Tool Selection - Crucial Production Machine Backup existing program

[ACra.1]

STM32 community,

I am the junior graduate electronics engineer who is taking over an important R&D project and need advice on ensuring the functionality of an existing circuit that is crucial for our company. Unfortunately, the lead engineer who developed the firmware for this circuit has departed as part of a dispute, leaving us without access to the source code. We do have access to the electronic design files such as schematics and board layouts.

The device is using a STM32F103RCT6 mcu and I was not involved in the original development process, but am now being thrown into the cold here :\

We already have other PCBs built but do not have the firmware loaded on these. We have an upcoming opportunity where this piece of equipment will not be in use during production and we would like to seize this opportunity to create a backup copy of the existing firmware in order to ensure we can continue to use and maintain the equipment in the future.

I would like to mention that I already have experience with Arduino, Teensy, ESP32, and Raspberry Pi development, but not with the STM32 development environment. Additionally, we have a number of debugging devices left, which can be seen in the attached images, but we are unsure if these are genuine and if any of these can be used for this task. Any suggestions or advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.

[Tesla DeLorean · Accepted solution]

1 Bootleg ST-LINK/V2

2 Bootleg USB ISP (AVR / Arduino?)

3 Some STC15W204S 8051 adapter

4 FTDI Serial adapter

5 Segger J-Link

6 Serial adapter cable

The J-Link or ST-LINK/V2 would perhaps be most use.

The ST-LINK/V2 with STM32 Cube Programmer or ST-LINK Utilities should be able to pull firmware from an unprotected STM32F103

The system boot loader mode for the STM32F1 might be usable via a serial adapter, and STM32 Cube Programmer in COM/UART connectivity mode. Reset STM32 with BOOT0 pin pulled high. Access via USART1 PA9/PA10 (see also app note AN2606)

[ACra.1]

Thank you for your response. This matter is quite pressing, so I appreciate your promptness.

In order to ensure successful firmware retrieval during the scheduled production stop, I need to prepare properly. You confirmed my suspicion that some of the devices may not be genuine, but rather clones. Can you please advise on the best way to ensure that the devices you recommend will be reliable for the 12-hour window I have been given?

This project is putting a lot of pressure on me, and I am somewhat nervous about the possibility of bricking the device. I have access to some other boards and PCBs with older, non-functioning firmware that I can use for testing. I may perform a practice run in the coming days and provide an update.

To that end, I have opened up the Segger J-Link and taken photos of its internals and rear. I have concerns that this device is also a cheap clone and not an original. This raises questions about whether our previous engineer took the genuine devices and left us with the fakes, which would add to our difficulties. I do not have enough evidence to make an accusation, but I do wonder if this is a possibility.

Images are attached.

As far as I know, none of our hardware has been protected or had its lock-bits set, as there was no need given that it was used internally only. However, there is always a chance that our former colleague locked us out as part of the dispute that led to his departure. Personally, from my brief time working with him, I view this as a major loss for the company as he was a very talented engineer and also a great mentor, whose work was greatly underappreciated.

The planned production stop is on March 4th, with March 5th as a backup.

Thank you for your continued support. I am grateful for your help with this matter.

[ACra.1]

Yeah,

suspicion confirmed. All of the devices left behind are cheap clones.

Just received the paperwork from our purchasing department, that shows the Segger J-link purchased 3 years ago from OEM.

So he did leave taking the originals then, leaving me with the scraps.

Well guess I give the clones a try with the older spare revisions, to see if this can be done at all.

Will post updates in the coming days, regarding connections and config.

Thanks