MSP-FET: Error codes while programming M430F147

Hi Ivaylo,

Welcome to the E2E Forums. 

Are you restarting the debugger (POR) during your second and third programming attempts which sometimes work? Also, these are new devices or have your programmed them before? 

My first thought here would be that this is a hardware connection issue, but if you are able to reprogram without any adjustment that seems less likely. 

Best Regards,
Brandon Fisher

Hello Brandon,

Thank you for the suggestion! My initial concern was a connection issue, too. But unfortunately I do not make any changes to the programming procedures. The boards are programmed for the very first time and they are connected to a testing rig, after the unsuccessful tries the boards are NOT removed from the rig, I just start the programming a second or third time and it works. 

If you can help me out that would be tremendously helpful!

Best Regards,

Ivaylo Hristov

Hi Ivaylo, 

This sounds like a custom board, is that right? Do some boards have this issue and not others, or is it every board which has this problem? 

You could try performing this programming using another tool such as CCS, or MSP-Flasher, just to eliminate Uniflash as the possible cause of this issue. 

Best Regards,
Brandon Fisher

Hello Brandon,

That is correct, the boards are custom made. 

Some boards have the issue, some get programmed from the first try. It is a "random" occurrence, just like if the board gets programmed from the second, third or fourth time. We have not found any issue with the boards that are unable to program from the first time.

We've tried using MSP-Flasher also, the issue is the same, although I do not remember if we got any error codes while programming or just the occasional "Unable to flash device".

Best Regards,

Ivaylo Hristov

Ivaylo,

Ivaylo Hristov said:

Some boards have the issue, some get programmed from the first try. It is a "random" occurrence, just like if the board gets programmed from the second, third or fourth time. We have not found any issue with the boards that are unable to program from the first time.

Have you tried reprogramming one of the boards that showed this issue before? I'm interested to know if you did, would you see the same issue, would it reprogram just fine, or if it was unpredictable. 

Ivaylo Hristov said:

We've tried using MSP-Flasher also, the issue is the same, although I do not remember if we got any error codes while programming or just the occasional "Unable to flash device".

Okay that's a good test. With MSP-Flasher were you ever able to program a board fully? 

Also, can you try building and flashing one of our example projects for MSP430F147?

Are you using 2-wire or 4-wire for your JTAG Connection? 

Best Regards,
Brandon Fisher

Hello Brandon,

I tried reprogramming some boards that got an issue, the problem seems to be just as random, sometimes the error code shows up, sometimes it does not. A board that did not show the problem in the first programming acts the same, with the second reprogramming the error code shows up sometimes.

With the MSP-Flasher we were able to finish the programming of the boards just as when using Uniflash. For the first batch of boards we used exclusively MSP-Flasher to flash the software.

4-wire connection is used for the JTAG.

Best Regards,

Ivaylo Hristov

Hi Ivaylo,

Is all of this true whether you are flashing your firmware or another piece of firmware like one of our examples?

Best Regards,
Brandon Fisher