CCS/MSP-EXP430G2: Do I need an intermediate connection?

Hey Matthew,

No, you don't need a seperate programmer for any of the launchpads.  These boards have the programmer/debugger built on.  It's the top half of the board labeled Emulation, seen here:

I have a few more questions on how you're seeing this message:

1. Which exact Launchpad do you have?  The MSP-EXP430G2 or the MSP-EXP430G2ET?    
2. Is the board plugged into the PC and have a green Power LED that's on?  
3. Are you using Code Composer to try and program the Launchpad, or something else?  

Thanks,

JD

 

Thanks for the response.

I'm using the MSP-EXP430G2
I'm connecting the board to the PC with the supplied USB cable and the Green light comes on when I connect it.
I'm using Code Composer V6.1.

A couple of other things I did was to look in device manager and the USB connection comes and goes as the device is plugged and unplugged, which seems to indicate it is doing something. Then if I keep the device manager open for a few moments a caution indicator (Yellow Triangle with !) pops up next to the device as if its intermittently losing connection.

Before I tried my new code the device was running through the prepackaged Blinking Led and Temp Sensor programs.

Thanks again for the help.

Hey Matthew,

Is the device not running through the out of the box code now?  

Maybe the issue is your CCS project settings.  Where did you get this new project?  

Let's try a TI provided project.  Import some demo code or another example for the G2 Launchpad can be found in resource explorer here:

I just imported the out-of-the-box software to CCS Cloud and was able to flash from my browser.  Can you try that?  

Let us know how that goes.  

Thanks,

JD

That's a good point. I wasn't before, but then I noticed the startup guide has a configuration for HW UART on the J3. I have since arranged the jumpers in that configuration, but that did not seem to help.

Okay, I plugged the Launchpad into my USB and the code I was attempting to build the other day was on there, fired up immediately, and seemed to be working fine with the Ultrasonic Sensor. That was odd.

Then I tried this Out of the Box code and still had the No USB FET message. I took the G2553 chip out of the Launchpad and reinstalled it after about 45 seconds. Then I retried the Build Project and the CCS Cloud seemed like it was moving forward, I don't recall the exact message, but it was something to the extent of being successful and a reading of 88 MB of data used. Then, when I try to build again (without unplugging) I get the No USB message again. I tried this a few times and it seems like when I take the chip out for a few moments something is resetting and the build process works intermittently. Maybe I just need to do some further reading and find some more tutorials. What is the proper procedure to Code, Build, Debug, and Run. I assume I'm missing a critical step / order of events in there since there is an intermittent problem.

Hey Matthew,

Again, I agree with Bruce. There are 2 different main steps here. 1. connecting and recognizing the programmer and 2. Programmer connecting and flashing the target device.

You don't need to be connected to the device to be able to talk to the programmer. If you are able to talk to just the programmer and try to flash the device, you'll see a "unable to connect to MSPxxxxx Target Device" type error message.

Take Bruce's suggestion of removing all the jumpers to isolate the programmer side of the board and try a different USB cable and a different USB port on your computer. If you're using a USB hub or extender, also try connecting straight to the PC.

If that doesn't work, my next guess is either a software/driver issue or something wrong with the launchpad. Both of those issues would be quite rare.

Run these tests and let us know if that makes the connection to the programmer more stable.

Thanks,
JD