BQ79731-Q1: BQ79731 GUI detects BQ7971x instead of BQ7973x

Alexandru Dalin Dragoi

Part Number: BQ79731-Q1
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: BQ79616, USB2ANY

Hello TI Team,

I’m working with the BMS060 EVM (BQ79731‑Q1) and followed all GUI installation steps from the “BQ79616‑Q1 and BQ75614‑Q1 GUI User’s Guide – SLUUC36, December 2020.”
However, after waking up the board and running the auto‑address function in the GUI, the device is detected as “BQ7971x”, and several registers shown differ from those in the BQ79731 datasheet. All jumpers on the EVM are placed according to the EVM documentation.

My setup: PC → USB2ANY → EVM (UART).

Additional context:
A few months ago the EVM was detected correctly. Since then, I installed BQAutoEval 1.0.4 to work with a BQ79600 EVM‑030. After this installation, the auto‑address function stopped recognizing the correct IC. I’m currently using GUI Composer 11.2.0 (included in the developer package), not version 7.4.0 as stated in the datasheet, and USB2ANY Firmware was updated to 3.1.1.14.

Things I have already tried:

Completely uninstalling all TI‑related software
Reinstalling and updating everything following the SLUUC36 guide
Keeping all tools installed except BQAutoEval 1.0.4

Thank you!

2 months ago

0 Robert England 2 months ago

TI__Intellectual 880 points

Hello Alexandru,

Please use the GUI tool and user guide found here:
https://www.ti.com/secureresources/BQ7973X-Q1-DESIGN#downloads

Search for:

BQ797XX 2.0.4 installer win
BQ7973x-Q1 GUI User's Guide

Regards,

Robert

+1 Alexandru Dalin Dragoi 2 months ago in reply to Robert England

Prodigy 30 points

Hello Robert,

I followed the exact steps described in both the BQ7973x‑Q1 GUI User’s Guide and the EVM datasheet, but the GUI kept detecting the board as a “BQ7971x.”
I also tried copying the entire contents of the “install_image_BQ797XX” folder into C:\Users\MyUser\guicomposer\runtime\gcruntime.v11\BQ797XX, but that didn’t solve the issue either.
What finally worked was something I found deep in the Power Management forums: there is a file called "ti-bms-global.html" that needs to be replaced. For some reason, with the default .html file, the GUI does not correctly detect the BQ79731 on the board. After replacing it in the following location:
C:\Users\MyUser\guicomposer\runtime\gcruntime.v11\BQ797XX\app\custom\
the GUI was able to detect the correct IC during auto‑addressing and showed the proper register mapping.

BQ79731Q1EVM-060: Communication Support - Power management forum - Power management - TI E2E support forums

Regards,

Alexandru

0 Robert England 2 months ago in reply to Alexandru Dalin Dragoi

TI__Intellectual 880 points

Hi Alexandru,

I am glad you found the solution and will keep note of this.
I will also make sure the team is aware of this.

Regards,

Robert

0 Alexandru Dalin Dragoi 2 months ago in reply to Robert England

Prodigy 30 points

Hello Robert,

The forum thread where I found the replacement .html file is already about two years old, so I’m wondering if a more recent version is available. I’m asking because I also have a BQ79731 sample mounted on a custom PCB (not the EVM).
The board does wake up, I can see the current consumption increase, and I’ve checked the COMHP/COMHN and COMLP/COMLN signals. The signals look identical to what I observed when waking up or auto‑addressing the EVM. However, when I try to auto‑address the BQ79731 on my custom board, nothing appears in the GUI.

Do you know if an updated ti‑bms‑global.html file or any newer GUI component is available that could fix this detection issue?

Regards,
Alexandru

0 Robert England 2 months ago in reply to Alexandru Dalin Dragoi

TI__Intellectual 880 points

Hi Alexandru,

V2.0.4 is the latest version of the GUI tool for the BQ79731.

I spoke with the team and confirmed there is a known issue with the GUI and BQ79731, but only with using USB2ANY with SPI. UART shouldn't see the same issue. If you are already using UART, is it possible for you to probe the line to confirm that the USB2ANY is receiving responses from your custom PCB?

Regards,

Robert

0 Alexandru Dalin Dragoi 2 months ago in reply to Robert England

Prodigy 30 points

Hi Robert,

I probed the UART signals and eventually traced the issue to a poorly soldered wire on the board that was affecting the daisy‑chain communication with the BQ79600. After fixing the solder joint, everything works as intended.

Thanks!

Regards,
Alexandru