BQ76920EVM: Device won't boot/work with bqStudio

Hi Justin,
I am sorry to hear that. Our support team will answer your question in the coming days (likely by Monday).

Hi Matt,

Yes we have followed the instructions as mentioned in Section 2.2 of the User's Guide (leaving all the pull-up shunts connected and pressing the BOOT button).

The problem we are experiencing is that the bq76920EVM is not communicating with bqStudio (I have attached a screenshot).

Is there any additional troubleshooting that you suggest?

Thanks,

Justin

Hi Justin,

If your EVM has power (power supply connected to BATT+ and BATT- terminals), the EV2400 SMBus output is connected to the SMBus connector of the EVM, and the BOOT button has been pressed, then it's possible you have a bad EVM. Have you tried using a 2nd PC?

Matt

I have tested the bq76920EVM on two different computers with same result on bqStudio.

Then you may have a bad EVM. One more thing we can try: Can you attach a photo of your board showing the EV2400, the EVM, and all of the jumper settings?

Thanks,

Matt

Here are some pictures.

Thanks for sending the pictures Justin. Everything looks to be connected correctly and all of the jumpers are in the correct locations.

Here are a few more things to check:

• Can you measure the voltages at these test points on the EVM to make sure they are close to expected values? REGOUT (should be 2.5V), VC5, VC4, VC3, VC2, VC1, BAT, CAP1, BAT+.
• Can you try a different cable for the SMBus? This is just to rule out that there is anything wrong with the wires or connector that might be preventing communication.
• Can you monitor the SMBus communication on a scope to see if there is activity?

Matt

We were able to troubleshoot the last two tasks (i.e., different cable still didn't work and no activity on scope).

For the first task, we don't have the proper equipment to test these points on the EVM and we don't want to accidentally short the IC on the board since the pins are really close to each other.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Justin,

You don't have a simple multimeter to measure the voltages? There are test points on the EVM to measure these points conveniently without strong risk of a short. It is important to verify that the device is getting the expected voltages at the right pins.

Matt

Sorry for the confusion, I was looking at the test points you mentioned based on this diagram from the user manual.

I didn't notice the actual test points that were located on the board. I will test them and get back with you.

Thanks,

Justin

Thanks Justin. Let me know once you've made the measurements.

Matt

Here are the measurements.

VC1: 3.773V
VC2: 7.54V
VC3: 11.32V
VC4: 15.09V
VC5: 18.86V
BAT: 17.99V
CAP1: 0.004V
BAT+: 18.86V
REGOUT: 0.007V

Hi Justin,

CAP1 and REGOUT are showing the device is in SHIP mode. Did you press the 'BOOT' button on the board?

Matt

Yes, I pressed the BOOT button. When opening bqStudio, there is no communication between the EVM and the program.

I see that some of the devices are grayed out on the DashBoard.

Thanks Matt for helping me troubleshoot this issue with the EVM.

I also have a question that you may be able to answer regarding bqStudio.

Is it possible to save a template with pre-selected registers on Watch to collect data or you have to manually select them each time?

Hi Justin,

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to do this in the Watch window. The Data Graph has that feature, but for some reason Watch doesn't have it.

I will send this feedback to our software tools team to see if it can easily be added in the next update.

Thanks,

Matt