How to upgrade firmware through UART of MSP430 (not bootstrap loader)?

These are some points to consider.

1) Locate your UART code in a flash segment that will not be erased/written. If you are programming in "C", the initialization routines must be located there as well. You need to tell the linker how to locate library functions.

2) Determine which flash segments will need to be erased. Remeber flash can only be wriiten to after it has been erased.

3) If your new firmware is stored in a "HEX" file (TI, Intel, Motorola) it will contain location information for the program / data that it contains. This makes storing your program in flash, easier.

4)The interrupt vector table cannot re-located. If you plan on using interrupts you must set their vectors if that segment has been erased.

It is not a daunting task, but does require a lot of attention to detail.

I did it for a MSP2402, but very hard and I recommend you upgrade to a msp430 with BSL.

How I did it:
100% assembler code put in INFO, last 4 bytes read/resaved to save calibration data.
Use NMI as a bit-banged 9600 UART input.
One password byte to get in.
Mass erase all Flash, RESET and NMI vectors written back asap.
CheckSum, that blinks a LED 8 times if bad check.
Will survive a bad transfer, for another try.

Here is half of the code, if you want the rest get back to me for a licensing deal.

; ******************** bootstrap Loader *************************    
#ifdef BSL
            ORG     01000h                    ; Start of INFO_Memory
NMI_ISR     mov.b   #8,R5                     ; 1 start bit + 8 bits 
            mov.b   #13,R6                    ; 104 cycles /2
baudloop    dec.b   R6                        ; 1 cycle
            jnz     baudloop                  ; 2 cycles
            mov.b   #27,R6                    ; 81 cycles + overhead = 104 cycles (9600 baud @1mhz)
            bit.b   #NMIIFG,&IFG1             ; is the IRQ flag set?
            bic.b   #NMIIFG,&IFG1             ; clear NMI flag in both cases (z is not affected)           
            jz      nobitchange               ; jump if z=1, bit = 0
            xor.w   #0x3300+WDTNMIES,&WDTCTL  ; xor edge, also turn 0x69 in to 0x5a
            sub.b   #2,R6                     ; above insruction is 5 and myself 1, so run loop 25
nobitchange bit.w   #WDTNMIES,&WDTCTL         ; Is falling edge selected?, set C
            rrc.b   R10
            dec.b   r5
            jc      baudloop                  ; count from 8 to 0 = 9bits   
            tst.b   R10                       ; was last bit set?
            jn      keepedge                  ; if so keep falling edge
            xor.w   #0x3300+WDTNMIES,&WDTCTL  ; xor edge, also turn 0x69 in to 0x5a
keepedge    bit.b   #1<<1,&P1OUT              ; P1.1 blue led off?
            jnz     RxData
            cmp.b   #0x5d,R10                 ; password  
            jne     NMI_exit 
            bic.b   #WDTIE,&IE1               ; disable WDT interrupt
            mov.w   #0xEC00,R8                ; Firmware location
            clr.b   R9                        ; checksum accumlator

See SLAA341 for some ideas.

Maybe you discarded these posts too early. Some of them (more than a few) talk about own bootstrap loader, where the current firmware receives a new image and then replaces itself.

However, BSL doesn't mean needing a programmer. I guess you misinterpreted this.

The built-in BSL receives a new firmware through serial transfer. It requires a working serial connection (including RTS and DTR) connected to RST, TEST and two timer pins of the MSP (it does not use a hardware UART, but if you already have an UART connection in your design, you may connect RX and TX to both pins, the hardware UART and the timer pins). It allows reprogramming the MSP using serial commands. This is most likely sufficient for you.

There's an appnote about this. And quite some forum threads.

Hi Zrno Soli,

Thank you very much. Your suggestion link, http://forum.43oh.com/topic/3661-1k-serial-gdb-bootloader, is the answer for me.  

Sunglin.

Hi Sunglin,

This link  http://forum.43oh.com/topic/3661-1k-serial-gdb-bootloader does not work anymore. Do you know where can I find the information?

Thanks

Ian