MSP-GANG Devices programmed in 2-wire (Spy-Bi-Wire) mode not run after programming.

Just a guess: in SBW mode, the RST pin is reconfigured to SBW function. So pulling it down won't reset and therefore nor restart the MSP. SBW operation and hardware reset are mutually exclusive.

There may be means to do a software-reset by soem final JTAG commands. Some MSPs even offer a software-controlled BOR by a control bit.

Actually this works finel in the Elprotronic's GangPro430 or FET-PRo430(Lite),
I thought the new version of MSP-GANG has overcome such limitaion and has the option
for "finish action"..
So as it is not working..I believe it is a bug in MSP-GANG GUI.

Best Regards
paddu

Hi Paddu,

How does the customer connect their board to the MSP-GANG? Do they use the included JTAG connector cables, or do they use something else? Do they have a long line between the RST pin of the MSP and the MSP-GANG? What pull-down capacitor and Pull-up resistor values do they use on RST?

Regards,

Katie

Hi Katie,

Thank you!

They have designed the JTAG circuit as per TI's recommended circuit.
Moreover you can reproduce this issue easily with TI's target boards like MSP430 LauncPad or
SPW only target boards.

In case of Launchpad, disconnect the USB and connect the VCC,GND,TEST/SBWTCK, RST/SBWTDIO
from a standard JTAG connector cable from MSP-GANG.
I tried to program the device(MSP430G2452) with a simple LED blink application(.txt),
the programming is successful but the target doesn't restart after programming.
(note:connect the power supply externally)

I have also tried with other target boards like MSP430F2013 Touch Demo board and the
result was same. With the external power supply target doesn't restart after programming.

But when tried with MSP430F5xx target boards it worked fine,
so I think this issue is only in case of G/F2xx series.

Best Regards.
Paddu.

Hi Paddu,

I'm currently looking into this. I was going to recommend a workaround of using the Finish action Vcc On/Off instead, but it sounds like that won't work since you are externally powering the board.

I've been able to reproduce your issue on an MSP-TS430PW28A target board with the jumpers set to SBW and connecting just Vcc/GND/RST/TEST using jumper wires. However, if I use the JTAG cable provided and the JTAG header, then the part DOES reset and toggle the LED - very interesting. I will continue to investigate with our MSP-GANG team and see if we can determine the cause of this different behavior.

Regards,

Katie

Hi Paddu,

An update:

This seemed to work for me on my setup - try connecting the TEST pin of your MSP430 target (launchpad, etc) to the MSP-GANG JTAG header pin 8 TEST. This is instead of pin 7 TCK (TCK would be the normal connection for SBW without fuse blow from www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slau278 figure 2-2 footnote C). Or try connecting both pin 7 and 8 with the resistor R2 in-between as seen in www.ti.com/lit/pdf/slau278 figure 2-2 if you need to be able to blow the fuse. When I connected to pin 8 instead, then the programming and the resetting worked as expected. Please confirm if this fixes it on your end as well. 

I'm not sure of root cause yet because this is not the standard connection for SBW when I look at the diagram - I'm working to investigate root cause with the MSP-GANG team and will let you know the results - but hopefully this might be able to get you up and running for now.

Regards,
Katie

Hi Katie,

Thank you for the solution.
It works when TEST(8) pin is connected instead of TCK(7).
But as you know it is recommended to connect TCK pin.
Note:in case of MSP-FET430 it works only with TCK pin.

Please let me know what could be the cause of this issue.

Regards.
Paddu

Hi Katie

I know this is an old thread, but I just came across something similar to Paddu and I was wondering whether you have determined the root cause or any other misbehaviour?

What we've learned in using the MSP-GANG on a MSP430F2001, is that it is of course important to set the finish actions to make it reset the processor after programming. This should be clearer, maybe with a prompt in the GUI, since I think it is fair to say that one expects a normal programming behaviour to end by making the application/MCU run.

Besides this, we found that we could only get the reset finish action to work with the MSP-GANG FW version 1.1.3.0.

Before upgrading, running FW version 1.1.1.0, we experienced that the chip was not reset correctly, despite it being enabled in "Finish actions".

BR

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Sorry that I had not updated this thread! After I filed the issue mentioned earlier in the thread as a bug, it was fixed in newer FW versions.

What happened before is that along with RST only the TEST pin (on the MSP-GANG header) was being controlled when doing the finish action. While this is an allowed optional SBW connection on the MSP-GANG (unlike the MSP-FET430UIF), it is not the typical one for SBW (usually for SBW you connect the TCK pin from the MSP-GANG to the TEST/SBWTCK pin on the MSP430). So if you had SBW connected the normal way, the finish action wouldn't really take effect - RST would go low, but because both TEST/SBWTCK and RST/SBWTDIO on the MSP430 need to be used together to control what mode you are in (JTAG, SBW, BSL, or main application), the MSP-GANG wasn't properly handling this. It was fixed in the newer firmware versions, thanks to this forum thread!

Thanks for the feedback about needing to make the Finish Action more prominent in the user's guide - this is a good suggestion.

Regards,

Katie

Thanks Katie for the clarifying answer.

We are in a situation where we have shipped several MSP-GANGs, without catching this error, so we are in big trouble.

But as I interpret your answer to me as well as you and Paddu's discussion, it should be possible for us to use the MSP-GANG with the old firmware version (1.1.1.0)? It just requires us to rewire the jig's connections to the MSP-GANG.

Is it correct to deduct that in version 1.1.1.0 we need to connect the TEST output of the GANG's to the MSP430's TEST/SBWTCK pin?

Apart from the more user friendly Finish Action part, could you please point me to a Release Log for the MSP-GANG's fw updates? AFAIK there is no way to see such documentation as well as a list of old releases, is that correct?

Regards

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

If it's not possible to update the firmware in the MSP-GANG, then yes you should be able to use the older version if you just change the connection to the GANG header as you described, as this was the case working with the old version. This probably only matters if you are using a third party for your programming and they are using the MSP-GANG standalone with images you have already loaded into GANGs that you shipped them (or something like that). If whoever is doing the programming can just plug in the MSP-GANG to a PC and download the latest MSP-GANG software from the website, then it would be possible to update the firmware in the MSP-GANG to the latest version and the connection change would not be needed. So it just depends on whichever way is easier for your particular situation (feel free to send me a private message by clicking on my profile if you'd prefer to discuss privately).

Thomas Bowley said:

Apart from the more user friendly Finish Action part, could you please point me to a Release Log for the MSP-GANG's fw updates? AFAIK there is no way to see such documentation as well as a list of old releases, is that correct?

If you have installed the MSP-GANG software: http://software-dl.ti.com/msp430/msp430_public_sw/mcu/msp430/MSP_GANG/latest/index_FDS.html

The software by default installs in C:\Program Files (x86)\Texas Instruments\MSP-GANG. In your MSP-GANG directory you'll find a Docs folder that contains an html file for the Release notes (Release-Notes-MSP-GANG.htm). Open this file, and select "New Features and Bugfixes" and you'll see a version history of all the firmware updates. You can see that this particular issue (labeled bug 46 in the release notes) was fixed in version 1.1.3.0. At the bottom of the software download page here, there are also links to download the older versions of the software: http://software-dl.ti.com/msp430/msp430_public_sw/mcu/msp430/MSP_GANG/latest/index_FDS.html

Regards,

Katie

Hi Katie

I guess both approaches to fixing the in-field updates are valid for us, now we just need to figure out which is easier in our particular situation.

Thank you for pointing out the local repo of release notes, I had missed any information where it was.

Regards,

Thomas

Hi Katie, Hi all

I 'm writing on this thread because I have quite similar problems with a MSP430F5419A connected via SBW. After the device is programmed I need to power off/on my board several times for other purposes. The programmer is still connected to the board.

The problem is that after power on the device sometimes doesn't boot.

I'm currently using msp-gang dll V1.0.3.0. I tried both connecting methods (with resistor to TCK pin and without), it happened with both.

Is this problem already known and fixed within the newest version?

Br

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

Looking into the release notes for the MSP-GANG, it looks like the bug mentioned earlier in this thread was fixed in MSP-GANG revision 1.1.3.0 and newer. The version you mentioned (1.0.3.0) is very old, and I would recommend upgrading to the latest firmware (1.1.6.0 right now), and seeing if this resolves your issue. If it does not, please post back with some more detailed information on your exact hardware setup and MSP-GANG finish action settings, etc and what happens / how to reproduce the issue.

Regards,

Katie