SensorTile.box does not power up after FOTA firmware upload

[francus76]

I have a big issue with the STEVAL MKSBOX1V1. I was making some attempts to work with the Vibration Monitoring Example (made up of "Training" and "Compare" sub-processes). After having successfully run the example on the firmware preloaded on the SensorTile.box, I made some changes to the examples in order to stream data over Bluetooth, so I uploaded a custom firmware. Af this the SensorTile proposed to me to upgrade to firmware 3.4.9, so I accepted it and the new firmware was correctly uploaded. I noticed however that the example didn't work correctly anymore, since the "switch lamp" that should be light-on only when an anomaly vibration was detected, was always lighted on after the firmware upgrade. 

So I checked the possibility to swap to previous firmware version, but no possibility was provided within the app and on the ST site, associated to the  STEVAL MKSBOX1V1, I found only one firmware with description "SensorTile.box firmware OTA function restore". In the details "The STSW-MKSBOX1_BL firmware allows you to restore the ability to upgrade firmware over the air (FOTA) in the event that FOTA functionality is overwritten or deleted due to a custom firmware upload.", so I believed that, uploading this firmware, I could be again able to upgrade the firmware via FOTA to the most desired firmware version. Downloaded the file on the smartphone, I uploaded it to the SensorTile via the ST BLE Sensor app. 

After correctly uploading it, the app said the board would restart after disconnecting and from that moment the board is dead (it is no more recognized from the pc when connected to USB neither any led blinks on the STEVAL).

I read later in this post ((https://community.st.com/t5/mems-sensors/sensortile-box-steval-mksbox1v1-doesn-t-turn-on-and-some-more/td-p/82904) that:

* the vibration example does not run correctly on the last firmware version, but runs in previous versions (<=3.4.7)

* the same boot problem was already occurred in the past to another user. I have already tried the procedures suggested in that post (and in the linked one), but, even after disconnecting the battery, pressing the power button, connecting the USB cable and releasing the POWER button, the STEVAL remains off and cannot be detected by the STM32Programmer. The board cannot be used anymore.

The cable I am using was able, before the problem, to correctly transfer data between pc and SensorTile and show the STEVAL memory card content as a removable partition on the pc.

So my question is: how is it possible the firmware upload has harmed the SensorTile.box? And: how it is possible to recover it? I am just wondering why on the ST site there is  a link to a firmware that potentially can harm the SensorTile and no link to version 3.4.7, 3.4.6 and previous firmware versions...

Thanks in advance to experts who can help me with this big issue.

[Federica Bossi]

Hi @francus76 ,

Here you find all the information to restore the STEVAL MKSBOX1V1.

[francus76]

Hello Federica,

just a brief question. The firmware you have pointed out was the one I have uploaded by FOTA and that "killed" the SensorTile.box. After this the SensorTile cannot be recognized by the STM32CubeProgrammer and no led is active anymore. As far as I understand, I should be able to restore its functionalities if I connect it to the STM32CubeProgrammer via the STLink V2 connector with the schema described in the instructions. In this way, therefore, I will be able to send the firmware to the board, even if now it doesn't react in any way trying to connect to a USB supply. Correct?

Thanks,

Francesco

[Federica Bossi · Accepted solution]

Hi @francus76 ,

Here the steps to follow:

1. connect the sensortile to PC via USB and STLink as picture with battery unconnected

2. open the STCubeProgrammer and set STLink as programmer

3. connect to the sensortile, now can you see the flash memory content

click the second icon, browse the BLEFOTA_BL_1.0.0.bin file in the FOTA folder (https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/stsw-mksbox1-bl.html) and set all parameters as in the picture below:

4. start program

5. then, restart the sensortile (unplug and plug the sensortile USB) and you can see by the smartphone app the board ST.BOOT

6. connect to st.boot and you see the firmware upgrade request

7. start the firmware upgrade, when the upgrade is terminated, restart the sensortile and the smartphone app

[francus76]

Thanks Federica for the patience and the detailed description. At the moment I cannot test it, since I've not a ST Link V2 programmer and it is not available on all the online sites until end July... I am considering to buy a compatible programmer, but I don't know if it will suite for the specific operation I have to do. 

[francus76]

Another question Federica: the provided solution seems to allow the boot with a basic firmware that should allow later to download and install the latest firmware via app. Since all my problem started trying to downgrade the board from latest firmware version 3.4.9 to 3.4.7 (the vibration monitoring example was not working with the latest firmware), how can I install on the board the firmware 3.4.7? Where is it possible to find the related bin file? Thanks, Francesco

[francus76]

I successfully restored the board using the ST Link V2 as described. Just a tip for other users: the guide states that "Pin 1 is labeled on both parts and should be connected with the cable pin 1 (black wire)." If you are using the cable provided with SensorTile.Box, you have a bus with a red wire. Connection on ST Link JTAG Adapter cannot be done uncorrectly, but you will see the red wire is not connected to the PIN 1 on the adapter. For this reason, when connecting the bus on the SensorTile, just be sure that the PIN 1 on the JTAG Adapter is connected to the PIN 1 on the SensorTile, regardless on the color of the wire, otherwise it will not work.

Another tip: if you want to restore the board and have another working firmware at disposal, you can avoid passing through the BLEFOTA_BL_1.0.0.bin, but you can flash directly that firmware.