Reviving a newly opened but seemingly dead FRDM-KL46Z

[carlosmendoza]

Because I know there's probably others in this situation: :smileywink:

I've been checking the power supply components to the OpenSDA USB port.

Here's the tests I've performed with a multimeter.

-My computer's USB rails read 5V.

-The voltage across the K20's VREGIN and GND pins is 5V.

-The voltage across the K20's VOUT33 and ground is 3.3V.

-The voltage across the K20's VDD1 and GND is 3.3V. VDD1 and VDD2 are tied together so both are 3.3V.

So far the analog power components are in working condition.

The K20's Reset_N signal is at logic high and it measures 3.44V

I need to leave for now. But this gives me hope that maybe the firmware is not responding rather than that hardware being damaged.

Again, thanks in advance to any kind folks with troubleshooting suggestions!

[carlosmendoza]

Back again, some additional information:

My computer recognizes the K46USB port and tries to install the USB-UART driver. Windows is unable to find the correct driver but it lists the device on the Device Manager as "USB-UART" under Other Devices. Moreover, if I press SW2 (RST signal) while plugged through the KL46USB port then the "USB-UART" device disappears from device manager. SW2 is connected directly to the KL46 chip's PTC11 input on pin 88 instead of the KL46 dedicated Reset pin.

This tells me that the KL46 chip is alive since because it is still generating the USB signals.

So this sounds like the K20 is bricked somehow. Is there any way to force the K20 into bootloader mode? Do I need to install special drivers to flash the K20 perhaps?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Carlos

[carlosmendoza]

Solved the problem!

If you have verified that all the power supply components for your board work then you've only probably lost the OpenSDA firmware.

Here's what to do if this happens to you guys:

1. Go to the P&E Micro website and download both the latest "OpenSDA Firmware (MSD & Debug)" and Windows or Linux USB drivers. For me this was the OpenSDA firmware update from Sep 23rd, 2013 and the Windows USB driver update from Nov 2nd, 2012. I received my board before Sep 23rd, 2013 so I definitely did not have the latest OpenSDA firmware out of the box.

2. Install the Windows or Linux USB drivers. If you're on Windows then you just have to run the PEDrivers_install.exe file. Do the equivalent for Linux.

3. Unplug the board from your computer if it is plugged in.
2. Make sure your mini USB cable is plugged into the board's SDA USB port.
3. Put the board into bootloader mode by holding down the SW2 switch (it's the RST switch between the two mini USB ports) and then plug the other end of your USB cable to your computer. This step will cause the board to show up as a drive labeled "BOOTLOADER".
4. Unzip the OpenSDA firmware and locate the file corresponding to your board's name. In my case this file was named "MSD-FRDM-KL46Z48M_Pemicro_v113.SDA".

5. Drag and drop or copy and paste this file unto the root folder on the BOOTLOADER drive. By root folder I just mean the highest level folder. In my case I just had to drag and drop the SDA file directly unto the BOOTLOADER drive.

6. If you are using Windows then eject the drive or perform the Linux equivalent and then unplug the board.

7. Plug the board back in (*without* going into bootloader mode). This step will cause your board to show up as a drive named the same as your board. In my case this was drive F: "FRDM-KL46Z". You will also notice that the yellow LED on your board is on.

8. Congratulations, you have unbricked your board!

An interesting note: when I unboxed my board for the first time the board would not show up as "FRDM-KL46Z" when plugged in. Instead Windows would automatically label the drive with the name of the last device I had plugged in unto that drive letter. So this also tells me that the firmware update corrected some problems between Windows and the board that I had with the factory firmware.

A big thank you goes to everybody in the forums who posted their problems about bricking their FRDM-KL25Z board. This is essentially the same solution process you would go through for that board. I found the official instructions for updating the firmware on Freescale's OpenSDA User's Guide from Sep 18th, 2012. This instructions are no longer included in the firmware zip file from P&E Micro. So I had to look around to figure this out. Here's the link: http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/user_guide/OPENSDAUG.pdf

Hope this helps!

Carlos

[ted_grosch]

This is awesome. You saved my board (and maybe my job :smileyhappy: ). Thanks.

Ted at GTRI