Netduino home hardware projects downloads community

Jump to content


The Netduino forums have been replaced by new forums at community.wildernesslabs.co. This site has been preserved for archival purposes only and the ability to make new accounts or posts has been turned off.
Photo

No response from Netduino Mini

bootloader

Best Answer coose, 10 December 2013 - 07:54 PM

you are a dang genius!

or i'm an complete idiot.

 

either way, thanks for clearing me up on that. took the board to work and used a normal serial cable, and it responds now. i totally misunderstood what i had purchased.

 

i appreciate your quick response, professionalism, and obvious thorough knowledge of the product. across these forums, i can see how much help you have been to users of all levels.

 

thank you.

Go to the full post


  • Please log in to reply
7 replies to this topic

#1 coose

coose

    New Member

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts

Posted 10 December 2013 - 02:49 AM

Hi.

 

I have a Netduino mini, and everything was working fine. I decided to update to 4.2

 

I followed the instructions here:

http://forums.netdui...-v420-update-1/

 

Everything was fine until I erased it. I applied 5V to erase pad, turned it off, then turned it back on (5V regulated to pin 21). 

I have an FTDI Basic breakout board at 5V:

CTS => GND

GND => GND

RX => Pin1

TX => Pin2

 

SAM-BA tells me "Connection Fatal /  Communication Error".

 

I've switched the TX/RX wires (pins 1 and 2), supplied 9V to pin24 instead of 5V to pin21. still no luck. i measure 5V on pin 21 when supplying 9V to 24. I've tried pin 23 and 4 for the ground wire of the FTDI. I measure 5V on the FTDI also.

 

I can see the Tx LED flash on the FTDI when SAM-BA is trying to connect. About 1 Hz. Then it times out.

I've tried using SAM-BA v2.8.

 

I've tried different jumper wires and a different breadboard. But I get no response from the mini.

 

I've tried erasing again with 5V multiple times.

 

Anyone have any ideas? By trade, I'm a .NET developer and like the idea of sicking with that language, and would rather not go back to arduino if i can avoid it. but for $30, i have not even gotten a blinking LED sample running on this mini. 

 

Thanks.



#2 Chris Walker

Chris Walker

    Secret Labs Staff

  • Moderators
  • 7767 posts
  • LocationNew York, NY

Posted 10 December 2013 - 03:23 AM

Hi coose, Your FTDI breakout board... Is it RS-232 level or TTL logic level? Also--your FTDI board supplying power, correct? If not, have you connected GND to both the FTDI board and to your power supply's GND pin? Have you tried rebooting your computer, depowering and repowering the Mini, and *then* connecting via SAM-BA? When you successfully talk to the bootloader on the board, you'll probably get a very fast rapid flash on your serial adapter. A ~1Hz flash is consistent with pinging-but-with-no-reply-from-bootloader. Final note: a photo showing the whole setup may help here as well. Welcome to the Netduino community, Chris

#3 coose

coose

    New Member

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts

Posted 10 December 2013 - 04:39 AM

Thanks for the response. I was hoping that I had just done something stupid.

 

The FTDI can be set to either 3.3 or 5V. it came from the factory 3.3, and I set the jumper to 5V. When plugged into USB power, i read 5V across the FTDI VCC and Gnd pins.

 

I've tried power several different ways. I currently have it powered from the FTDI on pin 21, and grounded to the FTDI on pin 23.

 

I've rebooted, and tried several computers and several USB cables. I plug in the mini, then launch SAM-BA.

 

This is a brand new mini. I plugged it into the breadboard and followed the instructions here:

http://forums.netdui...y-instructions/

 

i was able to change the deployment port to TTL UART (before i changed the FTDI board to 5V). so it was responding. until i applied the 5V to the erase pad.

 

I have no computers that have a serial port, so i can't test with a standard RS232 connection.

 

My circuit seems pretty simple. I'm not sure how else to troubleshoot this.

I guess I could try to order a different FTDI cable?

 

Attached File  2013-12-09 22.24.40.jpg   103.49KB   0 downloads

 

Thanks.



#4 Chris Walker

Chris Walker

    Secret Labs Staff

  • Moderators
  • 7767 posts
  • LocationNew York, NY

Posted 10 December 2013 - 05:49 AM

Hi coose, Pins 1 and 2 on the Netduino Mini are RS-232 serial pins. They talk at +/-5V (up to +/-12V). So the signals are +5 and -5 volts, for example, rather than the +5 and 0V used by your current FTDI cable. If you pick up a cable or breakout which uses RS-232 levels, you should then be able to communicate with the chip's bootloader. Chris

#5 coose

coose

    New Member

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts

Posted 10 December 2013 - 07:54 PM   Best Answer

you are a dang genius!

or i'm an complete idiot.

 

either way, thanks for clearing me up on that. took the board to work and used a normal serial cable, and it responds now. i totally misunderstood what i had purchased.

 

i appreciate your quick response, professionalism, and obvious thorough knowledge of the product. across these forums, i can see how much help you have been to users of all levels.

 

thank you.



#6 coose

coose

    New Member

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts

Posted 11 December 2013 - 03:13 AM

i belive i spoke too soon.

 

once i got the TinyBooterDecompressor.bin flashed, it never asked me about locked regions. i power cycled it, and have not been able to connect to it again. bought a new USB/RS232 cable, used serial port from PC, nothing works.

 

methinks i just got a dud or killed it somehow.



#7 Chris Walker

Chris Walker

    Secret Labs Staff

  • Moderators
  • 7767 posts
  • LocationNew York, NY

Posted 11 December 2013 - 04:10 AM

Hi coose, Just erase it again and reflash TinyBooter. It should flash for a minute or two and then ask you about locked regions. Then you should read-back to verify that it was flashed properly. Also: if you flash the "RS232" TinyBooter, then you'll deploy TinyCLR via MFDeploy on pins 1/2 (RS-232); if you flash the "TTL" TinyBooter instead, then you'll need to deploy TinyCLR via MFDeploy on pins 11/12 (TTL serial). Whichever version you select...those are the pins you'll be using to deploy and debug your code. Chris

#8 coose

coose

    New Member

  • Members
  • Pip
  • 9 posts

Posted 12 December 2013 - 12:55 AM

after multiple attempts, i still couldn't get it. after flashing, MFDeploy wouldn't see it. Just kept saying "No Connection". I did use the RS232 version, and am using my USB=>serial cable.

 

turns out if i used mfdeploy.exe from the 4.1 sdk, it worked. 4.2 didn't, and older ones didn't.

 

but either way, i have a copy of mfdeploy from the 4.1 sdk msi, and i used that and all is well.

 

thanks again for your help.







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: bootloader

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

home    hardware    projects    downloads    community    where to buy    contact Copyright © 2016 Wilderness Labs Inc.  |  Legal   |   CC BY-SA
This webpage is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.