CC3100BOOST : Connection issues using Uniflash

Hi,

In your case it looks like you cannot even communicate via the COM port.

Can you please reply with the followings:

1. screenshot of the COM ports in the device manager (while the board is connected to the PC)
2. your entire setup

1. what boards are you using? you should have CC3100BOOST and CC3100EMUBOOST
2. How are they connected (you should make sure the P1/P2/P3/P4 connected are aligned according to the silk labels

Shlomi 

Hi,

in your case, all 4 COM ports are presented so the FTDI chip is either not programmed or the FTDI drivers from the SDK are not updated. Regardless, you still should be able to work with Uniflash but in this case you need to connect to the 3rd COM port (it appears on Uniflash UG and Quick Start Guide). Can you give it a try?

BTW, you do not need to change the COM port settings on the device driver. It should work with the defaults.

Shlomi

Hard to tell what else can be broken.

The only thing that remains is to probe the UART lines. I do not see any other option.

Do you have this capability?

If so, the UART lines should be CC_UART1_TX and CC_UART1_RX (you can see on the schematics document inside the SDK package you installed). It should be accessible via the BP interface (on P1, pin #3 and #4).

The first thing you need to observe is a break signal (logical low) on the line going into CC3200 when you apply any operation on Uniflash (i.e. format, program, service pack update or get version). The break signal should be sensed by CC3200 which in return should send an ACK signal.

Regards,

Shlomi

Adding additional information here

When I first connected the CC3100 with EMU board to pc, I didn't see four instances of CC3100-BOOST on device manager as described in figure 4 of getting started guide available in sdk. I saw four instances of USB Serial port on device manager and I used driver available at cc3200 sdk to update it.

Is there any reason why  four instances of CC3100-BOOST did not show up on device manager.

So after you updated it as described in the getting started guide, does it show the 4 COM ports?

It might be that the FTDI chipset itself is not programmed.

I did not update as described as getting started guide, since four instance of CC3100-BOOST did not up. 

Only four instances of USB Serial Port showed up and I updated that using ftdi drivers available at CC3200 SDK.

If FTDI chipset itself is not programmed, how to program FTDI chipset.

Thanks 

Which pin on CC3100 is break signal and which pin should send ack signal.

.."The first thing you need to observe is a break signal (logical low) on the line going into CC3200 when you apply any operation on Uniflash (i.e. format, program, service pack update or get version). The break signal should be sensed by CC3200 which in return should send an ACK signal."

Update on this :

I programmed FTDI chipset and updated the drivers as given in getting started guide. Now only two COM ports shows up. But connection issue is still there when I do Get Version using Uniflash .

It is very easy to mix them as the label may be missleading. However, you have only two options so if none of them work, the HW is somehow broken.

Perfect, this is the way it should be. The first COM port is the one used for flashing but in your case it is still not working as there seems to be a HW issue. Can you please send me a picture of your setup?

I cannot see any attachement

CC_UART1_RX is input to CC3100 device so you need to see the break signal on this line.

The ACK should be sent on CC_UART1_TX coming out from CC3100 to the host/PC. The ACK packet is 0x00CC.

Just validated it on my side and I could see that RX line goes down from 3.3V level to 0V when I click any operation from Uniflash, e.g. 'Get version'. What voltage level do you see on these lines?

BTW, what is the jumper settings on your EMU board?

Hi,

Please see attached image for signal transition on CC_UART1_RX and  CC_UART1_TX. 

D16 is connected to CC_UART1_TX.

D11 is connected to CC_UART1_RX.

Break signal can be seen on CC_UART1_RX, but there is no ack from CC_UART1_TX.

Thanks,

So this at least proves that the UART line going from FTDI to CC3100 works. But it can still happen that the other UART line going from CC3100 to FTDI is broken.

I suggest two more experiments you can do:

1. please take a look at the following E2E post: http://e2e.ti.com/support/wireless_connectivity/f/968/t/355199.aspx. The same behavior is experienced on CC3200. You can do a similar test shortening RX and TX lines and see if you see whatever you type echoed back
2. It can be that the CC3100 chipset is not powered at all and thus you cannot see an ACK back. I have noticed you are using powering of CC3100 via the EMU board (the jumper J8 is set to MCU). Can you please move this jumper to LDO and use another micro USB directly connected to CC3100BOOST? this way, you can be sure that CC3100 is powered with 3.3V

Shlomi

Tried both 1 and 2.

Did not see echo back for 1 and no ack for 2.

Hi,

What about #2, can you please try it?

Shlomi

I tried both 1 and 2. 

For 2, I did not see ack signal.

I'll pass your post internally and see how we can handle it. We will probably contact you offline and replace the board.

No echo would imply that the FTDI is damaged.

Can you remove the CC3100BOOST board from the EMUBOOST and then short the RX-TX of the EMUBOOST.

Then try echo ...

If that does not work, please ship the board to my attention.. Please send me an email so that I can provide you the shipping address. We would work to get a replacement board for you.

Hi,

We will contact you offline and have the board replaced. We will need the broken board back to analyze and understand what the problem is.

Thanks,

Shlomi

Hi Prajay and Shlomi,

I tried echo by shorting the RX-TX of EMUBOOST and it echo backs for first COM port. Also I tried echo by shorting

the RX -TX of CC3100 after connecting it to EMUBOOST , it also echo back for first COM port.

Do you want me to try anything else before sending the board back?

Hi,

It seems you get the echo back on the CC3100 itself which proves FTDI is OK. The only thing I can think of is that the CC3100 is not powered properly. I have asked before to check the power:

"It can be that the CC3100 chipset is not powered at all and thus you cannot see an ACK back. I have noticed you are using powering of CC3100 via the EMU board (the jumper J8 is set to MCU). Can you please move this jumper to LDO and use another micro USB directly connected to CC3100BOOST? this way, you can be sure that CC3100 is powered with 3.3V"

If this test still fails, I suggest you send the board, unless Prajay has some more ideas.

Shlomi

I have shipped both boards to Prajay.

Thanks!

Hi Blue stone,

May we contact you at the email address you provided in your E2E profile?

Thanks & Regards,
Raghavendra

Hi Blue Stone,

Gentle reminder. Can we contact you at the email address you provided in your E2E profile?
 This is regarding the boards that you were planning to ship back to us.

Thanks & Regards,
Raghavendra

Hi,

I have already shipped it to Prajay. 

Thanks!

You can contact me at that email address if have anything else to ask.

I was fighting the same thing and had the exact same symptoms until I saw that you have specify the 3rd highest (of the 4 ports). Then everything worked fine.