Check if a uC is alive or dead

tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-11

Posted on April 11, 2012 at 18:39

I wonder if someone could help me.

I recently have developed my own PCB board. I've soldered all the components, and now I want to starting downloading some firmware to the uC (STM32F407ZG - LQFP144pin).

For my surprise I can't connect my programmer to the uC via JTAG. I've contact my programer/ IDE supplier and after some check procedure we concluded that the programmer is OK and that it can't connect with my uC.

I've double checked all connections, and power supply. Everything seems to be OK. I have analysed the board and the schematic, and the power supply pins and, JTAG pins are well connected.

I've also measured 1.29V on the VCAP1 and VCAP2 pin.

But I can't comunicate with the device.

At this time, I would like to check if the uC is dead or alive, but I don't know how to procedure.

Do someone know if there is some pins where I can read a signal to check if the device is alive? I thought that the VCAP pin could be a start, but even with the 1.29V the device don't communicate with the programmer.

I've also turned the boot0 On and OFF (to enter in system memory). But the device don't react.

I've also turned the PDR_ON pin ON and OFF. And the device don't react.

Thank you all,

Best regards,

A.Paiva

Tesla DeLorean · ‎2012-04-13

Posted on April 13, 2012 at 18:28

Does someone know what does ''Cannot find debug component from ROM table'' mean?

This presumably would be a question to direct at your unspecified vendor.

Things to try might be to ensure the pod has the most current firmware or drivers.

You should also try to use SWD mode, although the full JTAG appears wired.

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tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-13

Posted on April 13, 2012 at 19:03

My IDE supplier has any proper answer for this. They told me to contact ST support.

I don't thing it hasn't anything to do with my ground plane, because I have designed a ground plane and I have also cleaned power supply, and also cleaned signal on VCAP pins.

It could be an external component connected to the device, but I assume that all the other pins (pins not required for programming and debugging) are configured from factory as inputs.

Monday I will try the SWD mode.

Thanks,

A. Paiva

tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 11:41

No news.

With SWD I have the same issue.

But somthing isn't ok with the JTDO signal.

See the follow scope picture.

Yellow - JTCK signal;

Green - JTDI signal,

Blue - JTMS signal;

RED - JTDO signall.

Regards,

A.Paiva

emalund · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 14:56

My IDE supplier has any proper answer for this. They told me to contact ST support.

whi is your ''IDE supplier''

I don't thing it hasn't anything to do with my ground plane, because I have designed a ground plane and I have also cleaned power supply, and also cleaned signal on VCAP pins

1) you can not have a solid ground plane on a 2 layer board

2) a clean power supply is good, but what about decoupling at the chips (max 1cm traces)?

Erik

tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 17:27

Hi Erik,

After some time working hard on this, I finaly can see something.

The external oscilator works! The PWM output example is also working.

I found an aplication called Flash loader.exe. I configured the boot mode to working in System memory mode (Boot0 = 0, Boot1 = 1).

Then I was able to transfer the firmware via UART1 using the above application.

But the main question, about accessing to the target via the JTAG interface, I is it still not working.

As soon as I have news, I will post here.

Regards,

A. Paiva

Tesla DeLorean · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 18:15

I can't explain the sagging TDO signal, and I don't think it's a ground plane problem. Most likely external circuitry.

What kind of parts do you have attached to TDO? All you might need is a 47K pull-up

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emalund · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 18:37

I don't think it's a ground plane problem

neither do I; my comments re. ground plane have been directed towards the unlikelihood that a 5ns chip will operate cleanly w/o a solid ground plane and a careful layout, especially of decoupling.

Erik

stated as 5ns rather that 167MHz since rise and fall times are the critical factor and will not change by reducing frequency.

tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-16

Posted on April 16, 2012 at 18:56

What kind of parts do you have attached to TDO? All you might need is a 47K pull-up

From startup I put a 10K pull up resistor for the JTRST, JTDI, JTMS and JTDO signals. And and 10K pull-down resistor on the JTCK, but after checking all that there was no bridges, and the target was correctly soldered, I started to remove the external components. And after removing the external components I get the above scope picture. The external components are not required because the target has it internal pull-up/down resistors. I read it somewhere.

tecnico23 · ‎2012-04-17

Posted on April 17, 2012 at 12:38

Hi,

As suspected, there was nothing to do with my board and nothing to do with the uC.

It was IDE version compatibility.

Thank you all,

Thank you Erik,

Thank you Clive1,

Best regards,

A. Paiva