Step 2 — Install the firmware¶
The firmware installs from the install page, over USB: nothing to compile, it is built and signed by the project (ADR-0022). To compile it yourself instead: build your own firmware.
1. Open the install page¶
Open the install page in Chrome or Edge, on a computer: it talks to the tablet through Web Serial, which other browsers and phones lack (the page says so in place of its button). Plug the tablet into the computer with a USB-C cable that carries data.
2. Pick your display chip¶
The display chip is printed on the sticker on the back of the tablet, just above the Espressif logo. Each one has its own firmware (hardware revisions):
| Display chip | Units made | With this firmware |
|---|---|---|
| ST7123 | October 2025 → April 2026 | the author's unit, used every day |
| ST7121 | since April 2026 | runs on another user's unit since October 2026 |
| ILI9881C | May → October 2025 | built, never tested |
A unit labelled « ST7123 » may carry an ST7121: if you are unsure, try one, then the other.
A Waveshare ESP32-P4 7B (another board, 7-inch, experimental): pick « Waveshare ESP32-P4 7B », in the Beta channel for now, and plug in the USB-C port of its ESP32-P4 (Waveshare 7B).
3. Pick the channel¶
Stable unless you want to try the next version before everyone (Beta, which moves on to the next stable one). The tablet then follows the channel you installed: its updates show up in Home Assistant (updates). To switch channels later, install again from the page, without erasing. On Beta, also take tab5_home_assistant.zip from that pre-release (Assets on its releases page), or let the HACS integration do it with beta versions switched on: the files of the stable release do not have what the pre-release adds on the Home Assistant side.
4. Connect and install¶
- Connect and install. The browser lists the serial ports: the tablet is « USB JTAG/serial debug unit ». If several ports have that name, unplug the tablet: the one that disappears is hers.
- A new tablet (it comes with M5Stack's demo): Install, then accept to erase the device. A tablet already installed: Update, without erasing: it keeps its Wi-Fi, its Home Assistant key and its settings. If the page offers Install instead (it does not recognise the firmware on the tablet), leave « Erase device » unticked in the box that follows: an erase also takes the Home Assistant key and the screen settings, and Home Assistant then waits for a confirmation (reinstalled with an erase).
- Wait for the end of the install. The same window then offers to set the Wi-Fi: that is step 3.
Closing the window restarts the tablet once: that is normal.
Check a download (optional)¶
From the release after 3.8.0-rc.3, each release carries a SHA256SUMS file and a signed attestation of where its files were built (the GitHub account, the repository, the commit). To check a file you downloaded by hand, from the folder holding it:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing
gh attestation verify tab5-ha-hmi-st7123.ota.bin --repo Axellum/M5-Tab5-ESPHome-LVGL
The install page and the tablet do not need this: the tablet only accepts a firmware signed with the project key (ADR-0020), and the page checks the SHA-256 of the manifest.
If it does not work¶
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| No port in the list | a cable that only charges shows no port: try another cable, then another USB port of the computer |
| « Failed to initialize… holding the BOOT button » | the Tab5 has no BOOT button. Hold its reset button for about 2 s, until the internal green LED blinks fast: the tablet is in download mode. Start Connect and install again; at the end, a short press on reset restarts it |
| No Install button | the same version is already on the tablet. To start from scratch, « Erase User Data » (in red, at the bottom) erases everything, Wi-Fi, key and settings included (alarm clock, brightness…: note them in Home Assistant first), then installs again; Home Assistant then asks for a confirmation (reinstalled with an erase) |
| « This browser has no Web Serial » | Chrome or Edge, on a computer |
| The screen is not right after the install | the wrong display chip, maybe: a sticker saying « ST7123 » may hide an ST7121. Install the other one (Update, without erasing) |
Other cases already met on this tablet: known incidents.
Next: step 3, Wi-Fi.