Nucleo-f446ze short circuit after try to inject simulink program

Kurotenma · ‎2025-01-24

Hello

I have questions about Nucleo-F446ZE. So basically my company already has Simulink and Matlab for new members to learn MBD, and my company also has Nuleo-F446ZE. Previously, I tried to inject the program from Simulink to the Arduino device to make sure that the embedded coder was working and the result was that the program was successfully injected. Then I tried to increase the level to STM32 where we chose Nucle-F446ZE as a test.

When I first connected the Nucleo Board to the computer, everything was fine and there was nothing strange. However, when I tried to inject a simple blink program with LED buildin from simulink to the nucleo board, it failed even though I had followed the official tutorial given. After I observed it, it turned out that the overcurrent LED was lit on the board and when I touched the MCU it was very hot. Then I checked the 3.3V line with GND and found that there was a short that was not there before.

My question is whether a program injection error can make the MCU short like this? Or did I just get a defective device?

For additional information, this Nucleo board is a new item, and when I asked this problem to my seniors, all of them also did not understand.

Thank you.

Javier1 · ‎2025-01-24

this smells like bad wiring of Nucleo-F446ZE.

Ive had your issue in the past due to bad grounding, for example the famous combo PC + Oscillocope probe.

>>My question is whether a program injection error can make the MCU short like this? Or did I just get a defective device?
You or someone else's before you messed up wiring.

we dont need to firmware by ourselves, lets talk

Andrew Neil · ‎2025-01-24

@Kurotenma wrote:
my company already has Simulink and Matlab .

So there must be experienced colleagues there who can help you with this?

It's far easier for someone local to help you - as they can see the actual board that you have, how you have it set up, etc, etc ...

@Kurotenma wrote:
to learn MBD, .

What do you mean by that?

@Kurotenma wrote:
My question is whether a program injection error can make the MCU short like this?

We really don't know what has actually happened, and diagnosing would really need physical access to that board.

Hence, again, it would be best to get your supervisor to look at this.

In general, no - just loading code will not cause a "short".

However, as @Javier1 said, there could be a fault with your wiring, or you could have accidentally shorted against some stray metal object or wire, etc, etc, ...

Another possibility is that your code creates an excessive current draw.

@Kurotenma wrote:
when I asked this problem to my seniors, all of them also did not understand.

Did they physically examine the board, take measurements, check your code etc?

Perhaps get one of them to contribute here with what they observed ...

Kurotenma · ‎2025-01-24

So actually I didn't connect any circuit, just the board to the computer. Can that still cause something like this to happen? Or is there another cause? And how can I prevent this from happening again??

Kurotenma · ‎2025-01-24

My supervisor has tried to diagnose the problem. But he still hasn't found anything unusual because I only connected the nucleo board to the PC and nothing else. I assumed that this was due to ESD, but I'm still not sure if ESD is the main problem or not.

SofLit · ‎2025-01-24

Hello @Kurotenma and welcome to the community,

Simulink is a too provided by ST but by Mathworks. You can use their community to ask a question about Simulink.

But need to check if your board is alive or not you can use STM32CubeProgrammer and try to connect over STLINK.

To give better visibility on the answered topics, please click on "Accept as Solution" on the reply which solved your issue or answered your question.
PS: This is NOT an online support (https://ols.st.com) but a collaborative space. So please be polite in your reply. Otherwise, it will be reported as inappropriate and you will be permanently blacklisted from my help/support.

Andrew Neil · ‎2025-01-24

@SofLit wrote:
Simulink is a too provided by ST but by Mathworks.

You mean, "a tool not provided by ST, but by Mathworks" ?

@Kurotenma definitely look/ask on the Mathworks forum to see if other Simulink users have seen anything similar.

As it's a company, you presumably have a licence and, thus, support from Mathworks?

SofLit · ‎2025-01-24

@Andrew Neil wrote:

@SofLit wrote:

Simulink is a too provided by ST but by Mathworks.

You mean not provided by ST, but by Mathworks?

Yes indeed. It was a typo. I meant to say: Simulink is not a tool provided by ST but by Mathworks.

To give better visibility on the answered topics, please click on "Accept as Solution" on the reply which solved your issue or answered your question.
PS: This is NOT an online support (https://ols.st.com) but a collaborative space. So please be polite in your reply. Otherwise, it will be reported as inappropriate and you will be permanently blacklisted from my help/support.

Andrew Neil · ‎2025-01-24

@Kurotenma still not sure what "MBD" is here?

Andrew Neil · ‎2025-01-24

@Kurotenma wrote:
I assumed that this was due to ESD, but I'm still not sure if ESD is the main problem or not.

Again, we know nothing about your environment - so can't tell if that's likely.

Do you get a lot of issues with ESD causing major failures like this?

Possibly more likely is a short to a stray wire, or a short due to placing on or touching a metal or conductive surface.

As @Javier1 suggested, sometimes mains equipment can give unexpected shorts via the mains protective ground.

You said your company has this set up for starters - so presumably it's been used before? Has anyone else ever had this problem?

Your Nucleo board has a break-off ST-Link part - so you could try breaking it off, to see if the fault is in the ST-Link or the Target.

The board also has various supply jumpers - maybe they can help you isolate where the problem is...

See the User Manual and Schematics for the board.