CCS/TMS320DM6437: Error launching debug session

Alex,

The error you mentioned is very generic and could be caused by many factors. Are you sure your project was built without errors so the program can be loaded to the target? If you send a capture of the Build console and a screenshot of the debugger that may help understand what may be happening in this case.

One remark: unless there is a strong reason that you need to use CCSv4, I would recommend you to use a newer version of CCS with it.

If the reason is licensing, after CCSv7 was released all CCSv4/5/6 can be used free of charge.
processors.wiki.ti.com/.../Licensing_-_CCS

Regards,
Rafael

Dear Rafael,

thank you for your reply and sorry for delay.

I attached all screens with all information. There is no compilation error, only load problem. And I don't have such problem with this board, but with CCS3.3 and XDS 510 emulator. May be problem is in GEL file? I did not understaand how can I change GEL file in CCS4. 

I have a big working project on CCS3.3 and I think it will be difficult to move it directly to CCS6. So, I started with CCS4.

Thank you for your help.

Alex 

Alex,

Thanks for sending the screenshots. I see what is going on: the project you are using lacks a linker command file (*.cmd) for the DM6437 device - these files were added starting with CCSv5.2 and later. Also, the appropriate GEL files were also added starting with this version. 

You have two options in this case:

- Download the DaVinci Support files from this wiki page and extract to your copy of CCS - carefully read all the instructions on the page. When creating your target configuration file (*.ccxml) you should select the Spectrum Digital XDS560v2 STM USB Emulator (as you are already doing) and the EVMDM6437 (as it contains the appropriate GEL file). 

- Download a newer version of CCS that already contains these files.

Regardless of the version of CCS, you should be able to manually launch the target and load the previously generated .out file. This will allow you to validate the debug environment. To do this on CCSv4, follow steps 1 through 4 of this wiki page. If you plan to migrate to a newer version, both CCSv5 and CCSv6 use a similar concept shown here. 

All that said, moving ahead with a project for such older device is something to be very carefully planned:

- If the product that uses this project is in maintenance mode, I would strongly recommend keeping CCSv3.3 to build the project and use CCSv5.5 for debugging (it was the last version that supported the full DSP/BIOS real-time analysis tools). 

- If this is a new product based on the DM6437, then the effort to migrate to a newer DSP/BIOS version present on CCSv5.5 may be worthwhile. You can even try to migrate to the newer SYSBIOS product (the latest that supports your device is 6.42.03.35), but that adds another layer of migration.  

For details about the DSP/BIOS → SYSBIOS migration please refer to the document SPRAAS7 and the TI-RTOS forum. 

Hope this helps,

Rafael

Dear Rafael,

Thank you for your reply! I will try all options one by one.

Alex

Dear Rafael,

I still need your (or somebody's else) help.

I installed CCS5.5, but still I don't succeed to load program, to put or to see GEL file. Still I do something wrong.

Attached some print screens.

Thank you in advance

Alex

Alex,

I don't see in your HelloWorld project a linker .CMD file, therefore the linker will allocate everything starting at address 0x0 and this will forcefully fail when loaded to the target (if I recall correctly the DM6437 does not have memory at address 0x0). To add a linker cmd file, you can select the DM6437 in the dropdown menu in the second screenshot.

Also, the target does not seem to have a GEL file. This is fine if you use the default DM6437 linker CMD file above, as it will use only the internal RAM, but it will fail if the original code uses DDR. 

In this case, you can add a GEL configuration by opening your target configuration file (under the project directory named targetConfigs) and select EVMDM6437. 

To help you move forward, I attach two projects I have here: one Hello world and one based on DSP/BIOS.

Hope this helps,

Rafael

DM6437_Hello.zip

DM6437_stairstep_BIOS5.zip

Dear Rafael,

thank you for your help!! 

I will try your projects. Thanks a lot

Alex

Dear Rafael,

My progress is going very slow... I tryed your helooWorls project. When I try to run debug I get a message that I write to forbidden memory. I is possible with my board. So I tryed to change GEL file. According to this document ( processors.wiki.ti.com/.../GSG:CCSv5.0_Adding_GEL_files_to_a_target_configuration) point 3 I can change it in "Initialization script".

But I don't have it in my case. (see attachment). Can you help me with it? Or just give me a link to right manual.

Thank you

Alex

Alex,

I don't see the error message in the screenshot you sent, but I just thought about one additional detail: the board has some configuration switches that may prevent code from being loaded to it. Details are shown at the thread below:

e2e.ti.com/.../1999672

Hope this helps,
Rafael