[SOLVED] MSP432 cannot be flashed

Davide · Jun 13th 2019, 10:33am

Hi
I have a J-Link for Arm 8.0 and I'm trying to flash an MSP432 with 1MB internal flash (MSP432P411Y).
The J-Link drivers are v6.44h.
If I try to program the chip with UniFlash from TI or with IAR Embedded Workbench (meaning, only image download without debugging), the tools report a programming failure. It seems that only the first 512KB can be programmed. Addresses above this limit cannot be programmed.

If instead of using the J-Link I use a TI MSP-FET debugger, everything works fine with the same image.
I guess there is a problem in the J-Link drivers that prevents the image to be flashed.

Any help would be very appreciated.
Regards.

SEGGER - Nino · Jun 13th 2019, 4:47pm

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry.
Such an issue is not known to us.
The UniFlash is not our software so we can't comment on it working or not.
But you should be able to Flash the MSP432P4 with Segger software like J-Link Commander or J-Flash.
They are available in your J-Link software install folder.
Could you try Flashing with J-Link Commander for example?
wiki.segger.com/J-Link_cannot_…ty_using_J-Link_Commander
After successful connect use command loadfile and specify the binary/hex that should be programmed.

Does that work?
If not could you provide a J-Link log file of the failing session?
wiki.segger.com/Enable_J-Link_log_file

Best regards,
Nino

Davide · Jun 14th 2019, 11:13am

Thank you for the reply
I think one of the problems is the erase algorithm.
I've tried the following:
IAR Embedded Workbench 8.32.1
Just create a dummy main.c project for the MSP432P411Y
Download the dummy project in the target
Now in the memory window, select Flash as memory
Now try to fill the flash with 0x0 from address 0x0 length 0x100000 (1MB)
Then go at address 0x80000 (upper 512KB start): the memory has NOT been filled!
If you try to fill from address 0x80000 for length 0x80000 (upper 512KB), it doesn't work either.
Also with the JLink commander, if I issue an Erase command, the upper 512KB are not ereased.

Edit: I've also tried with a J-Trace for Cortex-M V3.2, same result. I've downloaded the latest J-Link drivers (6.46f), same result.

SEGGER - Nino · Jul 25th 2019, 12:09pm

Hello,

The issue could not be reproduced using our Flash algorithm.
To get IAR as an error source out of the equation could you try the following using J-Flash?

Open J-Flash in your J-Link install directory
Create example project for your device
Disable the info Flash bank under Options->project settings->Flash->Flash Bank->Select Bank 1->Select Disable Flash Bank->Press OK
Erase target device (F4)
Create 1 MB Testdata with Target->Test->Generate Test Data->Start 0x0 Size 0x100000
Program and Verify (F6)

If this succseeds then programming and verifying Flash content was successfull.
You can also read back manually with Target->manual programming->Read Back->Entire Chip
so you can see for your self.

What is the result of this test for you?
If this is working it can be that the IAR Flash loader is broken.
To disable it and use our Flash loader instead see here:
wiki.segger.com/IAR_EWARM#Using_the_J-Link_Flash_loader

Best regards,
Nino

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