CCS/TMS320C6678: Step over not working properly - after a few steps running

Ronen,

If I understood correctly, you are debugging your code using "Step Over" and, at a certain routine call, the operation never returns, is that so?

If so, that usually happens to me when the routine either never returns or starts a sequence of operations that take a really long time to process.

The first scenario is obvious if you call a routine that never returns as designed (for example BIOS_start()). It could also be a routine that waits for an event to happen (information from a UART, Ethernet or other peripheral port) and will only return after that. Another more critical scenario is if the routine simply throws the processor completely off due to a coding or processing error - in this case either the processor is reset in the middle of the execution (which consequently clears breakpoints) or it throws an exception that has a "branch to itself" loop.

This last scenario is easier to see if you halt the processor and the PC is stuck in an exception handler or in symbols such as __abort or __exit. If the processor is continuously reset, it is possible you end up halting at a line before the code you were stepping (the processor reset itself and started re-executing the entire program).

The other scenarios can be guessed if you halt the processor and it is shown as being still in valid code - at this point you can inspect counters or other variables that may either have a logical error that causes them to count "too much" or they are simply stopped in routines that are waiting for interrupts or other events.

At any rate, please let me know if these suggestions are helpful or if your issue is different.

Hope this helps,
Rafael