Loading Packet Sniffer firmware onto Chronos USB dongle

Jay Carlson

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F5509, CC1101

When I first started working with the Chronos kit several months ago, I put the packet sniffer firmware on the CC1111 USB dongle fairly easily; I attached my CC debugger to the test points on the board, and, if I remember correctly, loaded the sniffer_fw_ccxx11.hex file on the device. It's been working perfectly ever since.

I ordered a few more watches, and went to put the firmware on the new boards today. I repeated the process of soldering on some wires to the test points, plugging in the CC Debugger, launching the SmartRF Flash Programmer (which had the same firmware image loaded from the last time I launched the program months ago), and flashed the device. Verified fine and everything.

However, the newly-programmed dongle won't show up in Windows. Just to make sure my programming toolchain wasn't malfunctioning, I loaded the Chronos recovery firmware, and the device worked flawlessly.

At this point, it seemed like the sniffer_fw_ccxx11.hex image I'm using is wrong. I searched around, and apparently, the D+ pullup resistor is hooked up to a different pin on the Chronos access point than it is on the CC1111EVK that the ccxx11.hex firmware is made for. I checked the schematic for the USBD1 V1.0 (that is still linked on the Chronos page), and sure enough, it has a different pull-up configuration. However, I'm using the V1.3 dongle, and I can't seem to find the schematics for it (did it change the pull-up resistor pin?) Someone from TI mentioned this a few years ago, and posted a link to a
"sniffer_fw_ez430-chronos_cc1111_access_point_experimental_2010-05-12"
firmware file which supposedly fixes the problem. I downloaded this, and tried flashing it. Still doesn't work.

Again, I distinctly remember successfully programming my chronos USB dongle with the standard sniffer_fw_ccxx11.hex file that came with SmartRF Packet Sniffer. I could be mistaken, but I don't remember having to download any additional firmware images, and as I said, when I started Flash Programmer, the ccxx11.hex firmware file auto-loaded (obviously, it was the last thing I programmed)

Does anyone have any idea what's going on? Did I accidentally update something that came with a different firmware version?

Here are the versions, from what I can tell, of everything involved:

Chronos USB dongle: BM-USBD1 V1.3
CC debugger: EB Firmware ID 05CC, EB firmware rev 0033
SmartRF Packet Sniffer: 2.16.3.0
SmartRF Studio: 1.9.1.0
ez430-Chronos software: 1.6

EDIT: I just checked with a multimeter; the D+ pullup resistor is attached to pin 3.

over 11 years ago

0 Jay Carlson over 11 years ago

Prodigy 185 points

Anyone?

0 Øyvind K over 11 years ago in reply to Jay Carlson

TI__Expert 4800 points

Hi Jay,

The standard FW for the CC1111 USB Dongle following the SmartRF Packet Sniffer will not work with the USB Dongle contained in the Chronos kit. Your remark about the different "pull up" on the D+ connector is correct. If you have been able to do this before I guess you had a special version of the FW.

Attached you find an updated version of the FW that I was able to successfully run the packet sniffer with.
Hopefully this will be of some help.

Best Regards,
Øyvind

sniffer_fw_ccxx11_chronos.hex

0 Jay Carlson over 11 years ago in reply to Øyvind K

Prodigy 185 points

Thanks for the help Øyvind, but this file is giving me the same issue as the other files; it flashes fine to the chronos dongle, but it doesn't ever instantiate itself as a USB device. The only firmware file that seems to work is the official Chronos firmware file.

Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

0 Øyvind K over 11 years ago in reply to Jay Carlson

TI__Expert 4800 points

With ".. doesn't ever instantiate itself as a USB device" you mean that it is not visible in the Device Manager(Not even as a "Unknown device")?

I did the test with a v1.3 dongle so that should be the same.

It sounds as if it could be a problem with the driver. If everything is OK, it should look like this in the Device Manager:

After installing the Packet Sniffer or SmartRF Studio the correct driver would typically be available here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\SmartRF Tools\Drivers\cebal\win_64bit_x64 (or win_32bit_x32).

Regards,
Øyvind

0 Jay Carlson over 11 years ago in reply to Øyvind K

Prodigy 185 points

No, it's not showing up in Device Manager at all. If I load the Chronos firmware on it, it works great -- but when I switch over to the firmware you've attached (or the CC1111 firmware that's packaged with the SmartRF Wireless Packet Sniffer software), it doesn't show up.

It's the strangest thing I've ever seen.

0 Justin walker over 10 years ago in reply to Jay Carlson

Prodigy 20 points

By any chance, is your new dongle the new hardware version with the white pcb?

0 Øyvind K over 10 years ago in reply to Justin walker

TI__Expert 4800 points

Hi Justin,

For the Chronos kit I'm not sure about the color of the latest PCB. This kit is created and maintained by the MSP430 team within TI. However, on the latest version I have, the PCB is black.

The CC1111 USB Dongle distributed by the Low Power RF team has a green PCB.

Regards,
Øyvind

0 Justin walker over 10 years ago in reply to Øyvind K

Prodigy 20 points

Oh, ok. For the chronos, the original ap dongle (the kit with the black pcbs) was a cc1111. The new one (white pcb) is an msp430f5509<->cc1101. naturally, firmware for the earlier dongle would not work with the new.

0 Danny Van den Bliek over 10 years ago in reply to Justin walker

Prodigy 50 points

Does anyone have the firmware for the white PCB?

0 Jens Jensen1 over 9 years ago in reply to Danny Van den Bliek

Prodigy 110 points

I am also, surprisingly, unable to find any sniffer firmware for the white ap usb.

Is there no project for this?

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Loading Packet Sniffer firmware onto Chronos USB dongle