MSP-EXP430FR5994: MSPFR5994 Out of Box GUI program not working

Actually, the GUI program seems thoroughly broken.

The Live Temp mode stops working anyway if you try SD Card log mode or FRAM log mode - the COM port will keep disconnecting from then on. So the two modes are not working.

Hi Peter,

many thanks for the additional information. I'll check with the responsible colleagues, whether they are aware of these issues and come back to you.

Many thanks.

Best regards

Peter

Hi Peter,

I have run the GUI demo on my end and I am seeing the same behavior as you. I have reached out to our SW team to help resolve the issue. I will give updates later this week.

Thanks!

-Mitch

Hey Peter,

The behavior we are seeing is actually expected. 

When entering FRAM Log Mode or SDCard Log Mode in the OOB demo, it is the expected behavior for the GUI to automatically disconnect from the serial port as described in the LaunchPad User’s Guide below. This is mainly because the demo allows users to physically disconnect the LaunchPad’s USB power and continue data logging while being powered using the supercap.

 So after pressing pushbutton S2 to exit the FRAM/SDCard logging modes, you will have to reopen the serial port and click transfer FRAM/SDCard data to view the logged data.

I have tested this on my end and everything is working as described in the user's guide. 

Thanks!

-Mitch

Hi Mitch, thank you for this information.

What confused me was that it did not always work - taking the same steps (connect->open port), sometimes the program got stuck at "Running...", sometimes it kept closing the port after opening it. I have tried various steps a couple of dozen times and I can confirm that the application bugs if you disconnect the LaunchPad from the USB while the GUI application is opened, even if you close the port and click Disconnect beforehand. Resetting the LaunchPad with button S3 while the program is open has the same effect. To run the application correctly again, the user must close it and reopen it.

However, I am still not able to log the data using the SD card - I have tried two different SD cards (128GB and 1GB size). The program enters the mode ok, with 3 red LED blips, but the green LED does not light up at all, showing that no data is being written. Pressing button S2 does not do anything either and the GUI program tells me that no data is available and I should start logging some first.

Furthermore, I tried running the source code of the GUI program in CCS. I hardcoded mode = SDCARD_LOG_MODE and the program hangs on line 453 SDCardLogMode.c ("//Enter LPM3. Delay for Ref to settle."). Do you know what could be wrong?

I also tried running just the storeTimeStampSDCard() function in isolation. The SD card is detected but SDCardLib_getDirectory(...) and SDCardLib_createDirectory(...) functions do not execute successfully. The code after 

if (rc != FR_OK && rc != FR_EXIST) { ... } 

executes because rc is equal to either FR_INVALID_OBJECT, FR_NO_FILESYSTEM and FR_NOT_READY.

Cheers

Hi Peter,

are you using the original SD card, which came with the kit? Does the whole setup with the original SD card work when you reload the original image?

Best regards

Peter

Hi Peter,

There was no SD card included in the kit - I bought it from Farnell, e.g. https://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/msp-exp430fr5994/dev-board-msp430-16bit-mcu/dp/2664588

Does the launchpad only work with specific SD cards?

Peter

Hi Peter,

I need to check, whether there shouldn't have been one included in the kit. While not being an expert on SD cards, but I know there are quite some differences, which can cause issues when trying to use them. I'll check with the colleagues, who have generated this.

Best regards

Peter

Hi Peter,

The OOB demo was tested with several SD Cards and we are not aware of any issues; however, here are a couple of things that we can try:

1. First of all, I think it would be better to start with the default OOB code. It seems to work fine with our setup and default SD card, so I think it would be good to remove variables.

BTW, I'm not entirely sure why you got compiling issues with the default code since we are not seeing the same problem.

Did you download the code from this link? Are you using the Windows version or some other OS?

2. We can try enabling the pull-up on SOMI line.

We are aware of this page which has the following comment:

Although the OOB didn't seem to have problems, we are aware of other SD Card implementations where this was an issue. So, it would be good to try the following code:

3. It might be good to try populating R7 and R5.

Section 2.2.5.1 in the Launchpad User's Guide (SLAU678) has the following note:

4. And just to make sure, are the SD Cards initialized for FAT FS? Can you read them in Windows?

Regards,

Luis R