ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

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Tony
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ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

I have recently purchased 2 MSP430 Launchpads.
Installed Code Composer Studio v5
Completed BlinkLED introduction project... success. 8)
Altered Project Code to cause both servos to twitch in tandem with LED Blink... success. Razz:
Installed FET-Pro430 -lite
Opened ServoChron Project

Auto Program FAIL :yikes:
JTAG Comm FAIL :yikes:
Verify Fuse FAIL :yikes:

Everything works fine in CCS5
Nothing works in FET-Pro

What am I doing wrong?
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U.S. Water Rockets1
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by U.S. Water Rockets1 »

Tony wrote:I have recently purchased 2 MSP430 Launchpads.
Installed Code Composer Studio v5
Completed BlinkLED introduction project... success. 8)
Altered Project Code to cause both servos to twitch in tandem with LED Blink... success. Razz:
Installed FET-Pro430 -lite
Opened ServoChron Project

Auto Program FAIL :yikes:
JTAG Comm FAIL :yikes:
Verify Fuse FAIL :yikes:

Everything works fine in CCS5
Nothing works in FET-Pro

What am I doing wrong?
DOH: BO:
When we made the ServoChron we didn't think people would want to have to download and install the entire CCS package, just to load the software, so we found the FET-Pro lite software would do the same thing without the complex download/install process of CCS. The problem you are having is something that nobody else has reported, so it could be something simple.

For example, if you run the FET-Pro lite software when the CCS debugger is active, the download will fail. Make sure that CCS is shut down when loading with FET-Pro lite.

It is also possible that the driver locked up and a simple reboot of the PC will set it straight.

Another thing that might be related is a minor issue. ServoChron was created for the launchpad Version 1.4 and earlier. If you load it onto a newer launchpad with FET-Pro, the software will alert you that the version is different and you have to tell the FET-Pro lite software to load the ServoChron anyway and ignore the warning.

See if any of these suggestions helps.
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Tony
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

Win 7 64bit
FET Pro430 Lite v3.0-9
MSP430G2553

I do NOT have the hardware FET, just the laptop, a USB cable, and the MSP430. I hope I do not need to purchase more hardware to make ServoChron work.

I didn't want to have to install CCS, but after failing several times to connect to the Launchpad with FET Pro I figured it might be a good way to determine if the boards were functional or not. I have no experience with programming, so there was a little learning to do, but eventually I got the blink test working. I assume at this point that both of my MSP430s are fully functional.

I've uninstalled/reinstalled the FET software with several variations with and without reboot. I've ran the FET USB driver installer (64bit) more than once at various stages in my reinstall attempts. I've installed the Non-Lite FET Pro Software (but it wouldn't run without the FET hardware)...that software gave me more, possibly copies of same, drivers for the USB FET. Since it didn't function at all I have uninstalled it (and rebooted).

Without anything but FET Pre430 lite running, MSP430 connected, ServoChron project loaded, correct MC Type selected, when I hit AUTO PROG all I see is FAIL.

Closing FET PRo Lite and opening CCS I can debug the BlinkLED project and the MSP430 functions correctly.

I don't want to redistribute the code, I just want to get my Dual-Servo Parachute-Release device to operate correctly. This would be really awesome if I could get it to work. Is the code available as a CCS readable file? I am certain I could load it that way, but I have not been able to find it in that format. Opening the ServoChron Project file as it is with CCS yields unintelligible code, so I imagine it wasn't written for CCS.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Tony
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by U.S. Water Rockets »

Tony wrote: Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Try opening up the FET-Pro430 lite application and open the ServoChron 2 project file.

When you press "Auto Program" you will get a warning like this if you have a new model MSP430 Launchpad. If something else is wrong or you have an older Launchpad, you probably won't get this message:
Warning message for new MSP430. Just click "YES" to continue.
Warning message for new MSP430. Just click "YES" to continue.
warning.PNG (9.9 KiB) Viewed 52 times
When you've done that, the software should continue to load and finish with "PASS". If not, look over this screen capture and see if any of the settings are different than the ones that show up on your screen when it fails for you.
Successful programming.
Successful programming.
fet_pro.PNG (44.86 KiB) Viewed 52 times
Please pay close attention to the settings circled in RED. These could be the issue with your setup. If your software does not match, go to the menu Setup>Connection/Device Reset and open the setup dialog and change the port settings to match the window below:
Port Setup dialog settings
Port Setup dialog settings
setup_port.png (24.42 KiB) Viewed 52 times
Give this a try and see if it helps!
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

I'm still trying, but it still fails. Could it be a COM2 vs COM3 problem? Should the USB drivers be installed from a specific directory? I ran UpdateDriver64 from a ServoChron sub directory. Is there any way of checking?

I never saw the Warning screen you showed.
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by U.S. Water Rockets »

Tony wrote:I'm still trying, but it still fails. Could it be a COM2 vs COM3 problem? Should the USB drivers be installed from a specific directory? I ran UpdateDriver64 from a ServoChron sub directory. Is there any way of checking?

I never saw the Warning screen you showed.
Is there any way you can load the Fet Pro Lite software on another computer and give it a try? Assuming neither one of your launchpads is working, the only variable would be the computer. The FET-Pro software uses a particular USB driver to talk to the MSP430 programming section of the Launchpad that could be in conflict with another driver on your PC.

Something else you may try that could help is to launch the FET-Pro lite software as "adminstrator". Use the right mouse button to click on the Fet-Pro lite application and bring up the context menu so you can pick "Run as administrator" and see if that helps.

You could also try and go to the Fet-Pro-lite port setup dialog and try and manually point the program to the MSP430.dll that it installed on your machine when you installed it.

Give that a try.
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

I downloaded MSP430 Flasher from TI, apparently it comes with the latest MSP430.dll file available.

I haven't ran it, yet, but I did point FET-Pro430 to the new file via Setup, Connection, Used Adapter.

Still failed. Lots of effort, no progress. Still trying.
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

Tried again, thought I saw some promising feedback, but it was still a failure to communicate.

Nothing yet. Will try another computer tomorrow.
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Tony
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

Still no luck.
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by U.S. Water Rockets »

Tony wrote:Tried again, thought I saw some promising feedback, but it was still a failure to communicate.

Nothing yet. Will try another computer tomorrow.
It's not clear what you were doing in this screen capture, because you have no firmware file project loaded. If you try and auto program with no file loaded it may not like it.

With no firmware file loaded and the software configured for USB and Spy-Bi-Wire, you should be able to perform a blank-check on the chip, or a read of the chip memory. If you cannot get that to work, then the problem is 100% certain to be in the MSP430.dll or Fet-Pro-lite software having a compatibility issue with your PC or some program you have installed.

We looked around on the TI website, and Elprotronic website, and nobody else seems to be having the same exact issue as you are. There are other people with programming problems related to hardware programmers and their own custom cables, but nothing using a simple launchapd out of the box.

What version of Winodws are you using? We could try and see if that has something to do with it.
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Blenderite »

Hmm. I never had these problems that Tony is saying he has. I had Win7 64-bit as well and that worked fine. I doubt that is your issue. Have you tried uninstalling the FET Pro-lite and reinstalling? That could help. Also, you can check to see if CSS is started when you boot into Windows. That could cause a issue even though you didn't open the program. You could try uninstalling CSS and FET Pro-Lite and then reinstalling FET. That might do the trick. You can make sure that you have the 64-bit version of FET. Even though 32-bit programs usually work on 64-bit systems, it is worth a double check. Also, if you have a 32-bit FET Pro-Lite and a 64-bit drivers, that could cause the FET Pro-lite to communicate wiht the drivers.
U.S. Water Rockets1 wrote: When we made the ServoChron we didn't think people would want to have to download and install the entire CCS package, just to load the software, so we found the FET-Pro lite software would do the same thing without the complex download/install process of CCS. The problem you are having is something that nobody else has reported, so it could be something simple.
Personally, I would love to have the code for ServoChron!

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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by Tony »

SUCCESS!!!

I sent an e-mail to support@elprotronics and a very helpful person replied with several suggestions. None of them worked.

About an hour ago I received a follow up e-mail saying the code was corrected in FET-Pro430 (it now supports ALL MSP430 MCUs) and suggested I download the latest release and give it a try. It worked FLAWLESSLY!

Tomorrow I finish the build on my second ServoChron2 and start testing its functionality.

I am excited again. PH:
"Houston, we've had a problem..."
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Re: ServoChron FET-Pro430 lite Set Up Problems

Post by U.S. Water Rockets »

Tony wrote:SUCCESS!!!

I sent an e-mail to support@elprotronics and a very helpful person replied with several suggestions. None of them worked.

About an hour ago I received a follow up e-mail saying the code was corrected in FET-Pro430 (it now supports ALL MSP430 MCUs) and suggested I download the latest release and give it a try. It worked FLAWLESSLY!

Tomorrow I finish the build on my second ServoChron2 and start testing its functionality.

I am excited again. PH:
We're glad you got it working and apologize for the trouble you had with the software. At least it was not a bug in our work. :yes: