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FlashBurn: Frequently Asked Questions
I have connected to the target (Step 1) and downloaded the
FlashBurn Target Component (Step 2), but the buttons in Step 3 are still
disabled. Why can't I program the flash?
How can I use all of the Flash on
the DSK 6713?
How does FlashBurn work?
How much effort will be required
to port the FBTC to my target hardware?
Can FlashBurn 3.x be added to the Code Composer menu like the old FlashBurn 2.x plug-in?
Can I use FlashBurn to
'patch' one location of my flash memory?
Are there any additional boards supported
by FlasnBurn?
Is CCS v3.3 supported by
FlashBurn?
FlashBurn reports "Failed
to Create Code Composer Studio" instance.
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I have connected to the target (Step 1) and downloaded the
FlashBurn Target Component (Step 2), but the buttons in Step 3 are still
disabled. Why can't I program the flash?
The root of this problem is that FlashBurn is unable to communicate with the target
hardware, or that the FBTC is downloaded, but
will not run. This may be due to a number of
issues related to your target connection.
In order to diagnose the problem, follow these
steps.
- Verify your Code Composer Setup
Using the Code Composer Setup program,
verify that the hardware that you expect to
connect to is properly configured in Setup.
Verify:
- The correct hardware is chosen
- The correct connection (USB, parallel port,
emulator) is chosen
- A suitable GEL startup file for the hardware
is chosen
- Unselect Perform Go Main Automatically
Code Composer Studio has an option in the
Option / Customize dialog named Perform Go
Main Automatically. This option
must be unchecked in order for FlashBurn to
operate correctly.
- Check Board Jumpers
Some hardware boards have jumpers that
define the mapping of memory.
Consult the documentation for your board to
determine the proper setting for jumpers on the
board.
- Start Code Composer First
Although it is not required, starting Code
Composer Studio before starting FlashBurn may
help in diagnosing connection problems.
Also, see our new Tutorial on configuring, building, and debugging
FBTC programs.
- How can I use all of the Flash on
the DSK 6713?
As shipped, the DSK 6713 is configured with a 256K x
16 bit flash mapped to an 8 bit interface, permitting
use of only 256K bytes of Flash. The DSK
6713 Blink example from SDS programs flash for the 8 bit
boot interface.
The DSK has a jumper for configuring a 16 bit boot from
Flash.
SDS has released a DSK6713-16bit
version of the FBTC for programming the flash in 16 bit
mode. It can be obtained from the
board support link below.
- How does FlashBurn work?
A description of how FlashBurn and the FBTC program
works can be found here.
- How much effort will be required
to port the FBTC to my target hardware?
That depends on a number of factors. For
target hardware that is similar to one of the DSKs and
use a similar Flash device, the FBTC port may be very
simple. Many customers achieve this type of
port in 1 or 2 days.
More complicated configurations such as banked flash or
serial flash may require more advanced changes in the
FBTC program.
At a minimum, the user performing the FBTC port must be
able to build and debug DSP programs using Code Composer
Studio and must understand the memory configuration and
chip enable settings required to allow the DSP to write
to the flash memory. In addition, the user
performing the port must have access to information from
the flash vendor detailing how the flash is to be
programmed. This is normally located in the
flash data sheet.
Also, see our new Tutorial on configuring, building, and debugging
FBTC programs.
- Can FlashBurn 3.x be added to the Code Composer menu like the old FlashBurn 2.x plug-in?
FlashBurn 3.x is not a Code Composer plug-in. However, users can add a menu item to the Code Composer GEL menu to start FlashBurn.
Code Composer 3.1
The following code may be placed in the Code Composer's startup GEL file, or loaded with the File/Load GEL command.
The code will create a menu item for starting FlashBurn 3.1:
in the GEL menu of Code Composer Studio.
menuitem "FlashBurn";
hotmenu Start()
{
GEL_System("\"C:\\Program Files\\SoftwareDesignSolutions\\FlashBurn\\FlashBurn.exe\"");
}
Code Composer 3.3
The behavior of GEL_System changed in Code Composer 3.3
and the Start command must be added to start FlashBurn
and return control to GEL.
The code will create a menu item for starting FlashBurn 3.2:
in the GEL menu of Code Composer Studio.
menuitem "FlashBurn";
hotmenu Start()
{
GEL_System("Start \"FlashBurn\" \"C:\\Program Files\\SoftwareDesignSolutions\\FlashBurn\\FlashBurn.exe\"");
}
- Can I use
FlashBurn to 'patch' one location of my flash memory?
Yes, if the location is originally erased. If
a location in flash is erased (0xFF), then FlashBurn may
be used with a small .hex file to patch a single flash
location or several flash locations.
The easiest way to achieve this is to hand-build a .hex
file in TI-ASCII format. The format for
TI-ASCII .hex is shown below
^B
$Axxxx,
data
^C
Where ^C and ^B are control characters.
This file may be hand-written in many editors (including
Emacs). An example .hex file that writes one
16 bits of data (0x1234) to address 0x8100 is shown
below.
^B
$A8100,
1234
^C
An example of this file is available
here.
- Are there any additional boards supported
by FlasnBurn?
Support for the following boards has been added to
FlashBurn 3.11 since it's release.
Additional board support is listed below. The support files should be extracted in the
examples/ directory
of the FlashBurn installation. The support
includes an FBTC program and example 'blink' programs.
Users of
the free FlashBurn DSK product can only use the DSK
support, which does not include source code.
FlashBurn Porting Kit users can use either package.
- Is CCS v3.3 supported by
FlashBurn?
Yes. FlashBurn v3.11 supports Code Composer
3.3. The only reported issue is with startup
time. The first time that FlashBurn starts CCS
during a user's session it may take longer than the 30
sec timeout that FlashBurn has for CCS to start.
Users can avoid this by starting CCS first.
This will be fixed in the next release.
- FlashBurn reports "Failed to
Create Code Composer Studio" instance.
First, try starting Code Composer Studio first, then
starting FlashBurn. This may correct the issue.
If not, the issue may be a known problem (TI issue #
SDSCM00012279) with the
installation program for Code Composer. This
problem affect FlashBurn and any other applications
which attempt to access the COM APIs of Code Composer
Studio.
Correcting the issue will require running the Windows
Registry Editor. Care should be taken when
using the Registry Editor. Using the
Windows, registry, examine the following registry key:
For CCS 3.1, the key is:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{7037933C-B77F-11D1-B009-0040055C1953}\1.29\0\win32
For CCS 3.3, the key is:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{7037933C-B77F-11D1-B009-0040055C1953}\1.32\0\win32
The value for this key should be
the path to the cc_app.exe executable, for example:
C:\CCStudio_v3.1\cc\bin\cc_app.exe
Correct this key value and try
FlashBurn again.
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