Topic: FMC667: Using FMC flash prog to program Nor flash  (Read 13658 times)

Peter77 August 28, 2014, 07:11 AM

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Hi,
 
Can I check if it is possible to use the FMC667 flash prog in the BSP to write the fmcwebuart dat file into Nor flash? I am able to modify the FMC667 flash prog to read the fmcwebuart dat through ethernet and saves it into Nor flash starting from sector 0. A readback of the Nor flash shows the contents had been correctly saved, but the fmcwebuart fails to start in spi flash boot mode after reset. Is there any conversion required before saving the file into flash? We need this feature because we might need to update the fmc firmware in field without the uartOS in the VC707 board.
 
Thanks!
 

arnaudNL August 28, 2014, 07:36 AM (#1)

  • 4DSP Staff (EU)
  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7110
Dear Sir,


The problem here is that ISE has settings to place unused IOs to low or high, which is the case in the BIST reference design. Ultimately this causes the DSP to not receive the right bootmode.


Make sure to configure your VC707 in JTAG mode via the switch, check the attached picture. This will make sure no FPGA configuration is loaded from VC707 flash and therefor all the FPGA pins are in high impedance. Note that the flash is programmed with the webuart before shipping. So only power up the VC707 with FMC667 should boot the web/com server without problem, assuming you don't have a firmware tieing boot mode pins to 0 or 1!




Can you please let me know if that fixes your issue, if so I would like to close this topic.


Best Regards,
Arnaud

Peter77 September 02, 2014, 06:03 AM (#2)

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Hi Arnaud,
 
Thanks for the help! I am now able to program the nor flash with the web uart dat file(ready folder) provided in the bsp. However, I need to generate the dat file for flashing using machines running win xp. Can you show me the steps to generate the dat file from ti .out file? Or are you able to release the source code for Dat file creator so that I can compile it on my machine?
 
Regards

arnaudNL September 02, 2014, 09:34 AM (#3)

  • 4DSP Staff (EU)
  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7110
Dear Sir,


Windows XP does not exist anymore this is why we are not going to do anything about Windows XP.


I know it does not help you much but XP is not existing anymore and have high risk on any company networks so you should not use Windows XP anymore


What about installing the BSP on a Windows 7 machine, virtual or not?


Best Regards,
Arnaud







Peter77 September 03, 2014, 07:11 AM (#4)

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Hi Arnaud,
 
I can try to work around that by installing on a Win 7 machine, but we need to understand how to generate the dat file ourselves. If will be great if you can point us to the right direction. Can you show us the .rmd and .map file used by hex6x and romparse?
 
Regards

arnaudNL September 03, 2014, 09:34 AM (#5)

  • 4DSP Staff (EU)
  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7110



Dear Peter,


Creating a SPI boot programming file for TMS320C6678 is covered by TI, you have examples in the MCSDK from TI and this has nothing to do with the FMC667 itself nor being FMC667 specific. It is about creating a SPI boot programming file for a TI DSP, the TMS320C6678; We have been through these manual steps hundred times and then we decided to design a tool able to help 4DSP customers to create programming files as a courtesy but the source code is not disclosed and no further documentation is to be expected besides how to use the tool and this is covered by the documentation already.


The documentation you are looking for is a TI documentation, well a set of documentation. That would be between the main data sheet, the boot loader datasheet and the e2e forum.


Best Regards,
Arnaud

















Peter77 September 04, 2014, 05:40 AM (#6)

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Hi Arnaud,
 
I had followed the instructions to create a dat file from the fmcwebuart program with the tools provided in the bsp and had written the dat file to nor flash with the flash writer. However, the program failed to start upon powerup with the correct bootmode selected. The hardware is working as the fmcwebuart program is able to boot up and run when I flashed the nor flash using the fmcwebuart dat file in the ready folder of the bsp. Please help to see what could have gone wrong during the process. If possible, can you provide a working and tested fmcwebuart project that could be used to boot from nor flash directly for troubleshooting?
 
Thanks!

arnaudNL September 04, 2014, 07:27 AM (#7)

  • 4DSP Staff (EU)
  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7110
Dear Peter,


The project I used is the project installed along with the BSP but it is difficult to get right because there are a lot of difficulties in finding ccs/sysbios/ntk version which are compatible, etc.. Maybe you want to try to verify if your webuart works when loaded using CCS first, if that does not work it wont work from flash anyway.


The only thing I can tell you is the steps I would be taking to get going:


1) I would first create/use a software setting the PLL to a given frequency, use CCS to run this code and measure SYSCLK pad on the FMC667 to verify if that works as per the expectations. I would of course target L2 memory first because this does not require memory controller settings. (modified FMC667Pll800Mhz)
2) Then I would convert that known working project to a dat file and program this in the flash, I would power cycle the board and check for SYSCLK pad on the FMC667 to verify the SPI boot actually worked.
3) Then I would modify the software made one 1) to boot from DDR3 and not L2 anymore, again verifying that works using CCS upload. (That's the default FMC667Pll800Mhz, by default link on to DDR3)
4) Then I would convert that into a dat file, making sure to check the enable DDR3 configuration checkbox in the dat creator because without this your DDR3 memory is not going to work and your code will fail.
5) Then I would try to get the webuart project to compile, upload that using CCS verify if that works or not.
6) I would then convert that one to a .dat file and try to program.


If you have this as a requirement, we can provide you with a project for your target CCS version but you should discuss that with my colleagues from the sales department.


Best Regards,
Arnaud





Peter77 September 07, 2014, 09:37 PM (#8)

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10
Hi Arnaud,
 
I had built and flashed the fmcwebuart into nor flash. The card is able to power up successfully. Thanks for the help!
 
Thanks

arnaudNL September 08, 2014, 11:29 AM (#9)

  • 4DSP Staff (EU)
  • Administrator
  • Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7110
This topic is being closed because the issue is considered as resolved by 4DSP. Feel free to create a new topic for any further inquiries.