now the DFU device should be seen by Configurator.
8. Also, you could see the USB Flashing section of the Betaflight manual for details.

https://github.com/cleanflight/cleanflight/blob/master/docs/USB%20Flashing.md

Other Manuals or Videos

This is a video by Benedikt (from Micro Motor Warehouse, MMW) about how to flash and configure BetaFlight. It is very useful for a newbie to Betaflight.