Keil debug fail with stellaris launchpad.

Took a look at the project on uV5 and it seemed to load and debug ok.  I did notice that on an older install of uVision that utilities tab had the wrong debug driver selected (for the flash download).  It would have attempted to use the Keil driver instead of the ICDI driver.  Not sure if this contributed to the failing LaunchPad or not. 

@ Craig,

Thanks your continuing interest & updates - this unfortunate issue. 

Many posts earlier here - I suggested that, "A-B" comparison - between Keil & perhaps IAR - may serve some purpose - yield some value.  (our group has no launchpads - use only paid IAR - but our clients have about 70-30 (IAR/Keil) mix (favor IAR))

Several of our Keil user clients have launchpad failure events - nearly identical - to those reported earlier by Shujen.  And - perhaps of interest - no such reports have yet attached under IAR.  (our population of client use - this specific case - and duration of such testing - both insufficient (I believe) to render this data significant)

Win8/8.1 and launchpads outside our present usage (too limited) & experience.  May I ask you then - might this continuation of use (IAR & Win8 & launchpad) prove of value - in assisting/improving your investigation?  Not in our group's interest to "exercise our clients" - should this path be ineffectual.  Would you be so good as to consider - and advise - your sense of the merit of this, "A-B contrast (IAR vs. Keil)  approach?   Thanks your time/attention - your on-going efforts are both noted & appreciated.

Craig,

In the newer uVision (both V4.72a and V5 I use), there is a choice of "Use Target Driver for Flash Programming".  When that selection is made, the choice of driver in the Utility tab seemed inconsequential.  Therefore, I just let it select the default of "Use Target Driver for Flash Programming".

I was able to use the example GUI shown in the earlier post from LMFlashProgrammer to restore the boards.  After following all the steps, I am able to download new code and debug the device.

Thanks,

-c

Craig Giglio94760 said:

I was able to ...  restore the boards.

Pardon - may we ask, "which boards?"  (so many are "in play" (multiple teaching/learning theaters, this thread) - we simply do not know...)  (might these be boards received from concerned & properly detailed poster, Shujen?)

Also - can you advise re: any further progress in discovering the "driving cause" which proves so disruptive under Win8/8.1?  Understanding of many here is that "failure cause" identification (and a superior correction strategy) has not yet been completed...

Sorry.  Professor Chen submitted some boards for us to test that he was unable to connect using the debugger.    We received them today and were able to use the LMFlashProgrammer unlock sequence to restore the boards.  They worked fine after that.

Still no root cause determined as of yet for the debug dll being listed in the Win 8 registry, but it is still an active issue for us to find a solution.

@ Craig,

Received, understood, all clear now!  Thank you for an especially clarifying & "crack of the bat" response - much appreciated...

Professor Chen & my group have exchanged privately in the attempt to resolve his situation.   Via past, FPGA design/development efforts - we've developed (what we believe) to be a detailed & serious diagnosis & recovery method for JTAG/SWD based devices.  Know he'll be most pleased w/your success - we doubted that any "long-term" harm had been done - although we have seen that in certain (albeit few) instances.

Wish you/team best of luck in wrestling this issue to resolution.  (note: our infant exercise via IAR & Win8 has yet to cause the dreaded issue - but insufficient time has passed for any real conclusions to register...  Again, thanks...

I have tried to erase the target devices with my Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 computers without any success and I posted the error dialog box.  Looking back maybe I should have kept one of the boards so that I may try to erase the board with the exact same procedure.  Is there something changed in my computers that prevented me from erasing them?  Of course, hindsight is always clearer.

But knowing it is possible is half of the work.  At least I will be much more confident in trying out the configurations in the future.

Shujen Chen said:

knowing it is possible is half of the work - I'll be much more confident...

So true - even early, famed, marine explorers had to first overcome the dread of, "sailing off the edge of the earth."

Suggest  that you identify the "exact" versions of Flash Programmer, Windows and relevant driver programs - used so effectively by Craig - so that you may best duplicate his recovery success.  (to my mind - some of that detail may not be well/fully known and/or propagated...)

cb1_mobile said:

Suggest  that you identify the "exact" versions of Flash Programmer, Windows and relevant driver programs...

Good suggestion.  I am taking a week break so I won't have access to my computers until after Christmas.  I will do that then.

Re: suggestion judged, "reasonable."  Thought so - devil always in such critical detail - too often overlooked due to, "familiarity." 

May your "week break" not yield a, "weak break" (elbow) - your reporter's fate, last year...  Such, "breaks in usual routine" too often yield unwanted/unexpected outcomes.  (ask any insur. person)   Added irony - our group will not have access to Christmas until after our computers (ARM MCU SW - this case) behaves to our spec...

I am sending back all three boards that were failing.  I did not restore all of them (sorry that the last post was misleading).  I left one in the state that you sent it so that you can try it again.  So two have been restored, one should still exhibit the failure. 

I used the latest version of LMFlashProgrammer (v1588).  When using the JTAG unlock sequence the GUI will prompt for all of the steps in the process.  Be sure to select the radio button for Blizzard class devices.  The reset button used is on the ICDI side of the board and I just used the USB cable as the power source referenced in the steps.

Hope that helps.

Happy new year.

The combinations that did not unlock/erase the LaunchPads were:

- Win7 LMFlashProgrammer 1463

- Win8.1 LMFlashProgrammer 1588

I got it unlocked and erased by

- Win7 LMFlashProgrammer 1601

Now the board is working with Keil debugger.

That's great to hear. I'm glad the effort on the latest version of LMFlash seems to have paid off.

While great to hear of the very recent success under Win7 - was not the predominant issue that of proper operation under Win8?  That fact stands silent - perhaps deserves some comment...

For those whose Windows 8 machine works, then the debugger stops, I made this website to explain the solution Craig Giglio94760 posted on on Dec 10 2013 14:15 PM. http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valvano/edX/Window8KeilDebuggerFix.htm

The bug strikes again.  One of my students received an automatic Windows update on his Windows 7.  After that, every time he clicked on debug button in Keil uVision, the LaunchPad because non-responsive.  He tried several LaunchPads and they all behaved the same.  These LaunchPads became non-responsive to other computers as well.  They could be revived by using LM Flash Programmer to unlock the Debug Port and became useful for the other computers.

Uninstalled and reinstalled ICDI drivers did not help.  Rolled back Windows update did not help.  Finally the problem was eliminated when he rolled back Windows, uninstalled Keil uVision and ICDI drivers then reinstalled them.

Sir,

     I am currently working with Tiva C series(TM4C123G) and Keil IDE. I had understand lots of concepts about Tiva from EDX course. But still I had some doubts. Actually what is the parameter I want to set in the options for target->Debug->DialogDLL ?. I had already set this one as -pCM4 -dLaunchPadDLL, got this one from tivaware example project.Also I had seen in the labware the DialogDLL is set as -pCM4 -dedXLab2.I just want to know why I want to change the Debug parameter and what I want to set.

Hi Nithin,

     Are you having trouble making a new Keil project? I believe there is a guide at the Keil website that may be of help to you.

     Another way is use an existing working program as base and just append your code. This way, you don't need to worry about the project settings.

- kel

Hi Markel,

                First of all thanks for your comments.Yes I had problems related to logic analyzer of Keil. When using with the default Dialog DLL parameter that is -pCM4 I can able to add the global variables and static variables to the logic anlayzer but can't able to add  any address of registers. I had tried to add GPIO data register address for viewing the pin toggling, but failed. I had noticed that when changing the the Dialog DLL parameter as "-pCM4 -dLaunchPadDLL" .I can able to add the port address, global,static variables as well.Also possible to add the signal name as for example to enable the portd 0th pin then type portd.0 the signal is added successfully. Why is this happen?

I wrote the LaunchPadDLL.dll that accompanied the edX MOOC. In this DLL I added Special Function Registers (PORTA PORTB PORTC PORTD PORTE PORTF) that mapped these symbolic names to physical addresses. There are also Virtual Function Registers for other simulation parameters like the DAC analog output and ADC analog input. Note: LaunchPadDLL.dll doesn't simulate all the I/O ports, just the few needed to run the MOOC. See http://edx-org-utaustinx.s3.amazonaws.com/UT601x/download.html

Professor Yerraballi and I will rerun the MOOC Spring 2015, so we will add more features to LaunchPadDLL.dll

We made these videos for the edX class

New Project Based On Old   http://youtu.be/oednSjhrDRA    derive a new project from an existing project.

New Project From Scratch   http://youtu.be/X-4RVXqmqks  create a new project from scratch

Hello Valvano,

                       First of all thanks for your comments and sorry for my late response. Sir, in the last post of this forum you had replied that the special function registers(PORT A,B,C,D,E and F) are added to the keil simulation using the LaunchPadDLL.dll. So I think you can add registers to the keil simulation as you need and can view a good GUI based simulation. By this we can give the input in the keil simulator itself and can view the output, isnt it?. Sir can you provide some tutorials on GUI development using Keil for Tiva C series.

Hello Valvano,

                       First of all thanks for your comments and sorry for my late response. Sir, in the last post of this forum you had replied that the special function registers(PORT A,B,C,D,E and F) are added to the keil simulation using the LaunchPadDLL.dll. So I think you can add registers to the keil simulation as you need and can view a good GUI based simulation. By this we can give the input in the keil simulator itself and can view the output, isnt it?. Sir can you provide some tutorials on GUI development using Keil for Tiva C series.

Ruslan,

The Keil debug failure is like a bad penny that just kept coming back. Last week I encountered the problem again. I was using an LM4F120 LaunchPad under a Keil 5.20 project that was built for TM4C123 LaunchPad. The operating system was Windows 10. It was going fine for a while then Windows update hit when I shutdown the computer. When I logged back on later, It would not stay in debug anymore. I switched to a TM4C123 LaunchPad and the problem persisted. I uninstalled Keil and reinstalled the same version (5.20). That did not fix the problem. I installed Keil 5.21a (the current version) and the problem went away. I figured nobody was going to be interested in chasing the problem in the older version of the IDE so I did not post anything here.

Shujen

Dear Shujen,

Thank you for your answer.

I noticed that also Code Composer Studio suffered the same faith. I could not run or debug anything. I believe that there is some problem with the drivers for the device. I have reinstalled support in the Studio and drivers for the CCS yet nothing.

I will post if I find a solution.

Have a nice evening.

Best Regards
Ruslan

Ruslan,

Thanks for your offer of suggestion.

I turned off Windows Defender, I deleted and reloaded the drivers, I deleted and reloaded Keil 5.20 and it still does not work. Everything else are working fine. So I am going to delete Keil 5.20 and forget about it. Hope it won't come back again.

Good; I'm glad it helped.