AWRL6844EVM: Unable to flash Device (Uniflash, arprog, ...)

Short update:

In the meantime I have tried updating all relevant tools to the latest available versions, i.e.:

• CCS v12.8.1
• CCS v20.0.2
• TI ARM Clang v4.0.1
• SysConfig v1.22

After manually triggering an update of the TI ARM Clang Tools from within CCS v12.8.1, I have been able to import the mmwave_demo project from the ressource explorer into CCS.
Still I was not able to build the software, nor to flash any appimage.

I followed the instruction from the FAQ to copy over the XWRL68xx.xml file into CCS targetdb/devices and have imported the target configuration file.

None of the mentioned steps helped with the problem so far.

Hey Matthias,

Thanks for posting about this flashing issue. Based off the information you shared, I would recommend using the arprog_cmdline_6844 tool again and try the following:

1. Run the following - make sure to replace the APP_COM_PORT:
   arprog_cmdline_6844.exe -p APP_COM_PORT -f1 "../../examples/mmw_demo/mmwave_demo/prebuilt_binaries/xwrL684x-evm/mmwave_demo.release.appimage" -of 8192 -s SFLASH -c 
   
2. If the flasher program halts completely, unplug the device and then reconnect it
3. Re-run the program once again
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until program flashes properly

Let me know if this resolves the flashing issue, but for the project build issue, can you share the console build log, so I can see what error is being thrown?

Regards,

Kristien

Hey Kristien,

I have tried to use argprog_cmdline_6844 as suggested, but sadly without any success:

Here you can find the terminal output I got, when unplugging and replugging the device.

Regarding the project build issue:

Here is the output of CCS v12.8.1

I tried to give CCS v12.8.1 the path to SysConfig v1.22. It seems to have recognized the tool and shows the path under installed products, but while building CCS still seems to use SysConfig v1.21.

I realized that within the tools folder of MMWAVE L SDK, there are also some SysConfig device files for XWRL684X.
So I tried to copy those into the utils/sysconfig_1.21.0 folder in the CCS folder and triggered a release build again.
This is the output I got this time:

Hey Matthias,

We'll need more time to look into the Uniflash issue, but for the SysConfig issue, please use SysConfig 1.20 instead. You can switch the SysConfig used when building a project by right-clicking on the project name in Project Explorer -> Properties -> General -> Products -> SysConfig -> Edit and then change to 1.20. 

Regards,

Kristien

Hey Kristien,

using SysConfig 1.20 did not work either.

To me it currently looks like, we are able to communicate with the controller that is responsible for the XDS interface (TM4C129), but any communication with the target device (AWRL6844) fails.

Today I have tried to update the XDS firmware as mentioned in your "Getting Started" guide.
This seemed to work fine and I was even able to put the XDS in DFU mode.

I read the manual of the xdsdfu utility and put it in the "Drag-n-Drop" mode.
Whenever I mounted the device and copied one of the appimages, it reported failed attempts though.

This is why I assume, that the on-board communication between XDS controller and the AWRL6844 is not working properly. That could also explain why all of the other tools (arprog, uniflash, visualizer, etc.) can see the interface, but can not flash the AWRL6844.
It is weird, that loading an application to RAM seemed to have worked fine though.

I have checked all switches on the EVM again, to ensure that there is no wrong HW config.

Regards,
Matthias

Hey Matthias,

MaWa said:

using SysConfig 1.20 did not work either.

Did you also update the SysConfig 1.20 deviceData folder with the SDK SysConfig deviceData files? I have seen this GPN issue before, and its due to some new features added in SysConfig 1.21 and above which are unsupported for the SDK SysConfig files.

MaWa said:

This is why I assume, that the on-board communication between XDS controller and the AWRL6844 is not working properly. That could also explain why all of the other tools (arprog, uniflash, visualizer, etc.) can see the interface, but can not flash the AWRL6844.

Unfortunately, I suspect this is a board issue. I believe this is likely an issue with the external SFLASH on the board and not the XDS110 and AWRL6844 communication since it sounds like you are still able to run programs but only if you load directly to RAM using CCS debugger. If the application itself was failing or you are unable to connect to any of the device cores through the debugger, then perhaps its a communication issue. Regardless, we will work with your local TI sales representative to get you a new board.

Regards,

Kristien

Hi Kristien,

Kristien Everett said:

Did you also update the SysConfig 1.20 deviceData folder with the SDK SysConfig deviceData files? I have seen this GPN issue before, and its due to some new features added in SysConfig 1.21 and above which are unsupported for the SDK SysConfig files.

Yes, I  have copied the deviceData from MMWAVE L SDK for SysConfig, but still no success.

Kristien Everett said:

Unfortunately, I suspect this is a board issue. I believe this is likely an issue with the external SFLASH on the board and not the XDS110 and AWRL6844 communication since it sounds like you are still able to run programs but only if you load directly to RAM using CCS debugger.

This is more reasonable and would fit to the successful loading of applications to RAM.

Kristien Everett said:

Regardless, we will work with your local TI sales representative to get you a new board.

Sounds great! Do you need us to get in contact with anyone in particular or will you handle things internally?

BR
Matthias

Hey Matthias,

MaWa said:

Yes, I  have copied the deviceData from MMWAVE L SDK for SysConfig, but still no success.

I apologize as I should've asked you in my previous reply, but could you send a screenshot of what error is being thrown in CCS when attempting to use SysConfig 1.20? I haven't seen any other issues with SysConfig other than the GPN issue seen when using later versions of SysConfig.

MaWa said:

Sounds great! Do you need us to get in contact with anyone in particular or will you handle things internally?

We are working on this internally, but if we need anything, we will reach out to you over email.

Regards,

Kristien

Hey Kristien,

Kristien Everett said:

I apologize as I should've asked you in my previous reply, but could you send a screenshot of what error is being thrown in CCS when attempting to use SysConfig 1.20? I haven't seen any other issues with SysConfig other than the GPN issue seen when using later versions of SysConfig.

You were right. Looks like there was an issue due to having multiple versions of SysConfig installed.
I have uninstalled all other versions than 1.20 and now I am at least able to open the example.syscfg file.

Still I am not able to build the mmwave demo project.

Looks like CCS is not recognizing the XWRL68xx device, eventhough I have copied the xml file to targetdb/devices and added the target configuration file.

Whenever I try to do anything within the project properties, I get the following error message dialog:

BR
Matthias

Hey Matthias,

Are you using the version of CCS that you were able to successfully add the XML file data? If you were able to import the project, then CCS shouldn't be throwing the device error shown in your screenshots. Based on previous replies, it sounds likes 12.8.1 is the version of CCS that currently recognizes the device information, but I would confirm if that is the case. 

Regards,

Kristien

Hey Kristien,

no, actually I tried to uninstall and reinstall CCS and the related tools a couple of times and switched back to v12.7.1, after facing these issues.
The imported project remained in the eclipse/CCS workspace though and was therefore immediately displayed after opening CCS.

It looks like the toolchain with CCS v12.7.1 and SysConfig v1.20.00 is working after I updated the Compiler Tools and deleted and reimported the CCS project (since it was giving a warning that the project in workspace was created with a newer version of CCS).

Both build targets (debug and release) finished successful and all problems/warnings in CCS vanished.

I will give an update, once we have received the new hardware and have been able to flash the device.

Thanks and BR
Matthias

Hey Matthias,

I'm glad you were able to rebuild the projects now. There should be updates to the CCS mmWave Radar package rolling out in the near future which should hopefully make this less of a hassle. This update will also include some updates to the target configuration information to include module register information in the Register view of CCS.

I'll keep an out for your update and let you know when this updated CCS device package is available. 

Regards,

Kristien 

Hey Matthias,

I'm glad the new unit appears to be working. The MATLAB visualizer can be a bit finicky at times, so you might have re-run it once or twice before it picks up data. However, we should be rolling out a Radar Toolbox within the next week or two that should help improve its consistency. If you do continue to run into issues, feel free to open up a new thread. For now, I will close out this one.

Cheers,

Kristien