Hello,
I have received the Production grade Lime Mini from Lime thanks! It has GW 1.24 and I can confirm it works well in SDRangel (Rx at least) with Lime Suite commit: https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite/commit/90c39911b4a5f3db6488c8b1a199734a5db37a0e
There has been a lot of new commits recently along with a new version of the gateware. I haven’t checked it yet as I wanted to make sure that GW upgrade would correct the previous errors. Indeed this is confirmed.
Best regards, Edouard.
@F4EXB Are you able to program your production grade Lime Mini? When I attempt to program it gives me “Read Errors”.
It works:
Connected to [LimeSDR Mini [USB 3.0] 1D3AC6E32E7C66]
[100%] 303104/303104 Bytes programming: completed (/home/f4exb/.local/share/LimeSuite/images/18.02/LimeSDR-
Mini_HW_1.1_r1.24.rpd)
Programming update complete!Hmm…that makes me think that my board is damaged or not working properly. I keep getting Read errors while trying to flash the device and it always fails.
@andrewback Any ideas as to why I can not program my LimeSDR Mini? Is it defective?
Here’s the logs from LimeSuite when I attempt to program:
[09:47:02] INFO: Reference clock 40.00 MHz
[09:47:02] INFO: Connected Control port: LimeSDR-Mini FW:5 HW:0 Protocol:1 GW:1.24 Ref Clk: 40.00 MHz
[09:47:12] INFO: CGEN frequency set to 61.439999 MHz
[09:47:36] ERROR: Programming failed! Read operation failed
[09:47:41] ERROR: Programming failed! Read operation failed
Edit: I am able to use the LimeSDR mini in applications like GQRX and SDRAngel mostly successfully. However, programming always fails.
Have you tried it using the command-line programming option: (i.e. ----> LimeUtil --update) ?
Let us know on that one, too - it could be that you just have a sour LimeSuite and need to reinstall.
73 de Marty, KN0CK
Yes, I’ve tried LimeUtil as well as the GUI with the same results. In regards to bad LimeSuite install - I’ve compiled from source, I’ve used the PPA packages, I’ve tried older/newer versions of LimeSuite, and I’ve tried to downgrade the gateware to an earlier version to no avail. I actually was forced to start from scratch on my desktop PC due to one of my drives failing in a BTRFS raid 0 earlier this week. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to get back up and running, but the bright side is I had a completely clean system and verified that my backups are mostly working. 
@jslatten - Justin,
…And as much as I hate to ask this…Do you have a Windows platform that you can check for similar results (or did I miss that somewhere in the posts)? Please keep us all advised - thanks,
73 de Marty, KN0CK
@martywittrock So after my system failure I had to re-install the Windows VM, but I get exactly the same error in Windows using the latest Pothos install with LimeSuite ver 18.02
Might be a corrupted image file. Can you delete any files locally cached, e.g. if I look on my machine I see:
andrew@snow:~$ ls .local/share/LimeSuite/images/18.03
LimeSDR-Mini_HW_1.1_r1.24.rpd LimeSDR-USB_HW_1.4_r2.14.rbf LimeSDR-USB_HW_1.4_r4.0.img
If you delete the files in the directory corresponding to the Lime Suite release and try updating again, it will re-download first.
I’ve tried deleting them and downloading them separately. I get the read errors regardless of how I attempt to program the device.
Just to check: this is a production board and not one of the pre-production developer boards?
@Zack, do you have anything else to suggest?
Correct, I purchased on Crowdsupply as part of the early bird backers
Hi @jslatten,
Actually, GW:1.24 is the latest for LimeSDR-Mini board. You do not have to update it.
Regarding programming failure. It looks like the software can not read the file. Permission issues?
Could you try to update it manually, please. Just download LimeSDR-Mini_HW_1.1_r1.24.rpd file from here: http://downloads.myriadrf.org/project/limesuite/18.03/
Next, choose Programming from Modules menu in LimeSuiteGUI. Select “FPGA FLASH” in Device drop-down box. Open the file you just downloaded and try to Program it.
@Zack I get the same error. It always says Programming failed! Read operation failed.
It does the same on my Ubuntu system, Windows system, etc…
I’ve used LimeUtil as well with the exact same Read Operation error. Something must be wrong here. I have no issues programming my other two LimeSDR USB devices.
Hello @Zack , all.
I downloaded and installed all the latest Pothos sw ( PothosSDR-2018.04.08-vc14-x64.exe ), including the specific LimeSDR-Mini windows test client.
I cannot update the board FW using LimeUtil --update (see error below).
I cannot set the board to defaults using LimeSuite GUI (see error below).
Here is the complete test sequence with messages I’m getting:
[ TEST STARTED ] ->Start time: Mon Apr 9 10:09:25 2018 ->Device: LimeSDR Mini, media=USB 3, module=FT601, serial=1D3548C90F6C5D, index=0 Serial Number: 1D3548C90F6C5D [ Clock Network Test ] ->REF clock test Test results: 20367; 33564; 46761 - PASSED ->VCTCXO test Results : 6710945 (min); 6711107 (max) - PASSED ->Clock Network Test PASSED [ FPGA EEPROM Test ] ->Read EEPROM data: 17 11 03 17 11 06 3 ->FPGA EEPROM Test PASSED [ LMS7002M Test ] ->Perform Registers Test ->External Reset line test Reg 0x20: Write value 0xFFFD, Read value 0xFFFD Reg 0x20: value after reset 0x0FFFF ->LMS7002M Test PASSED [ RF Loopback Test ] ->Configure LMS ->Run Tests (TX_2 -> LNA_W): ->On board loopback test: Test 1:(SXR=1000.0MHz, SXT=1005.0MHz, TXPAD=8): Result:(-58.8 dBFS, -6.72 MHz) - FAILED ->Configure LMS ->Run Tests (TX_1 -> LNA_H): ->On board loopback test: Test 1:(SXR=2100.0MHz, SXT=2105.0MHz, TXPAD=8): Result:(-4.2 dBFS, 0.01 MHz) - FAILED ->RF Loopback Test FAILED => Board tests FAILED <= Elapsed time: 11.35 seconds
Closed Test program and tried to update using LimeUtil --update but got these errors when hit “program” button:
started LimeSuite GUI and connected to board, recognized as follows with these GW/GW versions:
[10:11:01] INFO: Disconnected control port
[10:11:06] INFO: Reference clock 40.00 MHz
[10:11:06] INFO: Connected Control port: LimeSDR-Mini FW:5 HW:0 Protocol:1 GW:1.18 Ref Clk: 40.00 MHz
[10:32:36] ERROR: SetPllFrequency: timeout, busy bit is still 1
trying to update from LimeSuite GUI gives the same error messages of LimeUtil
board has red led blinking. cannot use the board after this.
trying to execute the Test program now i get FAILED on all 4 steps. Details:
[ TEST STARTED ]
->Start time: Mon Apr 9 10:44:27 2018->Device: LimeSDR Mini, media=USB 3, module=FT601, serial=1D3548C90F6C5D, index=0
Serial Number: 1D3548C90F6C5D[ Clock Network Test ]
->REF clock test
Read(64 bytes) failed
Read(64 bytes) failed
->REF clock test FAILED
->VCTCXO test
Read(64 bytes) failed
FAILED
->Clock Network Test FAILED[ FPGA EEPROM Test ]
->Read EEPROM
Error:Write failed
->FPGA EEPROM Test FAILED[ LMS7002M Test ]
->Perform Registers Test
SPI_write() failed
SPI_write() failed
SPI_write() failed
Read(64 bytes) failed
->LMS7002M Test FAILED[ RF Loopback Test ]
->Configure LMS
Read(64 bytes) failed
Failed to configure LMS
->RF Loopback Test FAILED=> Board tests FAILED <=
Elapsed time: 7.01 seconds
detached and reconnected USB3 cable
repeated the test program from step 2) and got again 3 tests ok on 4. Board is left with green led. Seems that this program sets correctly some board configuration. Something that LimeSuite GUI does not or does in the wrong way?
closed Test program and started SDR Console 3 that lists the board in this way:
even if the board is listed as UNKNOWN, i can connect and start listening FM radio as a test:
Could you please advise on how to proceed to upgrade the FW/GW.
Kind regards,
Mario
Hi @mariocannistra,
From this I can say that you have a pre-production board. The only way to update gateware is to use Altera USB Blaster in this case. Do you have an access to Altera USB Blaster?
Hi @Zack
Yes, it’s a pre-production board.
I don’t have access to an Altera USB Blaster.
Is that a JTAG programmer? I have this one but I’m not sure it is compatible:
http://www.watterott.com/en/Pocket-AVR-Programmer
I see there are prices ranging from 2 to 300 USD for the Altera USB Blaster… ?!
A bit strange for the kind of device… !
Any alternative process?
@Zack …the utility I’ve used in the past with the pocket-avr-programmer is avrdude
i just checked avrdude options on this page and seems that the altera programmer is supported:
Valid programmers are:
dasa3 = serial port banging, reset=!dtr sck=rts mosi=txd miso=cts [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:763]
dasa = serial port banging, reset=rts sck=dtr mosi=txd miso=cts [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:750]
siprog = Lancos SI-Prog http://www.lancos.com/siprogsch.html [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:737]
ponyser = design ponyprog serial, reset=!txd sck=rts mosi=dtr miso=cts [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:724]
frank-stk200 = Frank STK200 [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:689]
blaster = Altera ByteBlaster [C:\WinAVR\bin\avrdude.conf:676]
…
also, just noted that my pre-prod board does not have the jtag connector soldered… 
@Zack please discard my previous messages, just found and ordered an Altera USB Blaster from France.
When I will receive it, which command/sw tools should use and with which parameters ?
I’m struggling to find the pcb SWD 2x5 - 1.27 mm and making an order just of that item on digikey would be a bit overkill… will keep searching.
thank you,
mario
