STEVAL-WBC86TX -> Bricked accidentally, any chance of recovery?

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

Hello,

So I recently received the dev board STEVAL-WBC86TX and was quite impressed with the features. Accidentally the wrong config ID was written to the board. Now I cannot connect to it again using the Windows utility.

The USB to I2C appears to be working normally, but there is an error in the log and the device never connects successfully in the GUI, thus, I cannot flash the original config and nvm patch files from the website, provided as STSW-WBC86FWBPP.

[TX]WBC86 connection ex: Wrong config id 0xDA06 and patch id 0x0000 for TX"

I thought I could edit WBC86.json.enc, which probably contains which ID and such... I'm guessing this is encrypted json.

Is there a way to hard reset this chip to restore connectivity to the dev board?

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

Managed to get it working again by glitching the i2c pin as the program tries to read the config id / patch id over the bus. Flashed the stock firmware for both patch and config after that.

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

We accidentally flashed (Few Times Programmable) an STWLC38 with the nvpatch of an SWBC86. The chip is now non-functional, but still appears at 0x61 on the i2c bus. The WPC Studio won't connect to it as Empty or RX.

Anyone have any ideas how flash it again?

A similar thread doesn't have any technical details: https://community.st.com/t5/power-management/stwbc86-ftp/td-p/58861

[willzhou]

Hi
Please include "Wireless charging" tag so i can get notices.

Please use bash command line, like this

@Echo off
REM use tool and command line to down fw to chip
set memh_patch="STSW-WBC86FWBPP\STEVAL-WBC86TX_nvmpatch_1242.memh"
set memh_cfg="STSW-WBC86FWBPP\STEVAL-WBC86TX_config_120D_BPP.memh"
"STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe" fw -d WBC86 -p %memh_patch% -c %memh_cfg%
pause

also i have attach the file

[willzhou]

please use command line for wlc38

@Echo off
REM use tool and command line to down fw to chip
set memh_patch="STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_nvmpatch_1437.memh"
set memh_cfg="STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_config_1F46_EPP.memh"
"STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe" fw -d WLC38 -p %memh_patch% -c %memh_cfg%
pause

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

Thanks for the prompt reply... Usually these forums are so slow until you got here :)

The command didn't work... I get a non-descriptive error message:

Tried like this:

C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>"STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe" fw -d WLC38 -p "STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_nvmpatch_1437.memh" -c "STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_config_1F46_EPP.memh" -o "log.txt"

Results:

STSW-WPSTUDIO command line V1.1.0
ERR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Or like this:

C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>@Echo off
C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>REM use tool and command line to down fw to chip
C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>set memh_patch="STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_nvmpatch_1437.memh"
C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>set memh_cfg="STSW-WLC38FWEPP\STEVAL-WLC38RX_config_1F46_EPP.memh"
C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>"STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe" fw -d WLC38 -p %memh_patch% -c %memh_cfg%

Results:

STSW-WPSTUDIO command line V1.1.0
ERR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Lastly, tried as the .bat files attached above... it does not work

C:\Windows\System32>cd "C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0"

C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 2E66-181D

Directory of C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0

06/10/2024 10:27 AM <DIR> .
05/07/2024 07:34 AM 272 a1_wlc38_downfw.bat
05/07/2024 07:34 AM 272 a2_wbc86_downfw.bat
06/10/2024 10:19 AM 1,005 DataFile.bin
06/10/2024 10:23 AM 1,984 log.txt
06/10/2024 10:14 AM <DIR> Project
06/10/2024 10:14 AM <DIR> STSC-STWLC98-STEVAL-WLC98RX
06/10/2024 10:14 AM <DIR> STSC-STWLC99-STEVAL-WLC99RX
06/10/2024 10:14 AM <DIR> STSW-WBC86FWBPP
06/10/2024 10:14 AM <DIR> STSW-WLC38FWEPP
03/12/2024 04:42 PM 6,152,856 STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe
5 File(s) 6,156,389 bytes
6 Dir(s) 208,621,858,816 bytes free

C:\STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.0>a1_wlc38_downfw.bat
STSW-WPSTUDIO command line V1.1.0
ERR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Usage:
STSW-WPSTUDIO.exe fw -d {DeviceType} -p {PatchFile} -c {ConfigFile} -o {LogFile}
-d DeviceType : target device type
-p PatchFile : path to patch file
-c ConfigFile : path to config file
-o LogFile : path to log file (optional)

Press any key to continue . . .

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

It did not work on my soft bricked STWLC38.

The tool did work to flash an STWBC86 that already has a correct nvmpatch + config. This rules out any driver issues.

The device still shows up on i2c bus as 0x61 and thus is still communicating... But is in a state that the tool doesn't want to flash it. 

My guess is it tries to read some chip ID or other values over I2C, then doesn't create the necessary device object, which is null and error's out.

[willzhou]

HI

Sorry i am not very clear, please check this attach file.

[AnkhInnovationsLLC]

Hi @willzhou ,

Yes, it's clear but it does not solve the problem.

C:\Windows\System32>cd C:\Tool

C:\Tool>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 2E66-181D

Directory of C:\Tool

06/11/2024 04:20 PM <DIR> .
05/07/2024 07:34 AM 272 a1_wlc38_downfw.bat
05/07/2024 07:34 AM 272 a2_wbc86_downfw.bat
06/11/2024 04:20 PM <DIR> STSW-WBC86FWBPP
06/11/2024 04:20 PM <DIR> STSW-WLC38FWEPP
03/12/2024 03:42 AM 6,152,856 STSW-WPSTUDIO V2.2.5.exe
3 File(s) 6,153,400 bytes
3 Dir(s) 211,396,284,416 bytes free

C:\Tool>a1_wlc38_downfw.bat
STSW-WPSTUDIO command line V1.1.0
ERR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Usage:
STSW-WPSTUDIO.exe fw -d {DeviceType} -p {PatchFile} -c {ConfigFile} -o {LogFile}
-d DeviceType : target device type
-p PatchFile : path to patch file
-c ConfigFile : path to config file
-o LogFile : path to log file (optional)

Press any key to continue . . .

[willzhou]

Hi

How about you add -o testlog.txt to export some logs