AM3358 Exception Attempting to Set GPIO Clock

Thank you, Biser!  Meanwhile, I'm continuing to study the RTOS start-up sequence and how to control it, but I haven't found the answer yet.

Hi Vic,

There's a GPIO blink example for the AM335x Starter Kit that uses TI-RTOS in the Processor SDK release. Its located under C:\ti\pdk_am335x_1_0_1\packages\MyExampleProjects\GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject

You can get the release here. In order to generate this example, please build the PDK by running the pdkProjectCreate.bat file in the release. Instructions on how to do that are here. Please use CCS 6.1.2 and ensure that all the packages contained in the release are registered with CCS before building these examples.

I hope this gets you going with the example that you are trying to build.

Cheers!

Lali

Hi, Lali!

Sorry for the delay getting back to you.  I hadn't realized I had an answer here waiting for me.

What's odd about attempting to do this is that after a few days ago (possibly coinciding with what appears to be an automatic update to several versions of XDSTOOLS, and possibly with my having gone through the example-build batch files from above), EDMA3, NDK and the PDK is showing as NOT being installed in CCS.  And when I go to  Window>preferences>Code Composer Studio>RTSC>Products  and then [Install New...] and selecting the directory (e.g. c:\ti\pdk_am335x_1_0_1), there is a quick flash and then nothing new is installed!  I attached a 3-second video showing this.

Simultaneously, I have tried building other projects, and am now running into a new set of errors (e.g. for the UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject   project for the evmAM335x board):

Description    Resource    Path    Location    Type
Product 'am335x PDK' v1.0.1 is not currently installed and no compatible version is available. Please install this product or a compatible version.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject        UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems
Product 'EDMA3 Low Level Driver' v2.12.1 is not currently installed and no compatible version is available. Please install this product or a compatible version.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject        UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems
Product 'NDK' v2.24.3.35 is not currently installed and no compatible version is available. Please install this product or a compatible version.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject        UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems

This screenshot of the Project Properties window shows red "X's" next to these products.  Yet I didn't de-install them (they were installed successfully with the PDK and I was working with the examples as above), and this set of errors started appearing just after the XDCTOOLS updates.

Yet, this directory tree shows the fact of them having been installed.  The red arrows show the products that were installed with the PDK.

Help!  :-(

Kind regards,

Vic

Hi, Lali!

Okay, well with a tip from a fellow by the name of Chester Gillon, I resolved PART of the above.  Specifically,

1.  CCS > Help > About Code Composer Studio > Installation Details.  I selected (one at a time, though it may be possible to do this in a group as well, not sure yet):  am335x PDK, NDK (IDE Client), NDK (Target Client), and EDMA3 and uninstalled them.  I answered YES to re-starte CCS between each one except for the two NDK items, which I did back to back and then accepted the re-start.

2.  CCS > Window > Preferences > Code Composer Studio > RTSC > Products > Installed Products:  > [Install New...] button, and then I selected the already-existing directories for the above, namely:

  c:\ti\pdk_am335x_1_0_1

  c:\ti\ndk_2_24_03_35

  c:\ti\edma3_lld_02_12_01_22

one at a time, re-starting CCS between each one.

Now my Project Properties look like this:

However, now I have a new set of errors, and I believe we're getting back to the first set above.  Copy/paste of the errors and warnings:

Description    Resource    Path    Location    Type
gmake: *** [configPkg/linker.cmd] Error 1    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
gmake: Target `all' not remade because of errors.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
gmake.exe: *** No rule to make target `.configuro'.  Stop.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
template generation of 'compiler.opt' failed: Error: The compiler in C:/ti/ccsv6/tools/compiler/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2014q3 is not compatible with this version of TI-RTOS or SYS/BIOS. Please use Arm compiler 5.2.2 or newer.    .xdchelp    /UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject    line 77    C/C++ Problem
Product 'SYS/BIOS' v6.45.0.19 defines no repositories. Uninstall and reinstall the product, or contact the product provider.    UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject        UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems

On a hunch, I tried the above steps with the SYS/BIOS v6.45.0.19, but doing so did not resolve the warning.

I looked a bit into the 4th error above and found that it was a generated exception in the file C:\ti\bios_6_45_00_19\packages\ti\targets\arm\elf\IArm.xs  (Java?) as a result of the presence of file

    C:\ti\ccsv6\tools\compiler\ti-cgt-arm_15.12.0.LTS\bin\armcl.exe

=-=-=

Back to the  GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject  project, I have virtually the same set of errors now as the above:

Description    Resource    Path    Location    Type

Errors:

gmake: *** [configPkg/linker.cmd] Error 1    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
gmake: Target `all' not remade because of errors.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
gmake.exe: *** No rule to make target `.configuro'.  Stop.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
template generation of 'compiler.opt' failed: Error: The compiler in C:/ti/ccsv6/tools/compiler/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_8-2014q3 is not compatible with this version of TI-RTOS or SYS/BIOS. Please use Arm compiler 5.2.2 or newer.    .xdchelp    /GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject    line 77    C/C++ Problem

Warnings:

Build variable 'EDMA3_LLD_INSTALL_DIR' cannot be resolved.     GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        properties    Problems
Build variable 'TI_PDK_INSTALL_DIR' cannot be resolved.     GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        properties    Problems
directory "E:/packages" on package path does not exist    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject             C/C++ Problem
Product 'SYS/BIOS' v6.45.0.19 defines no repositories. Uninstall and reinstall the product, or contact the product provider.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems
XDCpath repository '/packages' cannot be found! Visit project's 'Properties > General > RTSC' tab to adjust the XDCpath.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems
XDCpath repository '/packages' cannot be found! Visit project's 'Properties > General > RTSC' tab to adjust the XDCpath.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems

I hate to ask an obvious question, but am I running into example applications  (UART_BasicExample_evmAM335x_armExampleProject, and GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject)  that were never tested on the Windows platform, and has a built-in compatibility problem with the SYS/BIOS it was installed with?

Would I get any benefit by deleting everything and re-installing it all from scratch?   (The projects I have made from scratch are compiling, running and debugging without any problems, on both the  skAM335x  and  evmAM335x  boards, so this seems a bit extreme, so let me know if this is an answer, or if we can navigate fixing what I have here.)  If so, what is the proper method of de-installing everything?  Noting that the only item that seems to appear in the >Control Panel > Uninstall a Program list is CCStudio, so that leaves the question:  how do you de-install the rest (roughly 4 GB worth of software)?  Delete C:\ti\*.* ?   (Scary thought.)

And would doing so just end me up back where I am now?

Kind regards,

Vic

I tried deleting the GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject  (which I had imported into my workspace), as well as deleting the directory and all its contents from my workspace, and then I re-imported it from the source:  

    C:\ti\pdk_am335x_1_0_1\packages\MyExampleProjects\GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject

Yet, I still get the above errors and warnings.

In case it is helpful, here is the screenshot showing the 2 unresolved variables, and I note that the variable EDMA3_LLD_INSTALL_DIR (for example) is neither in the LINKED nor the BUILD variable lists....  But it IS in the the path as shown in the screen shot.  But then, BIOS_CG_ROOT variable is ALSO not in the above 2 lists, but IT is resolved.  Where (and how) is the BIOS_CG_ROOT variable being generated?  Maybe that will give us a clue as to why EDMA3_LLD_INSTALL_DIR and the other one are not being resolved.  Perhaps they don't exist?  :-(

For what it's worth:  plugging in the hard-coded path for the 2 unresolved paths like this:

now removed all but 1 warning.  All the errors are still present.  The one warning that remains is this one:

Description    Resource    Path    Location    Type
Product 'SYS/BIOS' v6.45.0.19 defines no repositories. Uninstall and reinstall the product, or contact the product provider.    GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject        GPIO_LedBlink_skAM335x_armExampleProject    Problems

...and I do not know how to solve that (how to perform the uninstall step in a way that I haven't already tried -- I have tried the Help > About Code Composer Studio > Installation Details... > Select SYS/BIOS v6.45.0.19 > Uninstall, and then re-installing by Window > Preferences > Code Composer Studio > RTSC > Products > Install New... -- and these RAN and did not produce any errors, but still is not resolving the above warning).

Is that last warning causing the errors?

Kind regards,

Vic

Thanks, Lali!

That's all I can ask for. :-)   (Note:  if I had done the path above the FIRST time, I would not have run into the problem, so that's one score for possible documentation or errata [made easily available and -- hopefully -- impossible NOT to find] -- would be a great step too.)

Kind regards,
Vic

Lali,

One thing I am still needing really badly: I'm new to the whole line of TI products (and CCS and TI-RTOS and SYS/BIOS), and so far am thrilled with what appears to be the quality of the products (e.g. the thought that went into the [for example] evm335x evaluation module: in our case, it has a lot of things we're going to be putting into our product already, and so provides an excellent launch pad for me to get started with until we have our hardware developed).

Here's what I'm running into as a TI products beginner: even though I'm an excellent student, I am running into questions like:

1. WHY could my original try (the first message in this chain) have caused an exception? (I believe it was a legal register address for the AM3358 SoC, since the same code worked in the StarterWare context, but not in the SYS/BIOS context.)

2. In SYS/BIOS, what is the design intention for board initialization and things that happen BEFORE the application 'main()' function is entered? I see, in the LedBlink example that apparent library code is stepping through structures that I will need to populate in order to get that initialization done. But is that the designer's intention? If this is the case for GPIO, is it also what I should be expecting for the rest of the peripheral modules?

3. And here's one that's currently has my attention: The example LED BLINK for the Starter Kit board calls a function called "Board_init()", which is a purple link, and only leads to a file "board.h", but not to the definition of the function. With a special editor I have, I was able to scan and find "Board_init()" in a file .\packages\ti\board\src\skAM335x\skAM335x.c. Yet, this file is NOT included in the project, and it does not appear to be included in any of the libraries either! (At least, I scanned for the string "Board_init" in the *.a files under the GNU compiler where the included libraries are, and didn't find it in any of them.) The big questions of course are:

a. How is that function getting linked into the project?

b. Where can I find that FOR CERTAIN that code in skAM335x.c is the correct source code for it?

c. Why is the function in bold-face purple? (Defined externally?)

What I find as a new TI customer so far is that I'm thrown into a sea of details, trying to figure out what the 30,000-foot overview is -- the stuff that tells me things like, "In this SoC, as is true for most TI SoC's, to use a peripheral, in most cases you need to complete 3 steps: set up clocks, configure and turn the peripheral on, set up interrupts." <-- and I have no idea if this is correct or not, but what I'm trying to get across is: WHERE IS THE ORIENTATION MATERIAL? The stuff that says, "This is the umbrella view, this is how all the parts are intended to work together: ..." And then fill in the gaps.

Let's take one small example: the GPIO library under the PDK. As I newbie, when I start looking into it, I have this question: "How are all the parts of this GPIO library intended to work together by its designer?" And I'm finding it HARD HARD HARD to find the answer to that question. The Doxygen documentation merely throws me back into the "sea of details" and gives me no clue about the answer to that question. The answer SEEMS to be (forgive me if I'm wrong), to read and understand ALL of the source code (without having this context, which I NEED in order to understand that source code), and then determine for myself the answer to the question: "How are all the parts of this GPIO library intended to work together by its designer?"

I have downloaded, but not studied all of yet, the AM335x Technical Reference manual, I have the SYS/BIOS User's Guide, the document "How to Develop a Project with TI SYS_BIOS" -- which is a kind of "getting started" document and so skips a lot of details, but directs me to the STEPS TO DO (rather than the understanding behind it -- okay for a "getting started" document, but I still need that understanding), and the CCS wiki.

Simply put: I'm trying to get oriented with the TI line of products, CCS, and the libraries I'm going to be using, and I'm trying to do so EFFICIENTLY.

I've searched Amazon.com for books that accomplish this and found nothing.

Can you advise me please where I should go to get this orientation? (I won't be able to go to training seminars, and as an excellent student of written material, I shouldn't need to. I did find Eric Wilbur's training videos at training.ti.com/ti-rtos-workshop-series on TI-RTOS excellent, and fill in a lot of these gaps.) Is it indeed in the reference works I mentioned above, and I just have to read them in sequence (which I would gladly do)?

Kind regards,
Vic Wheeler

I see PART of the answers to the above questions (though the REAL question is "Where is the orientation material?") are:

1. For the PDK GPIO library, the release notes list this file: docs/GPIO_User_Guide.pdf However, the file is not present! Apparently, SOMEONE meant there to be such a file, but it was not there. If it had been there, I would have seen it, because I did look through the 'docs' directory, which are, thankfully, so consistently provided. Lacking this document still leaves me swimming in the "sea of details" of the Doxygen HTML documentation, which is almost the same as reading the source code UNLESS there is orientation material in the doxygen comments, which there SHOULD be, but which is scarce or missing.

2. The library files I scanned through (*.lib and *.a) is an INCOMPLETE list. The libraries that did in fact contain the Board_init() function have file extensions: *.aa8fg. I found this by studying the file 'makefile' file in the GPIO library directory. After knowing that *.aa8fg was a library extension, I was pleased to find pre-built library files included with the PDK in GPIO\lib\<platform>\armv7\ .  However, this still leaves me with the question as to how CCS knows to link these, and other *.aa8fg  libraries into my project.

Lali, do you have any tips for me as regards "Where is the orientation material?" What documents did you use to learn this stuff?

Kind regards,
Vic

Dear Lali,

*wheezing sigh of relief!*

No, I had not seen these, and yes, this is exactly the type of material that I've been looking for!

I know this may be a stupid question, but what should I have done to have found the first link -- this one?

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Processor_SDK_RTOS_Software_Developer_Guide

(I see that the first one has a link to the 2nd one, and other driver documentation, and a lot more.)

Kind regards,
Vic