CCS: "MSP430: Error connecting to the target: Unknown device" with RF430FRL152 HEVM and MSP-FET Flash Emulation Tool

Hauke Schlosser said:

Tool/software: Code Composer Studio

Hello,

I am new to this topic and wanted to start out with the RF430FRL152 HEVM and the MSP-FET Flash Emulation Tool. I am powering both with USB and power supply seems to be fine. However, when i want to debug a test program it gives out the error "MSP430: Error connecting to the target: Unknown device". Also, when I want to auto detect my board with Resource Explorer it gives out "An error occured while detecting your device". Am i missing something? Also I would like to know if it could be missing drivers since I am using Ubuntu (even though it should be able to work as far as i read).

Best regards

It is maybe important to note that during the debugging process the alarm LED on the RF430 indicates that there is something going on. So connection between MSP-PET Flash Emulation tool and board seems to be established.

I am using the newest version of CSS

Hauke Schlosser said:

Also I would like to know if it could be missing drivers since I am using Ubuntu (even though it should be able to work as far as i read).

Hello Hauke,

Can you provide the exact version of Ubuntu that you are using?

Thanks

ki

I am using Ubuntu 20.04.

Thanks. I am trying to reproduce this locally, and currently looking for the EVM to try out. I will let you know when I can reproduce this.

Thanks

ki

Ki said:

Thanks. I am trying to reproduce this locally, and currently looking for the EVM to try out. I will let you know when I can reproduce this.

Thanks

ki

Thanks for your effort. I have created a VirtualBox with Windows10 now and it works. So it definitely was a Linux issue, but what this caused I really don't know. I have tried a lot.

Ki said:

I am trying to reproduce this locally, and currently looking for the EVM to try out.

Where RF430FRL152 and MSP430L092 are both devices which require a "Device Activation Code", as explained in section 7.3 Accessing a Device With a Device Activation Code of MSP Flasher User's Guide

For these tests was just running the "Blink the LED" basic example when created a new CCS project.

1. With CCS 10.1.1.00004 under Windows 10 the CCS debugger then can successfully download a program to a MSP430L092.

2. With CCS 10.1.1.00004 under Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS attempting to start a debug session results in the error:

MSP430: Error connecting to the target: Unknown device

3. With CCS 10.1.1.00004 under Ubuntu attempting to load the program using loadti fails with:

$ ~/ti/ccs1011/ccs/ccs_base/scripting/examples/loadti/loadti.sh -c targetConfigs/MSP430L092.ccxml Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.out 

***** DSS Generic Loader *****

START: 09:51:21 GMT-0000 (GMT)

Configuring Debug Server for specified target...
Done
TARGET: TI MSP430 USB1_0
Connecting to target...
SEVERE: MSP430: Error connecting to the target: Unknown device

SEVERE: emulation failure occurred
SEVERE: Error connecting to the target: emulation failure occurred
Error code #4001, could not connect to target!
Aborting!

END: 09:51:35 GMT-0000 (GMT)

4. With MSP Flasher v1.3.20 under Ubuntu it is possible to load a program. For this used LD_LIBRARY_PATH to make the MSP430Flasher executable load the libmsp430.so shared library in the CCS 10.1.1 installation:

$ (export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=~/ti/ccs1011/ccs/ccs_base/DebugServer/drivers; ~/ti/MSPFlasher_1.3.20/MSP430Flasher -w ~/workspace_v10/MSP430L092_blinky/Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.txt -v -g -o L)
* -----/|-------------------------------------------------------------------- *
*     / |__                                                                   *
*    /_   /   MSP Flasher v1.3.20                                             *
*      | /                                                                    *
* -----|/-------------------------------------------------------------------- *
*
* Evaluating triggers...done
* Checking for available FET debuggers: 
* Found USB FET @ ttyACM0 <- Selected
* Initializing interface @ ttyACM0...done
* Checking firmware compatibility: 
* FET firmware is up to date.
* Reading FW version...done
* Setting VCC to 3000 mV...done
* Accessing device...done
* Reading device information...done
* Loading file into device...done
* Verifying memory (/home/mr_halfword/workspace_v10/MSP430L092_blinky/Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.txt)...done
* Writing to external memory...done
* 
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Arguments   : -w /home/mr_halfword/workspace_v10/MSP430L092_blinky/Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.txt -v -g -o L 
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Driver      : loaded
* Dll Version : 31501001
* FwVersion   : 31200000
* Interface   : TIUSB
* HwVersion   : U 3.0
* JTAG Mode   : AUTO
* Device      : MSP430L092
* EEM         : Level 4, ClockCntrl 2
* Erase Mode  : ERASE_ALL
* Prog.File   : /home/mr_halfword/workspace_v10/MSP430L092_blinky/Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.txt
* Verified    : TRUE
* BSL Unlock  : FALSE
* InfoA Access: FALSE
* VCC OFF
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Powering down...done
* Disconnecting from device...done
* 
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Driver      : closed (No error)
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/

Since the MSP Flasher can access the MSP430L092 device under Ubuntu, using the same libmsp430.so which with which the CCS debugger and loadti which fail, suggests the issue is in the CCS debug server.

If run MSP Flasher but don't provide the -O option which specifies the operating mode for the L092 and RF430FR152H family devices then get "ERROR: Unknown device":

$ (export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=~/ti/ccs1011/ccs/ccs_base/DebugServer/drivers; ~/ti/MSPFlasher_1.3.20/MSP430Flasher -w ~/workspace_v10/MSP430L092_blinky/Debug/MSP430L092_blinky.txt -v -g)
* -----/|-------------------------------------------------------------------- *
*     / |__                                                                   *
*    /_   /   MSP Flasher v1.3.20                                             *
*      | /                                                                    *
* -----|/-------------------------------------------------------------------- *
*
* Evaluating triggers...done
* Checking for available FET debuggers: 
* Found USB FET @ ttyACM0 <- Selected
* Initializing interface @ ttyACM0...done
* Checking firmware compatibility: 
* FET firmware is up to date.
* Reading FW version...done
* Setting VCC to 3000 mV...done
* Accessing device...
# Exit: 16
# ERROR: Unknown device
* Powering down...done
* Disconnecting from device...done
* 
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Driver      : closed (Internal error)
* ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/

So, maybe there is an error in the CCS debug server under Linux where the operating mode doesn't get set correctly. I think the operating mode is supposed to be set from the "Emulation Type" in the target configuration:

I was able to obtain an EVM and reproduce the issue in my Ubuntu 20.04 VM. I have no issues on Windows 10.

To confirm that there is no issue with my external MSP-FET on Linux, I tried using it to connect to a different MSP430 target (MSP-EXP430FR5969 LaunchPad). It was successful. Hence the issue is specific to the RF430FRL152H EVM. I will bring this thread to the attention of the MSP experts for more assistance.

Thanks

ki

Chester Gillon said:

Since the MSP Flasher can access the MSP430L092 device under Ubuntu, using the same libmsp430.so which with which the CCS debugger and loadti which fail, suggests the issue is in the CCS debug server.

If run MSP Flasher but don't provide the -O option which specifies the operating mode for the L092 and RF430FR152H family devices then get "ERROR: Unknown device":

Thank you for that extra data point. 

Chester Gillon said:

So, maybe there is an error in the CCS debug server under Linux where the operating mode doesn't get set correctly.

As the debug server logging is quite verbose first filtered the logs to only contain lines containing MSP430_

Comparing the filtered debug server logs showed the first difference in calls to the MSP430 DLL were for the MSP430_OpenDevice() call.

With CCS under Windows which works:

0x00000A0C 28403 3 MSP430 MSP C: MSP430_OpenDevice( MSP430L092, , 0, 0xA55AA55A, 0 )
0x00000A0C 32183 3 MSP430 MSP R: MSP430_OpenDevice( MSP430L092, , 0, 0xA55AA55A, 0 ) = 0

With CCS under Ubuntu which fails:

0x7FB22FDFF700 13353 3 MSP430 MSP C: MSP430_OpenDevice( MSP430L092, , 0, 0x0, 0 )
0x7FB22FDFF700 14669 3 MSP430 MSP R: MSP430_OpenDevice( MSP430L092, , 0, 0x0, 0 ) = -1

Where the 4th argument for the MSP430_OpenDevice() call is :

DeviceCode:    Activation code for devices. Example: L092 or C092

The ccs1011/ccs/ccs_base/common/targetdb/devices/MSP430L092.xml file has:

<property Type="stringfield" Value="Normal mode = 0xA55AA55A;ROM mode = 0x5AA55AA5" id="EmulationMode"></property>

So, under Windows CCS is passing the activation code for the MSP430L092 "Normal mode" but under Ubuntu is passing the invalid value of zero.

I looked at different CCS versions installed under Ubuntu trying to start a debug session for a MSP430L092:

I.e. the problem appears to have been introduced between CCS 9 and 10.

Hi Hauke

You can try to install the low level driver 

Gary Gao said:

You can try to install the low level driver 

Installing that low level driver didn't fix the error I had when trying to start a debug session for a MSP430L092 connected to a MSP-FET when using CCS 10 under Ubuntu.

As I tried to explain in https://e2e.ti.com/support/tools/ccs/f/81/p/968394/3582300#3582300 the issue appears to be that the CCS 10 debug server under Linux is not passing the activation code required for the MSP430L092 (and RF430FR152H) device families in the MSP430_OpenDevice() call.

I am waiting for a RF430FRL152 HEVM to confirm the debug server logging for a RF430FRL152 device shows the same problem as with a MSP430L092.

Hi Chester

Ok, thanks for your comments,

Chester Gillon said:

So, under Windows CCS is passing the activation code for the MSP430L092 "Normal mode" but under Ubuntu is passing the invalid value of zero.

With CCS 10.2.0.00009 under Windows 10 can successfully start a debug session for a RF430FRL152H. The debug server log shows the activation code being passed in the call to MSP430_OpenDevice:

0x00001A18 8387 3 MSP430 MSP C: MSP430_OpenDevice( RF430FRL152H, , 0, 0xA55AA55A, 0 )
0x00001A18 12201 3 MSP430 MSP R: MSP430_OpenDevice( RF430FRL152H, , 0, 0xA55AA55A, 0 ) = 0

Whereas with CCS 10.2.0.00009 under Ubuntu an attempt to start a debug session for a RF430FRL152H fails with "MSP430: Error connecting to the target: Unknown device". The debug server log shows the invalid value of zero being passed for the activation code in the call to MSP430_OpenDevice, which returns an error:

0x7F1CEC21F700 5677 3 MSP430 MSP C: MSP430_OpenDevice( RF430FRL152H, , 0, 0x0, 0 )
0x7F1CEC21F700 11184 3 MSP430 MSP R: MSP430_OpenDevice( RF430FRL152H, , 0, 0x0, 0 ) = -1