diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/flash.rs b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/flash.rs
index fc2f2931..607f9f7a 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/mesh/flash.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/mesh/flash.rs
@@ -686,17 +686,13 @@ const ESPTOOL_CHIP: &str = "esp32s3";
 /// first hiccup, retry once at a conservative baud before giving up.
 const ESPTOOL_FALLBACK_BAUD: &str = "115200";
 
-/// A standalone `erase_flash` (full-chip erase via a single ROM opcode) does
-/// NOT work with --no-stub — confirmed live 2026-07-23 against a real
-/// Heltec V4: "A fatal error occurred: ESP32-S3 ROM does not support
-/// function erase_flash." The ESP32-S3 ROM bootloader only implements
-/// per-sector erase (used internally as write_flash goes), not a bulk
-/// full-chip erase opcode — that's a stub-firmware-only feature, and
-/// Debian's esptool package has no stub (see esptool_global_args' doc
-/// comment). `write_flash --erase-all` gets the same "erase everything
-/// first" outcome our "always erase before write" default requires, but via
-/// the per-sector mechanism the ROM bootloader actually supports, as one
-/// esptool invocation instead of two.
+/// `write_flash --erase-all` erases the whole chip before writing, in one
+/// esptool invocation. This needs the esp32s3 stub flasher loaded (see
+/// esptool_global_args' doc comment) — without it, --erase-all hits the
+/// exact same ROM limitation a standalone `erase_flash` does ("ESP32-S3 ROM
+/// does not support function erase_flash", confirmed live 2026-07-23), since
+/// esptool's --erase-all is implemented as the same full-chip-erase command,
+/// not a per-sector loop.
 async fn esptool_erase_and_write(path: &str, image: &Path, job: &Arc<FlashJob>) -> Result<()> {
     job.set_stage(FlashStage::Writing).await;
     let image_str = image.to_string_lossy().to_string();
@@ -711,28 +707,33 @@ async fn esptool_erase_and_write(path: &str, image: &Path, job: &Arc<FlashJob>)
     Ok(())
 }
 
-/// esptool's global flags (--chip/--port/--baud/--no-stub) MUST precede the
-/// subcommand token (erase_flash/write_flash/...) — confirmed live
-/// 2026-07-23: appending `--baud 115200` after the subcommand on the retry
-/// path produced "esptool: error: unrecognized arguments: --baud 115200"
-/// every time, so the fallback-baud retry never actually got a chance to
-/// run. Building global args separately from subcommand args keeps this
-/// correct by construction instead of relying on call-site ordering.
+/// esptool's global flags (--chip/--port/--baud) MUST precede the subcommand
+/// token (erase_flash/write_flash/...) — confirmed live 2026-07-23:
+/// appending `--baud 115200` after the subcommand on the retry path
+/// produced "esptool: error: unrecognized arguments: --baud 115200" every
+/// time, so the fallback-baud retry never actually got a chance to run.
+/// Building global args separately from subcommand args keeps this correct
+/// by construction instead of relying on call-site ordering.
 ///
-/// --no-stub is not optional here: Debian's `esptool` package
-/// (4.7.0+dfsg-0.1) ships without the precompiled "stub flasher" blobs
-/// (stripped for DFSG compliance), so the default stub-loader flash mode
-/// fails immediately with `FileNotFoundError: ... stub_flasher_32s3.json`
-/// — also confirmed live. --no-stub talks directly to the ROM bootloader
-/// instead, which doesn't need those files (slower, but actually works on
-/// this packaging).
+/// Normal stub-loader mode (no --no-stub) needs the esp32s3 stub flasher
+/// blob at /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/esptool/targets/stub_flasher/
+/// stub_flasher_32s3.json — Debian's `esptool` package (4.7.0+dfsg-0.1)
+/// ships without it (stripped for DFSG compliance: the prebuilt blob has no
+/// buildable-from-source path Debian could verify), so scripts/self-update.sh
+/// fetches the exact same file from the matching upstream esptool release
+/// tag and installs it alongside the apt package (see the esptool install
+/// step there). --no-stub (talk directly to the ROM bootloader, skip the
+/// stub) was tried first and works for connecting, but the ROM bootloader
+/// doesn't implement a full-chip-erase opcode at all — only the stub does —
+/// so --no-stub broke our "always erase before write" default outright
+/// rather than just being slower. Restoring the real stub file is the
+/// correct fix, not routing around its absence.
 fn esptool_global_args<'a>(path: &'a str, baud: Option<&'a str>) -> Vec<&'a str> {
     let mut args = vec!["--chip", ESPTOOL_CHIP, "--port", path];
     if let Some(b) = baud {
         args.push("--baud");
         args.push(b);
     }
-    args.push("--no-stub");
     args
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/self-update.sh b/scripts/self-update.sh
index 3bf13471..99ea24f6 100755
--- a/scripts/self-update.sh
+++ b/scripts/self-update.sh
@@ -102,6 +102,34 @@ if ! command -v esptool >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     fi
 fi
 
+# Debian's esptool package (4.7.0+dfsg-0.1) ships without the precompiled
+# esp32s3 "stub flasher" blob (stripped for DFSG compliance — no
+# buildable-from-source path Debian could verify). Without it, esptool's
+# normal stub-loader mode fails outright (FileNotFoundError), and the ROM
+# bootloader fallback (--no-stub) doesn't implement a full-chip erase at
+# all — confirmed live 2026-07-23 flashing a real Heltec V4, both ways.
+# Fetching the exact same file from the matching upstream esptool release
+# tag restores full (and correct) flashing behavior — it's the same
+# open-source codebase, just the one blob Debian's packaging couldn't
+# include.
+if command -v esptool >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    STUB_DIR="/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/esptool/targets/stub_flasher"
+    STUB_FILE="$STUB_DIR/stub_flasher_32s3.json"
+    if [ ! -f "$STUB_FILE" ]; then
+        log "Fetching esptool's esp32s3 stub flasher (missing from the Debian package)..."
+        ESPTOOL_VERSION=$(esptool version 2>/dev/null | tail -1 | tr -d ' \t')
+        if [ -n "$ESPTOOL_VERSION" ] && sudo curl -fsSL -o "$STUB_FILE" \
+            "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/esptool/v${ESPTOOL_VERSION}/esptool/targets/stub_flasher/stub_flasher_32s3.json" \
+            2>>"$LOG_FILE"; then
+            sudo chmod 644 "$STUB_FILE"
+            ok "esp32s3 stub flasher installed"
+        else
+            sudo rm -f "$STUB_FILE" 2>/dev/null
+            warn "Unable to fetch esp32s3 stub flasher; LoRa firmware flashing will be unavailable"
+        fi
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Build-time prerequisites for reticulum-daemon/build.sh's PyInstaller step
 # below (discovered the hard way: ensurepip needs python3-venv, and
 # PyInstaller itself needs objdump + libpython3.13.so at build time — none