LS1046ARDB serial port not recognized on Windows 10

jpatterson · ‎09-01-2020

I am just getting started with an LS1046A-RDB (referred to hereafter as the RDB) and I have been following the Getting Started Guide [1]. Unfortunately, the laptop I am developing with does not recognize a serial port from the RDB. I am using a laptop running Windows 10 Enterprise (version 1803, 64-bit) and, according to the page at [1], a serial driver should not need to be installed for Windows 10.

I am expecting to be able to establish a console connection via the “console” USB port on the front panel of RDB as described in Section 10 of the GSG [1]. Originally, I set the switches (i.e. SW3, SW4, and SW5 on the RBD) to the configuration described in Table 9 of the GSG, but I was unable to establish a serial connection with either Tera Term or Moba XTerm. Looking into the problem further, I found that the device manager on the laptop did not recognize any device was connected when the USB cable was connected from the laptop to the console port on the RDB.

Since the laptop was not recognizing any device was connected, I began to be suspicious that the RDB may have corrupted memory. Following the application note at [3], after identifying that the latest version of the Layerscape SDK was 20.04 [4], I downloaded the latest QSPI U-Boot image from [5], wrote the downloaded image to a 16GB SD card using Win32 Disk Imager, altered the switches to boot from the SD card as described in Table 2 in [3] (and later [6]), but still the laptop failed to recognize a serial port.

I did note at this point that the laptop started to temporarily identify a “mass storage device” named “BOOTLOADER” when the USB was connected (the switches have been returned to the configuration shown in Table 9 of the GSG [2]). Following the post at [7], which primarily refers to the post at [8], I downloaded the binary image from [9], unzipped it, connected the RDB to the laptop via USB, and copied the binary image to the BOOTLOADER drive. After disconnecting from and plugging back into the console port on the RDB, I found that while the laptop now recognized a storage device named “MBED” as expected, the expected serial port was still not recognized. According to [7] and application note included in the download on [10], the binary image for the LS1012A (i.e. the board that [8] addresses) is the same for the LS1046A (i.e. the RDB I have).

Respectfully: JPatterson

jpatterson · ‎09-08-2020

Because I am new to NXP, I actually posted this question on both support.nxp.com and here at community.nxp.com. After ufedor’s reply here, I got a reply from a support technician with support.nxp.com suggesting to install the driver at [1]. I had actually tried to install this driver before posting this question because the Section 10 of the Getting Started Guide (GSG) [2] says to do so. Originally, the installer [1] said that the driver could not be installed and when I looked into it further, the page at [3] (from Section 10 of the GSG) said that the version of MBED is deprecated. When I followed the link on [3] to find the latest information on the Windows serial driver, I found that: “serial ports work out of the box” “on Windows 8 or newer” [4]. Mostly in desperation, I tried to install the driver again and I found that it worked this time. My best explanation for why the driver installed now but didn’t originally is that after following ufedor’s post on the known issue with MBED operation under Windows 10 [5], I had disabled the “Storage Services”. This would suggest the installer [1] may have a conflict with the Storage Service. Admitting that I haven’t done any sort of exhaustive testing, my experience suggests that:

a driver is required for the LS1046A-RDB on Windows 10,
the driver is a deprecated version of MBED,
the Storage Service must be disabled to install the driver, and
the driver can be downloaded from [1].

Additionally, as ufedor suggests, the DAPLink bootloader needs to be updated as described in [5].

View solution in original post

jpatterson · ‎09-08-2020

Because I am new to NXP, I actually posted this question on both support.nxp.com and here at community.nxp.com. After ufedor’s reply here, I got a reply from a support technician with support.nxp.com suggesting to install the driver at [1]. I had actually tried to install this driver before posting this question because the Section 10 of the Getting Started Guide (GSG) [2] says to do so. Originally, the installer [1] said that the driver could not be installed and when I looked into it further, the page at [3] (from Section 10 of the GSG) said that the version of MBED is deprecated. When I followed the link on [3] to find the latest information on the Windows serial driver, I found that: “serial ports work out of the box” “on Windows 8 or newer” [4]. Mostly in desperation, I tried to install the driver again and I found that it worked this time. My best explanation for why the driver installed now but didn’t originally is that after following ufedor’s post on the known issue with MBED operation under Windows 10 [5], I had disabled the “Storage Services”. This would suggest the installer [1] may have a conflict with the Storage Service. Admitting that I haven’t done any sort of exhaustive testing, my experience suggests that:

a driver is required for the LS1046A-RDB on Windows 10,
the driver is a deprecated version of MBED,
the Storage Service must be disabled to install the driver, and
the driver can be downloaded from [1].

Additionally, as ufedor suggests, the DAPLink bootloader needs to be updated as described in [5].

jpatterson · ‎09-03-2020

Thank you for the information and files. I have followed the directions you provided in [1] (as well as the included document and your post at [2]) and everything works as expected until the final step. After stopping the Windows Storage Services (I actually disabled it), plugging into the "console" on the LS1046A-RDB with the reset button held, copying the binary file you provided (i.e. k22fx512_if_mbed.bin) to the new volume called BOOTLOADER, unplugging the USB, and plugging the USB back in, my laptop now recognizes a new volume called MBED. Unfortunately, my Windows 10 laptop continues not to recognize the serial port. I know that [3] states: "Do not install the serial driver on Windows 8 or newer; serial ports work out of the box with these versions.", but does anyone know if is there some way to validate that the necessary drivers for MBED serial ports are still working properly on Windows 10?

Also, after following the directions in [1], I noted that the MDED volume has an HTML file with a link to [4]. This link resolves to [5] with the note: "Unrecognised board key, locate your hardware to get started". Does anyone know what hardware it was supposed to be referencing?

1. https://os.mbed.com/blog/entry/DAPLink-bootloader-update/

2. https://community.nxp.com/t5/Layerscape/LS1043ARDB-PD-USB-console-can-t-work/m-p/798002

3. https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v6.2/program-setup/windows-serial-driver.html

4. http://mbed.org/device/?code=20010203EA1B73F217E7AC0B

5. https://os.mbed.com/platforms/

ufedor · ‎09-01-2020

Please refer to the attached document and MBED firmware image (in the ZIP package).

There is a known issue with MBED operation under Win10:
https://os.mbed.com/blog/entry/DAPLink-bootloader-update/

This is the workaround we have confirmed to fix the mbed issue on Win10 PC's:
- Go to the "Start" option on the PC and type the command "Services"
- Than you should see the following "Services" window open
- Select the "Storage Services" and on the left-hand side of the window click the "Stop the service"