MSP-FET430U64F: I am currently using MSP-FET430UIF and the MSP-FET Flash Emulation Tool

Hi Ray,

Can you capture the error (error codes, messages, etc.) and confirm that the MSP-FET and MSP430 connections match Figure 2-1. "Signal Connections for 4-Wire JTAG Communication" in the hardware tools user's guide?

Thanks,

Urica Wang

Hi Urica,

Good Day. Please see below the response of our customer to your reply. Thank you very much.

I am using the connector that comes with the programmers in the box, so the connections on that are correct. The header on our board is also connected correctly as programming was successful a couple of months ago using the MSP-FET430UIF programmer but now the programming is unsuccessful. In the next messages I will send screenshots of the error messages I get with the different programmers.

Using the new MSP-FET Flash Emulation Tool I immediately get an error on the communication initialization step and a pop up that the Microcontroller is not responding when I try to execute the "Verify Security Fuse" step by itself.

Using the MSP-FET430UIF programmer the first couple of steps execute with no error but when I get to the "Write flash" step I constantly get address errors. On the attached images you can see I tried going through the procedure automatically and it gave me an error on address 0x9000. When I tried the procedure step by step I got an error on address 0xA800. Other addresses that I sometimes get an error on are 0x8000, 0x8800 and 0xA000.

Best Regards,

Ray Vincent

Hi Ray,

Thanks for capturing the errors. I want to confirm a few things:

1. The MSP-FET430U64F (purple PCB) only supports the FR6972 FRAM device. Since the MSP-FET430UIF is able to communicate with the F147 device, am I correct in assuming that this is not the target board you're using?

2. You mention that a few months ago, the customer was able to successfully program the device using the MSP-FET430UIF programmer. Do they recall what has changed since then i.e. driver updates, changes to the hardware setup, etc.? Is this with the same MSP-FET430UIF programmer?

Can the customer try programming with external power?

Thanks,

Urica Wang

Hi Urica,

Good Day. Please se below the response of our customer to your reply. Thank you very much.

1. Yes I am not using the MSP-FET430U64F as a target board, I have a custom made board by our customer which uses the MSP430F147 chip and I am trying to program it.

2. Yes something had changed. We had done some different functional tests to the board. After some trial and error I tried changing the chip of a finished and already programmed board (with a burned fuse) with a new chip and I was able to program it both using the MSP-FET430UIF and the MSP-FET Emulation Tool. Turns out that after one of the tests our board ended up being damaged and that was causing the problem with programming the microcontrollers.

I have another question to ask now, as I am using the "FET-Pro430" software to upload programs to my controllers but the software is paid and I am currently using the trial version. Do you have any free software that goes with the product which I can use to program the microcontrollers with? The program I have to upload is a .txt file in hex format.

Best Regards,

Ray Vincent

Hi Urica,

Good Day. Please see below the another query of the customer. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for the recommendation! I tried the recommended software and the programming was successful for what I can see at the moment. The only thing is that I did not see the option to burn the fuse after programming, is there an available option for that and if yes - where can I find it?

Best Regards,

Ray Vincent

Hi Urica,

Good Day. Please see below another query from the customer. Thank you very much.

Is there a way to make this option activate automatically after an upload of the program is finished, or must I do it manually every time?
Also, when I try to erase the flash memory, which option should I pick - only main memory, main and information memory, or main, information and protected information memory?

Best Regards,

Ray Vincent

Hi Ray,

For erasing the flash memory, it depends on what you want to do. For example, main memory typically stores program code/constant data values, and information memory typically stores calibration data/serial numbers/etc. You can refer to the flash memory characteristics guide and the device user guide for more details.

You may want to consider going back to Elprotronics if doing production programming as mentioned in this thread, but this also may be supported via Uniflash command line. You can refer to the quick start guide here.

Thanks,

Urica Wang