In most cases the MSP430F5510 responds as expected when we try to enter BSL mode via BSL Scripter. We are attempting to load code via the UART interface as there is no USB in this design. We have occasionally encountered the case (i.e. a few boards out of hundreds we've built) where the BSL on the device does not respond and BSL Scripter returns an error. We have monitored the RESET, TEST lines and see that the entry sequence looks correct. Looking at the UART signals and see that the MSP430 is not ACKing the initial commands from the BSL Scripter. BSL Scripter error codes are usually 0xee or 0x51.
We have found that this behavior is sensitive to the initial conditions - in particular how long the MSP430 was held in reset before we attempted to enter BSL mode. If RESET is only low for a few seconds before initiating the BSL entry sequence, it works as intended, but if the RESET line has been held low for more than ~ 60 seconds then it will often fail. We have also found that this behavior changes slightly depending on temperature and whether there is a voltage on the I/O pins pf the MSP430 (including the UART connections).
It appears maybe that the MSP430 is not always in an initialized condition when we are trying to enter BSL mode.
Has anyone seen this behavior, or can suggest how we can guarantee an environment where the MSP430 enter the BSL every time?