Firmware update problem

Projects LimeSDR
22

i’ve never disconnected J13 (FX3 BOOT) jumper for update or boot, is that correct thing to do?

23

You would only need to remove it if you deliberately wanted to force the device into recovery mode, but if it is already in recovery mode. leave the jumper in place. With that jumper removed it would boot into recovery mode every single time that it is powered on whether there is valid firmwares on the two flash chips or not (FX3USB and FPGA). For a normal everyday flash updates, you would not touch J13.

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24

after programming your step a over USB2.0:

  1. i get two of same WX error message boxes
  2. then success upload message box
  3. then device disconnects
  4. it reconnects back as WestBridge
  5. connect to WestBridge from LimeSuiteGUI
  6. gw 0 rev 0 in device info
  7. i upload debug FX3 FW to RAM again
  8. connect to LimeSDR from LimeSuiteGUI
  9. gw 0 rev 0 in device info
25

I don’t have any more ideas now., sorry.

Are you sure you used FPGA programing in a) as success message that you posted says FX3?
Also ,when you get these ‘upload success’ messages, does the progress bar fills up or you get them right after clicking ‘Program’? (just thinking if there might be something wrong with status reporting)

26

yes, i’m sure, i just copy pasted wrong image without looking. sorry. updated image.

  • ‘upload success’ seems instant when uploading to FX3 RAM (i guess it should be that way for RAM)
  • it takes like a minute or so for upload to FX3 flash and progress bar fills up from 0% to 100%
  • and it’s longest for bitstream to flash fpga upload and progress bar fills up from 0% to 100%
27

All that looks normal.
Yes, RAM programming should be instant.
As program bar fills up it means that software gets ‘good’ responses from FX3 when uploading images. At this point, I am not sure what could be wrong. I will ask people working with FX3 and hardware to look into this issue.

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28

I have just remembered that you can also try program FX3 FW to flash using tools from Cypress that come with FX3 SDK (requires registration for download):
http://www.cypress.com/documentation/software-and-drivers/ez-usb-fx3-software-development-kit
On windows the tools is called ‘Control Center’ (CyControl.exe) while on linux version it’s ‘cyusb_linux’. As you are using both Linux and Windows, I think Windows version may be more user-friendly.

It uses a bit different method for programming FX3 Flash, so it may be worth a try.

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29

i’ve installed cypress drivers on windows and now LimeSDR device identified as Cypress FX3 USB BootProgrammer Device.
i’ve tried CyControl.exe now and it does exactly the same thing for me:

  • USB 2.0
    1. when i program debug FW version from Github to RAM: device disconnects and connects back as Myriad-RF LimeSDR-USB
    2. after that if i programm debug FW version from Github to SPI FLASH or just reset it: device disconnects and connects back as Cypress FX3 USB BootProgrammer Device (that is expected result for RAM reset ofc, but not for SPI FLASH)
  • USB 3.0
    1. when i program debug FW version from Github to RAM: device disconnects and never connects back
    2. after reset it comes back as Cypress FX3 USB BootProgrammer Device
    3. if i try to upload debug FW version from Github to SPI FLASH without RAM step device disconnects and never connects back
30

I see two possible scenarios here, it looks like you have run through the logical steps (but it would be worthwhile putting the board to one side and waiting until office hours in the UK when I’m sure that someone working for Lime Microsystems will chime in and say something totally obvious that we are all missing).

  1. The the J13 jumper is not connecting both pins, I’d remove it and reconnect it carefully (no force should be involved in removing or connecting it).
  2. That the FX3 USB flash chip is kaput.It could be a faulty part or a dry solder joint on the PCB.

P.S. if you are programming the flash using SPI, you should be using the current (flash) firmware and not the debug (RAM) firmware.

31
  1. There does not seem to be much of a gap between plastic part of jumper base and removable jumper part. Jumper needs no force to put on and seems to have no jiggling and sits nicely on it’s pins. I don’t see solder connection between jumper pins on the back of the board to the best of my magnifying glass magnified sight.
  2. The thing about something being faulty is that before first update on Windows 10 i could see LimeSDR as Myriad-RF LimeSDR-USB in Windows 10 device manager. There is still plenty of things that could go wrong though.

PS: I’ve tried CyControl.exe upload LimeSDR-USB_HW_1.3_r3.0.img to SPI FLASH with same results (not working). Would that be correct version of FX3 FW for my LimeSDR v1.4s?

32

I’d be inclined, if it was my board, to put it to one side and just wait until the true experts are about (which would be IMO be UK office hours on Monday, so ~33 hours from now).

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33

Hello @rndr,

Let us start from the beginning.
There is not enough power from USB2 to supply LimeSDR-USB board. Hence forget USB2 ports as well as USB2 not powered (or even powered) hubs. Connect the LimeSDR-USB board to the USB3 PC port directly.
Actually it looks like you do not power your board properly. I would try these options:

  1. This one is preferable in your case: do you have a proper external power supply? If yes, then try update procedure from my post you are referring to.
  2. If you do not have an external power supply, then connect the board directly to USB3 port and then try update procedure from my post you are referring to again.
  3. Proceed up to step 6, inclusive. Then reconnect USB cable and check how the board is described in device manager.
  4. Let me know about the result.

By the way, is there any possibility to try another machine with USB3? What is your PC or mother board?

34

Hello,

Arn’t 2headed usb cable that came with the board should be adressing power needs?

  1. I don’t have external power supply
      1. I will have access to board after work, so I can try that then, but I beleive I have already done steps you are adressing over direct USB3 connection or maybe USB3 powered hub (not sure, can’t remember now) here.

I believe I don’t have any other USB3 capable machine. I’ll recheck after work. Motherboard is ASUS P9X79 PRO.

35

Cable itself is not a power source, isn’t?

I am waiting for item 4 results, when connected to PC directly.

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36

Not a USB2 speed issue but a 5V power issue … i modified my Odroid-X2 many years ago to allow more power for a Displaylink-165 USB display. the consequence was that all the other ports now could supply more current …

I have no issue updating and running the LimeSDR-USB – except lower USB data throughput …

37
  1. i’ve connected 2 heads to 2 USB3 ports on PC and performed steps 1-6.
  2. step 6 performs successfully with “uploaded successfully” message box.
  3. after that board disconnects and never connects back on itself.
  4. after i reconnect USB cable and after that LimeSDR is Cypress FX3 USB BootLoader Device in device manager
38

Using not mine USB3 capable laptop i was able to:

  1. Use CyControl.exe to upload debug fw to fx3 flash
  2. Use LimeSuiteGUI to perform successful fw\gw auto update
  3. Check that device shows up as Myriad-RF LimeSDR-USB
  4. Check that Quick Test steps 1, 2 and 3 work (i stopped at 3 because i was being lazy, not because something didn’t work)

However, since i want to use my pc i’ve switched to my pc and:

  1. if i connect limesdr to my pc USB3 ports directly no device shows up in device manager (at all, not even a device without drivers, no sound, no windows error messages)
  2. if i connect limesdr to powered USB3 hub connected to USB3 pc port results are the same as with #1
  3. if i connect limesdr to unpowered USB2 hub connected to USB2 pc port device shows up as Myriad-RF LimeSDR-USB and when i open self_test.ini i get following error (which i guess is some power related issue):
  4. if i connect limesdr to powered USB3 hub connected to USB2 pc port device shows up as Myriad-RF LimeSDR-USB and i can perform quick test steps 1, 2 and 3 (i stopped at 3 because i was being lazy, not because something didn’t work)
  • USB2 ports on my motherboard are on different controller (they are on Intel X79 chipset)
  • I guess there is something wrong with ASMedia USB3.0 eXtensible Host Controller (name from device manager) or the way it communicates with limesdr or the way limesdr communicates with controller, i’ve updated controller driver to 1.16.38.1 and it didn’t help
  • I guess these might work too, i’ve not tried that:
    • connecting directly to 2 different USB2 pc ports
    • USB2 powered hub connected to USB2 pc port
  • I’ve not tried updating limesdr over #4 setup
  • I guess my problem is kinda resolved
  • I have no idea how much of a problem USB2-only would be for me
39

My current laptop is USB2 only and it works fine, updated and powers up without issue.
I am restricted to a 2.5MHz bandwidth but that is fine as I’m using it for ham use only right now.

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40

These are reported to have some issues.

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41

Anyone still with issues regarding Asmedia USB eXtensible host controller?
I followed all the steps above, but still not able to bring Cypress to LimeSDR!