TM4C1294KCPDT: Problem with USB interface selection under the LM Flash Programmer available interfaces

Hi Erez,

 Can you please check a few things?

1. I suppose you are trying to use the USB DFU mode, correct? Do you see Stellaris Device Firmware Upgrade in your Windows Device Manager?

2. Is your flash first erased before trying to select the USB DFU mode? You need to have the flash erased first before the "Tiva Device Firmware Update" appears in the LM flash programmer.

3. Do you have a TM4C129 LaunchPad that you can try on the same PC? Does it work?

4. Can you try your custom board on another PC? Does it work?

Can you please provide a screenshot of the LM flash programmer where you say the option to select USB is not available?

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

- We can stop at #1 below – as I don’t see the Stellaris rows at all …
- I guess this can explain it and MUST be fixed first.

How / where can I get it and how to set it there properly ?


As for your request - this is the LM FLASH PROGRAMMER screen without the USB DFU option:

Hi Erez,

This is the first time I have seen the "USB DFU" option not available in the pulldown menu. You mentioned that you already uninstalled and reinstalled the LM flash programmer to no avail. Can you please first tell me if you have the same problem in another Windows PC?

One more thing for you to try. I understand that you do not see the "USB DFU" in the pulldown menu. Can you instead of selecting from the menu, try to type usb in the selection field. If I simply type "i" it will make the ICDI interface appear. If I type "r" it will make the Red Probe appear. If I type "u" it will make the USB DFU appear. I don't know how it will behave on your side?

Hi Charles,

I'm happy to be in the front of innovation in this respect :-) - discovering something you get to know for first time ...

I've tried the shortcut you are suggesting ... indeed it works for I , E and R - but for no use if I type U ... i.e the USB DFU does'nt exist ...

The funny thing is that it all worked properly last time used - about 6 weeks ago ....

- How can I get the Device drivers you were suggesting before ?

Hi Erez,
DFU is standardized so windows drivers should be good to go. If the Windows does not recognize an erased-MCU as a Device Firmware Upgrade then something is perhaps wrong with the MCU. Again, you have not yet told me if you have another board that you can try on the same Windows machine and if it works or not. Can you please report your result with another board? This way we can rule out if the Windows is somehow messed up in its drivers.

One more thing is if you can run any TivaWare USB examples on this problem board? This way we can also rule out if the hardware USB interface (i.e. Micro-B connector) is working properly or not.

Hi  Charles,

Please Let me give you some more details , to allow you proceed with the analysis :

1. The same MCU board with the same PC are functioning properly over the USB connection when files are transferred from the MCU board to the PC, so connectivity and proper USB functionality are confirmed at the PC USB physical level. The problem is related to the LM Flash Programmer utility.

2. The problem seems to be irrelevant to any MCU board as it shows up once you install and operate the LM Flash Programmer right after it is installed, when yet there is nothing connected to this PC. - It is as simple as it sounds - you open the LM Configuration screen and under the Interface box there is no USB option to select ...( but you can see all others)

3. Yesterday I've installed the same build 1613 over another PC with WIN 10 Pro - and I got the same identical result.

4. In my view no doubt it is something related to the way WIN 10 USB required driver and the specific USB DFU driver in the LM 1613 build are interacting.

5. If you have an access to the LM Flash Programmer source code , this is where I would go and check.

6. One more suggestion - try it for yourself -  If you can get an updated Win10 Pro based PC and reproduce the problem. It is deterministic and very easy to see.

All the best,

Erez

  

Hello Erez,

Can you look under "Other Devices" in your Device Manager and see if anything relating to Debug Interfaces appears?

Hi Ralph,

There is no "Other Devices" in my  Device Manager.... ( see attached above)

In addition there is nothing like Stellaris  or any other Debug staff , when looking deeper in the various items of the Device Manager.

Tnx, Erez

In addition, in the installed drivers I could see this  list above .

Are these the proper drivers ?

Hello Erez,

You seem to have a couple more Sterllaris related drivers than I do. Looking at the dates, I wonder if the extras were older drivers, as we did have updated drivers for Windows 10 released as a patch outside of TivaWare. The download for that is: software-dl.ti.com/.../SW-TM4C-2.1.4.178.PATCH-1.0.zip

Looking at your device manager screenshot, what shows up under Texas Instruments Debug Probes, and Universal Serial Bus controllers?

Hi Ralph,

The Debug probes are the XDS100 JTAG Probe drivers.

Please see attached

Hi Ralph ,

I did this WIN 10 drivers update as you've suggested , after downloading the patch.
I've restarted Windows as well as uninstall and reinstall LM build 1613 ... Still we are at the same situation :
- There is no USB option on the Interface box of the LM Configuration screen ....

Recalling what you say about other drivers - what I can see in the list of drivers installed are the Stellaris from 8/3/2012 .... Do you have newer ones ? Are these at all relevant ?

- BTW, just for my understanding, Could you please tell when these "windows _driver" elements which I have replaced are coming into action ? - I didn't see any change in the Device Manager .... neither any command line pointing to the TivaWare directory....
- looks to me as something is still missing.

Anyway, appreciate your support, but we're still with the problem.

Tnx, Erez

Hello Erez,

I think I may have omitted an important step when mentioning the patch drivers. The new drivers have to be manually installed, so you'd need to find the Tiva device in your device manager to install them manually via the update driver option and navigating to the patch folder.

Reading through your original post again yesterday, I saw that you mentioned the Windows 10 update that was pushed. It looks like my work PC doesn't have it quite yet (slated to arrive this week still), but I wonder if that perhaps could be the case as a very brief test last night with a LaunchPad on my Win 10 Home PC showed no USB port. Unfortunately I haven't been able to dig into that further, but I will try to do so soon. I'd hope it's not because of that Win 10 update though... it would certainly be a first time that an update like that would affect USB drivers to my knowledge (usually it's whole OS switches, like 7 -> 10, that cause such problems).

By the way, are you using XDS100 for the programming then? If so, do you have a LaunchPad you can try just to see if the issue related to the XDS100 specifically? I don't know if I have an XDS100 ready available, but I have an XDS200 which I will test out as well on both PC's to see if I can get to a point of replicating your issue.

Hi Ralph,

I'm not quite following what you say below :

"The new drivers have to be manually installed, so you'd need to find the Tiva device in your device manager to install them manually via the update driver option and navigating to the patch folder."

- First , I don't see any Tiva device in my Device Manager  ( I've sent it earlier in this thread ... there is no Tiva there )

- Second, How to add the Tiva there manually ?  - I thought that if this is needed then it has to be there from the first place, at the time I've installed TivaWare , about six months ago ... 

- Third , as a "wild guess" - while trying to "force" a manual  "update" over one of the existing  Generic USB Hub devices , which is already in the list , Windows refused to accept it ....

last point, As per the XDS100 - I'm using it as a JTAG probe, so I'm not sure what this has  to do with the LM Flash Programmer.   

Of course I'm able to download SW to the target board in this way, but this is via a different procedure - so as I've just said , I'm not sure how much is it relevant to the LM Flash programmer on discussion.   

Tnx, Erez  

Hello Erez,

I have the latest Windows 10 update on my work PC but so far it's been business as usual for me in regards to the USB DFU on our TM4C LaunchPad's. I think I know why it didn't show up right on my Win 10 home PC but will need to verify that tonight.

Tiva devices will sometimes show up in device manager under the Universal Serial Bus controller section as a generic USB device, and often that would result in them also having a Windows warning marker on them that means they aren't fully installed.

For the moment, let's move forward and assume Windows 10 and it's drivers are fine. If there seems to be reason to believe otherwise, we can circle back.

The USB DFU option is for programming via the bootloader, so with that in mind, are the boards you are connecting Flash erased and would trigger the ROM bootloader? Or are they using a custom USB bootloader you can trigger?

Also sorry about the XDS100 questions, my mind derailed slightly thinking it could be related, but as we are talking about USB DFU, that obviously isn't the case.

Erez Margalit said:

I'm not sure what happened and why it is working now

As a sailor  -  if our sailboat,  "Sprang such a leak"  -  and then the leak (mysteriously) "self-healed"  -  we'd not venture (too far)  from  "shore."

WIN7 appears to escape (most) such issues.       Many posts here report,  "discomfort"  under  WIN10.    (post here, "breaks new ground.")

Might the "wedding"  (TM4C drivers and WIN10)  prove (somewhat),  "Less than true-love" ...  instead,  "shot-gun induced?"

:-)

Indeed, My first verification that the problem is not with my target was to check it over an older PC with WIN 7, and there everything was just fine.

- However, I expect debug and development tools to keep updating, at least to be aligned with the major OS in the market.

Latest update for the LM Flash Programmer is from 2014  .....WIN 10 showed up more than one year later, and we are now almost 4 years from the last update of the LM Flash programmer, so maybe it is time for an update.

 

Erez Margalit said:

... we are now almost 4 years from the last update ...

Your "calmness" (and persistence) - when the "skies darken and wind howls" - is admired.     Still - I'd,  "Keep the shore-line in clear sight."

May it be noted that while,  "Attention to such improved WIN10 accommodation"  (appears)  bit lacking - - time/effort  (proved available) to, "Kill, exile & discard" forum's (very much valued), "LIKE" button!"

I had the same problem on Win10 and solved it using the following methods:

• Right Click - > Properties
• Compatibility -> Check Compatibility Mode
• Select Windows 7, Hit Ok.
• Launch Program (Or simply plug into USB if no firmware is loaded)
• DFU should now be an option

I hope this is helpful to anyone with this issue.