This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

MSP-FET430UIF Firmware problem

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F1612, MSP-FET

I have same problem with  two MSP-FET430UIF.(v1.4a)

After using FET  in next  IDEs:   IAR v5.40 -> IAR v4.20 -->IAR v5.40, it not working.  !!!! Sequence is important.

In device manager In Section Ports I see MSP-FET430UIF CDC. IAR detect it.

In IAR v5.40 I'v got next message in Debug Log window:

                                                                         Interface dll version 3.2.2.0 

                                                                         Failed to load debugee: E:\M S P 4 3 0  P r o j e c t s\MyDIR\Kernel.d43 

HOW I CAN RESTORE FETs ?????

Thanks

  • I also have the same problem! Would like to know where I can get the firmware binary/hex file to update the FET430UIF firmware using another FET430UIF.

  • I read out the MSP430 Firmware from another working MSP430 FET programmer and wrote it into the bricked FET430UIF.  The FET JTAG driver on windows does not recognize the device and automatically load the driver.  The debugger does not find the FET device when I forcefully load the driver.

    I tried loading the ez430U firmware into the FET430UIF and it does not work.

    Any information on where to get the firmware for the MSP-FET430UIF device.

  • Actually, there are two firmwares.
    One for the MSP430F1612, which is the FET firmware that does the JTAG stuff etc. And I think that's what you restored. However, the MSP has nothing to do with how the FET enumerates itself on the USB bus. It has just a serial port and doesn't know about USB. So even a working firmware will not make the FET appear as FET in the device manager.

    However, there is a second processor on the FET: The TUSB chip that does the USB/serial connection, has its own loadable firmware, stored on an eeprom in the FET. If this firmware is broken, the TUSB will report itself to be a standard USB serial bridge and will receive a default firmware from the PC driver. Only with the eeprom-based firmware, the TUSB will report itself as FET device to the PC.

    If the MSP firmware is intact but the TUSB one is still broken, there is a tool (don't ask me where) that will allow sending a new firmware for the TUSB to the MSP on the FET (even if the TUSB is just on default firmware), which in turn will rewrite the EEprom. On next USB reconnect/FET power-up, things should work again.

    Of course there is still a possibility for a hardware failure, such as a broken quartz.

  • Hi all,

    This is a common confusion right now.

    With IAR 5.4 and CCSv5.1, the MSP-FET430UIF tool requires an update to work with MSP430.dllv3. The first time you try to debug using the FET tool with these newer IDEs, you will automatically be requested to allow the tool to upgrade to this new firmware and in this message you are given a warning that this will require a manual downgrade to go back to the old dll. This MSP430.dllv3 is compatible with these two newer IDEs, but not with previous ones (your old IAR you mentioned and CCSv4 will not recognize the FET once it's been updated). 

    To downgrade back to use the FET with older IDEs, simply follow the steps on the wiki - there is a downgrade utility for doing it. 
    Please see this wiki page for more information about the upgrade/downgrade process: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSPDS_Debugger_Up-_and_Downgrade 

    You can tell if your FET has the old or new firmware by a couple of ways:

    1. How it enumerates on the PC: the old FET dll will show up as VCP and new FET will show up as CDC.

    2. The LED sequence when plugging in the FET. The old FET dll will have the LEDs go red-red-red-green, new FET will just go straight to green.

    Please let me know if you've already tried this upgrade/downgrade process so we can try to determine what's going on.

    Regards,

    Katie

  • Hello All,

    Katie wrote "Please let me know if you've already tried this upgrade/downgrade process so we can try to determine what's going on."

    Whis TI utility thing for upgrade/downgrade works fine.

  • Hi Katie,

    I  was doing the Upgrading/Downgrading process when I switch the MSP-FET430UIF between CCS and IAR. That worked fine!!

    But recently I got one issue during my downgrade. I'm getting an error.

    My observations:

    1. GREEN and RED - LEDs are not blinking (Turned OFF).

    2. FET Tool is detected in Windows as MSP-FET430UIF - CDC (COM4).

    3. When I try to downgrade i'm getting and error "Erasing Firmware…Error, during V2 HAL Update".

    Suggest me how to rectify this issue.


    Note: I have similar working FET Tool with me, is there any workaround to recover the failed one using the working tool?

    Screen shot of the error is attached below FYR.

  • Hi Manoj,

    I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties.  A couple of questions to try to help:

    Manoj Srinivasan said:
    I  was doing the Upgrading/Downgrading process when I switch the MSP-FET430UIF between CCS and IAR. That worked fine!!

    Let's back up a step first: When you say this, what versions of CCS and IAR are you using? Is one much older than the other? Please note, if you have CCS and IAR that are both newer versions (from the last few years), you shouldn't ever have to do the manual firmware downgrade to VCP - the tool will stay on CDC and upgrade/downgrade on its own with CCS and IAR amongst V3 minor versions. Or maybe that is what you were doing all along - letting CCS/IAR do the updates?

    Even after the last image you showed, is the MSP-FET430UIF still enumerating as CDC in the device manager?

    Can you use the Elprotronic Fet-Pro430 Lite software found here .  Go to Tools > Read MSP-FET430UIF / MSP-FET Firmware version. It should report the version currently loaded in the tool. In your case it may say it's something like "0" since it may be erased. If it prompts for an update, allow it to try to update the tool to see if this helps. Or you can try to force an update with MSP-FET/MSP-FET430UIF Firmware Update.

    Regards,

    Katie

  • I am currently having the exact same issue when trying to downgrade my MSP-FET430. I know it doesnt need to be downgraded but as the software was reading the device that was one of the things I tried. The issue is that none of the programs for programming are reading my device and i believe this is because the device is lacking firmware. The MSP-FET wont even turn on any lights when plugged in but you can get a green power light when trying to update using Elprotronic. The device manager still shows the correct driver as MSP-FET430UIF-CDC but when I try reading the firmware version using Elprotronic I am getting 0 as the version. When I try to force an update using the software the software will freeze after erasing firmware step. Is there anything else I can try or is it broken for good?
    Thanks.
  • This problem is due to disconnecting MSP-FET during upgrade/downgrade process. Try with commandline UpdateTool, goto updatetool folder in command prompt and execute command "UpdateTool -u DOWN" or "UpdateTool -u UP".
    FYR:
    processors.wiki.ti.com/.../MSPDS_Debugger_Up-_and_Downgrade
  • I am getting the same results when using that method as well. But thanks for trying!
  • When using the old (grey) FET430UIF, the USB connection is independent of the FET firmware. It's a separate chip that does the USB data transfer, so if the FET lost its firmware (update/downdate failed), the device is still recognized and shown in the device manager.

    The tricky part is that the update of the USB transceiver requires the FET part to still work while updating the FET requires the USB transceiver to work and hte correct USB drivers to be loaded. This makes switching from one to another a tricky multi-step process during which the type of connection needs to change.

    However, I remember that under some circumstances, windows won't switch from CDC to VCP by itself after the transceiver firmware had been updated. Then you need to manually remove the device in device manager and then dis- and reconnect it, so windows handles the device a new one rather than stupidly loading the old (now wrong) drivers again and again. It also might be necessary to manually pick the VCP drivers if both are installed on the system.
  • Me too.  I'm stuck.  No lights when I plug in the MSP-FET430UIF.

    By the way, it happened when trying to using UpdateTool.exe -u DOWN

    Now it's locked up.  I need to figure out how to repair this.

  • Now when I run UpdateTool.exe -u DOWN (or UP) I get...

    C:\Program Files (x86)\IAR Systems\Embedded Workbench 7.4\430\bin>UpdateTool.exe -u DOWN

    Error detected, aborting:
    Interface Communication error

    C:\Program Files (x86)\IAR Systems\Embedded Workbench 7.4\430\bin>UpdateTool.exe -u UP

    Error detected, aborting:
    Interface Communication error

    C:\Program Files (x86)\IAR Systems\Embedded Workbench 7.4\430\bin>
  • any update on the problem similar happened after updatetool.exe -u DOWN and after that facing same error Internal communication error

**Attention** This is a public forum