FEZ Raptor Not Holding Firmware

NETMF & Gadgeteer
1

Hello and thank you for your time.

I have an issue with my raptor.

I ran the following without any errors.
C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\Firmwares\G400\Loader\Update.bat

When I run Check device for update I get the following.

[quote]Loader (TinyBooter) version information:
4.3.6.0 on this computer.
4.3.6.0 on this device.

The Loader (TinyBooter) is up to date. <<<

Firmware (TinyCLR) version information:
4.3.6.0 on this computer.
Firmware (TinyCLR) Version: Not present on the device.
The device is in Loader mode.
Click on ‘Reboot CLR’ under the Advanced menu to reboot the device.[/quote]

I rebooted the CLR and run the firmware updater without any errors.

From the connection screen I ping the device and it returns TinyCLR
But when I run Check device for update again the application loses contact with the device, when the device reconnects again I ping it and it returns TinyBooter. And the message above if I run check device for update again.

If I step away from the computer the devices keeps resetting (USB dropping in an out).

For a test I ran without errors.
C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.2 SDK\Firmwares\G400\Update.bat

I reboot the CLR and run the firmware updater without any errors.
It updated to 4.3 but left the 4.2 tinybooter, I could ping, reset and check device for update without any problems other then telling me I had the wrong version of TinyBooter. Also the device no longer resets it’self every couple of minutes.

Visual studio says it deploys my app but it doesn’t run and wont’ debug which I assume is because of the TinyBooter / TinyCLR version difference.

Not sure what more information I can tell you other then I am running SAM-BA v2.15 on windows 8.1 x64

Thanks again.

2

@ the-wal I have seen the same with both the Raptor and Hydra boards where, after updating to 4.3, it reports that Firmware (TinyCLR) Version: Not present on the device.

I found that if you simply ignore this and deploy a 4.3 app it runs correctly and without any issues.

(I’m running on Windows7 x64, in case it makes a difference)

3

hey there

quite a weird set of circumstances.

Are you using Fez Config to report the information you see ?

I think I have seen Fez Config and mfdeploy respond to PING with tinyclr on my raptor - what ever you do make sure you apply the firmware after you apply the bootloader. You should also make sure that you apply the 4.3.6.0 loader and netmf firmware at the same time from the same PC - first in SAM-BA and then in Fez Config.

the constant reboot cycle is interesting - does it do that immediately after you apply netmf, and not load application code on it ? Please try that and report back. Some times that can also be power related, are you using a DP module and external power as well as the USB cable ?

Now onto what is more likely to be the real underlying problem you’re facing - there’s two likely candidates I can see, first one is that tinybooter and the firmware are mismatched - the above will address that. The second possible cause is your code. The debug and deployment relies on having available time in the processor to communicate tot he PC, so if your application has no processor time free, you’ll find that this means nothing can attach after the first deployment. One common way around that is to allow a multi-second delay at startup (perhaps as simple as thread.sleep, or waiting for a button press something more complex) before starting your intense processing - and when you want to start deploying you simply reset the device and the debugger will attach and deploy and then wait. The test above of just leaving the device without user code on it will also help show what is going on.

hope those few pointers give you some hints at what to do next

4

Ok, after further testing I can repeat this time and time again.

Using SAM-BA
I Update the tinybooter to 4.3.6.0

Using Fez Config
I update firmware

At this point the device is not resetting itself every minute or so.

From the connection window the ping response is TinyCLR

Device Capabilities returns

I close FexConfig and start MFDeploy

When I ping I get Pinging… TinyCLR

Device Capabilities returns

I close MFDeploy and start visual studio and try to deploy the basic flashing led app.

In the output window I get

Then in the error list I get

I close visual studio and repeat the above ping and Device Capabilities tests with both mfdeploy and fez config with the exact same result.

However at any time in fex config I run Check device for update.
The usb connection drops with a “No response from device” popup and then It comes back up I run the check device for update and we are back to step one and the device starts to reset itself again.

[quote] Loader (TinyBooter) version information:
4.3.6.0 on this computer.
4.3.6.0 on this device.

The Loader (TinyBooter) is up to date. <<<

Firmware (TinyCLR) version information:
4.3.6.0 on this computer.
Firmware (TinyCLR) Version: Not present on the device.
The device is in Loader mode.
Click on ‘Reboot CLR’ under the Advanced menu to reboot the device.[/quote]

This is really becoming an issue as I am falling behind in my work.

I am about to rebuild an only laptop on windows 7 with the min requirements and try again.

Cheers

5

In Fez Config, did you rename the device at all ? If so please try without doing that, there may be some impact there. Also, make sure you reboot into CLR mode from Fez Config before testing further; and unplug device a few times to make sure it always comes up connected in Device Manager as “G400”. Then, I’d make sure in your blinky app that you go into the framework settings and change deployment target to Serial, then back to USB, and make sure your device appears and is selected before you deploy.

6

OK. Where do I start.

I setup my old laptop and followed the instructions from to the letter and all is good.

On my development machine I am using visual studio 2013 and that has worked fine so far with the FEZ Cerbuino Net.

I installed vs2012 express on my development machine and uninstalled netmf, GadgeteerCore and NETMF and Gadgeteer Package 2014 R5 then re-installed them.

Vs 2013 would not allow me to create a new project for the raptor with 4.3 telling me I needed GadgeteerCore 2.43.800 or higher even tho I had 2.43.1000 installed. I removed 2.43.1000 and installed 2.43.900 and it works.

I can deploy from vs2012 but still cant from vs2013 which sucks but workable.

The weird thing is the old laptop has GadgeteerCore 2.43.1000 installed on it. I might do an upgrade on the development machine and see how we go.

Cheers

7

I got the same issue after updating my FEZ Raptor but the solution i found is rebooting CLR just after checking he version(Menu>Advanced>Reboot CLR) :wall:
you can check the attached !!

You know sometimes hardware works like a magic ::slight_smile:

PS: I changed the script as is can use SAM-BA v2.15
here is the post where i reported what i did… [em]https://www.ghielectronics.com/community/forum/topic?id=19014[/em]

Cheers,