CCS/MSP432P401R: CCS version 10.0.0.00010 cannot connect to MSP432P401R LaunchPad

Hi,

Thanks for the detailed post; depending on version on the working host, you may be running into a JTAG TCLK speed described in the sticky post below:

https://e2e.ti.com/support/tools/ccs/f/81/t/821584

In case this does not work, I would then try the steps shown in section 9.7 of the CCS User's Guide at:

https://software-dl.ti.com/ccs/esd/documents/users_guide/index.html 

Along the same lines, perhaps a firmware mismatch may be one of the possible reasons the probe is not responding to CCS. I would then try to update the firmware manually by following the procedure shown at the XDS110 page below:

https://software-dl.ti.com/ccs/esd/documents/xdsdebugprobes/emu_xds110.html

One tip: in case CCS seems stalled while connecting, try to pull the board from the USB port and see if CCS recovers - it may be an intermittent issue that is causing a very long timeout. 

In general, the project build and the first launch of a debug session take longer to complete as the cache files are being created. The performance should improve as you use the tool. 

I will try to think about additional scenarios and report back . 

Hope this helps,

Rafael

Thank you for prompt response! I did manual firmware update to the XDS110 on MSP432 LaunchPad. It was version 3.0.05, now it's updated to 3.0.0.13 as shown in the picture attached. So, the command line tool xdsdfu can find the XDS110 on USB and can update its firmware. But then in CCS, again creating a empty CCS project with the bare minimum main.c, then still the test connection on the targetConfigs page will hang for ever. Restart CCS, click debug button for the CCS project, then the CCS software hangs for ever at the Configuring Debugger stage as shown in the 2nd picture. I tried to lauch targetConfigue manually as shown in the links that you provided, but again it stalls as well.

I did try to use a lower TCLK frequency (5.5MHz), but it won't work with same symptom. 

Again, I feel something's very wrong with the automatically generated CCS project for MSP432. For the bare minimum empty project that CCS automatically generates for us, CCS takes almost 4 minutes to build, not just at the first time, but it takes 4 minutes every time when I build after very slight edits to the main.c source code. For example adding one line like "int i;". For the same minimum program, Energia builds and uploads to the same MSP432 LauchPad in a few seconds. My laptop is a new Dell Workstation, so it runs pretty fast. Hope the slowness of the compiler and linker also points you to some direction for identifying the root cause.

Hi,

Quite interesting indeed. Somehow there seems to be something slowing the overall operation of the debug probes in your system (since it also happens with Keil).

The slowdown on the build is a bit strange, as I can't reproduce it here in my system. I imagine you are using all this natively and not via a Citrix or other remote desktop solution, right? 

This may also be tied to the host itself or its connections. Did you try connecting the XDS110 directly to the USB3 port to try and isolate (at least) the debug probe part of the issue? Did you try another USB cable? It seems rather silly, but I have seen problems happen with intermittent or faulty cables.

Also, what do you see in the Task manager when CCS or Keil are connecting to the target? Is the process at 0% or completely full at 100%?

Did you try to delete the temporary files as mentioned in the troubleshooting reference I sent before?

If none of this works, could you enable the Debugserver log, launch the debugger and, when it halts, try to disconnect (or pull the board from the USB) and close CCS? Then you can compress the log file and attach it to this forum. Details about this are shown at:

https://software-dl.ti.com/ccs/esd/documents/ccs_diagnostic-logs.html

A very long shot but I wonder if the OS of your workstation may be influencing this scenario. With so many builds of Windows 10 around and hardware variants, it becomes quite difficult to have a generic answer to these. Which version is your build? Open a command prompt and type "winver". I have Windows 10 build 1809 (17763.1217) on my Dell Precision 5500 laptop. 

I will try to think about additional scenarios and report back.

Regards,

Rafael

Hi,

Thank you for providing the outcome of your scenario. When CCS is installed with a subset of its features (such as in your case with only MSP432), any errors are normally followed by clear error messages such as file not found, device not found, project cannot be imported, etc. Once you get to the point of building a project, configuring the debugger and actually launching it without the errors above, usually the problems are rooted on the topics discussed here: hardware, temporary files, cables, firmware, etc. 

In any case, I will keep monitoring e2e for other developers that go through similar scenarios as yours. We can never be 100% sure when the issue happens intermittently. 

One last question: if you haven't deleted the previous CCS install, could you zip the contents of the install logs directory and attach to this thread? Typically they are located at c:\ti\ccs1010\ccs\install_logs

Best regards,

Rafael

There were no error messages displayed in my case. I have been deleting all temporary files and creating a new workspace before trying any new fix. I have completely deleted the previous CCS installation as well as all drivers and then installed everything fresh for the current working installation. So, I am sorry I won't be able to send you the old log files. I will report back if I get other problems. Thanks.