Protecting FLASH from Debugger

Zack Bomsta

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F2234

Hi,

I am trying to save data to FLASH on the MSP430F2234 and then read it in CCSv5 after power has been cut and restored to the MCU and the program has been reloaded. The debugger seems to wipe the memory clean every time it loads the program. Is there a way to stop the debugger from erasing flash upon loading the program? If I remember correctly, there is a setting in CCS that will force the debugger to forgo erasing all of flash, but I can't seem to find it. Can anyone help me here?

Thanks,

over 11 years ago

0 Jens-Michael Gross over 11 years ago

Guru 227245 points

Zack Bomsta said:
The debugger seems to wipe the memory clean every time it loads the program.

Indeed. The solution is to not load the program (it's already there, isn't it?) when starting the debugger. There's a setting for that.

Alternatively, the free Elprotronic software can directly read specific locations from MSp memory into a file. Or program a new firmware without a mass erase. But this is slow.

0 Zack Bomsta over 11 years ago in reply to Jens-Michael Gross

Intellectual 470 points

Thanks for the reply!

Jens-Michael Gross said:
The solution is to not load the program (it's already there, isn't it?) when starting the debugger. There's a setting for that.

Do you know where to access that setting?

0 Jens-Michael Gross over 11 years ago in reply to Zack Bomsta

Guru 227245 points

Zack Bomsta said:
Do you know where to access that setting?

I use MSPGCC. I only know that it exists (has been mentioned a few times in other threads by CCS and IAR users) but I don't knwo the location or the exact namign of this option.

0 Zack Bomsta over 11 years ago in reply to Jens-Michael Gross

Intellectual 470 points

I think I found it... Run->Debug Configurations... Under the program tab at the top there is an option to "Load program" or "Load symbols only." I believe that by selecting the latter option, the program will not be loaded into flash, and the current flash memory will be preserved. Does that sound right?

0 Jens-Michael Gross over 11 years ago in reply to Zack Bomsta

Guru 227245 points

Sounds good. You may try on an empoty MSP. If the debuger starts and the MSP is still empty...

**Attention** This is a public forum

MSP low-power microcontrollers

MSP low-power microcontroller forum

Protecting FLASH from Debugger