I’m trying to connect to my brand new FEZ Raptor board using a USB-Serial SP Module, but I cannot get it to communicate.
I have connected them as showed in the first picture.
As soon as I connect the USB cable, the Rx-Tx leds of the USB-Serial SP Module blink for one second, then they stop, while the PWR led on the FEZ Raptor switches on and remains on.
When I start the FEZ Config tool, no board is recognized in USB mode (second picture), while using the Serial port (COM3, that is generated when I connect the board) and click on “Check device for update” button, the software tries to communicate for a while (Tx led of the USB-Serial SP Module blinks) but it gets no answer and finally gives an error message (third picture).
I tried to use all the USB ports of my laptop and also a powered USB hub, but nothing worked.
Am I missing any previous step to get started with the board?
By the way I tried to connect it to Socket 8 (which is Socket-D and -I), but it does not work.
In this case not only the USB communication does not work, but it is not even generated the serial port, so I get a Failure from the FEZ Config: it does not even try to send messages (see first picture).
Should I maybe connect the USB-Serial SP Module to socket 8 (as you suggest), and connect the USB-Serial module to a Socket-U (e.g. socket 10) with a second USB cable, as in the second picture?
I did not tried it yet, because I don’t want to destroy the board
@ giad - I think you need to put the board into serial debug mode.
I am not sure you can update the firmware in serial debug mode. you might need a USB power module. Chech the g400 manual. ******* Firmware update is supported ********
thank for your reply.
I am a bit confused now.
I thought the first step to accomplish with a new board is to communicate with it with the FEZ Config.
I have just installed the “GHI Electronics NETMF SDK 2015 R1 Pre-Release 4” and would like to understand how I should connect the Gadgeteers to make the first communication with the board (I could not find any quick start guide).
If I look at the G400 manual, it says (pag.20):
“The MODE Pin (PA25) is used to select between USB and serial. The pin is internally pulled
up. So high or unconnected will give you USB debugging, pulling it low will give you serial
debugging on COM1”
The problem is that if I connect the USB-Serial SP Module to a Socket-D (as suggested in the previous posts) I do not get neither a USB nor a Serial connection in the FEZ Config.
On the contrary, If I connect it to a Socket-U I get a Serial connection available but the FEZ Config always says “Failure - Device is not connected or not responding”.
Now, if you are right and I should pull low the PA25 pin the question is: how could I access to it? with a cable?
The best module to use is actually the USB Client SP module https://www.ghielectronics.com/catalog/product/330 as this allows everything to communicate as expected, without using MODE switch to move to serial debugging. This is the “just works” module, so if you have to order anything else I’d make sure you throw one of these in the order (and/or the USB Client DP if you also might want to use an external power supply)
Use the USB Client DP Module( Part # USBDP-GM-280) … It works in (D) Socket 8
I have never tried using the USB-Serial module as you are describing. I have always used the USB Client DP Module
with my Raptor.
As a test for your information I used a USB-Serial module :
I tried the USB-Serial module in all of the Raptors COM sockets and Socket 8 and I could not download any application in debug.
My Fez Raptor is using Firmware 4.3.7.10
I tried using the Microsoft sample: I assume you also have this folder…
C:\Users\willgeorge\Documents\Microsoft .NET Micro Framework 4.2\Samples\InkCanvasSample (Your folder)
In Device Manager Ports (COM & LPT) shows USP Serial Port (COM7)
VS application Properties - Transport Switched between Emulator and Serial port 7
Begin debug of application:
In the VS Output window:
Looking for a device on transport ‘Serial’
Starting device deployment…
Iteration 0
Opening port \.\COM7
Attaching debugger engine…
… cannot attach debugger engine!
I used VS 2012 and VS 2013
Both VS versions failed trying to use USB Serial module.
(I did not try VS2015)
In both VS versions the application loaded and ran with success when I used the USB Client module.
Get the USB Client DP Module( Part # USBDP-GM-280) … It works!
just to thank you all, because with your tips I could get it work!!
As Mike and Dat suggested, I used a Breakout module to create a connection to GND of Pin 3 in socket 7.
Moreover I connected my USB-Serial SP Module into socket 10.
I attach a picture, just in case it can be useful in the future for other users.
For sure (as Brett and willgeorge suggest) in the next days I will order a USB Client DP Module, that unfortunately I did not buy in my first order.
But for the moment I could start my development, so I thank you all for the great help!
@ giad, great to hear you’re on the right track now ! Welcome to the forum, hope you stick around and share info on the cool stuff you make with us!
Still a little more detail is worth explaining here, which might help you understand another layer to this.
This is totally expected - and remember, in most cases the “description” you see is just the driver that is mapped to the hardware, in other words it could change depending on how the USB interface presents itself to the OS and allows a specific driver to load.
The USBSerial module has it’s own USB-to-UART chip, that will always present itself as a “standard” serial device. No matter what UART you connect that to on a device (U or K socket) the PC end always looks the same.
The USB-DP (or similar) does not have a USB chip on it at all, it purely passes the USB signals back to the processor. When you start a board normally, the firmware on the chip presents itself to the OS over the USB connection as a debuggable netmf device. However when you start the board in SAM-BA mode, it presents a serial port to the OS that behaves a specific way - but it’s still just a serial port.
When you use the USBSerial module and put a board into serial debug mode, the debug stream just gets routed over the board’s COM1 UART to the USB-to-UART chip then to the COM port on the PC. That serial stream happens to have meaning to the debug engine in VS, or to the upgrade engine in MFDeploy (Fez Config). It’s still a serial stream, it’s the content of the stream that has meaning… and that’s what allows an “application” to use the stream how it needs.
