Freescale Ethernet TAP

[alad]

Hi,

I've just received my new freescale Ethernet TAP for coldfire (MCF5445x). I do not get any output on TAP serial port. I've made sure all the serial parameters (9600-8-N-1) and connections are fine. My setup is below

- Connect supplied power supply cable to Ethernet TAP probe

- Connect Ethernet TAP probe config connector to the host PC using supplied RJ-11 serial cable and 9 pin adapter

- Turn on the power supply

Result:

- HEARTBEAT LED flashes RED (This is expected as per manual)

- Run/PAUSE LED flashes RED (This is NOT expected as per manual. I've still not connected debugger probe tip to the TAP so this LED should be OFF as per manual)

I'm not sure what I'm missing (I've not connected Ethernet Cable to the TAP)

Thanks for your help

[gmnelson · Accepted solution]

We had a problem with our new CodeWarrior Ethernet TAP out-of-the-box last year.  All I was getting on power-up was a very faint RED 'Heartbeat' LED.  Nothing else.  It seems the wrong power supply was shipped with the device.  The Ethernet TAP requires a 5V 1Amp supply, but for some reason I received a 9V 0.65A supply.  Freescale Support quickly resolved the issue and shipped me a new one.

Just for your reference, with no target connected, when I power-on my Ethernet TAP I get a RED Heartbeat LED for about 3 seconds, then it begins to flash GREEN.   The other 2 LEDS remain unlit.

[alad]

Oh yes, you are right. We've received 9V power supply. Did the support changed the power supply only or shipped a new TAP along with the supply? (I don't know if 9V supply has done any damage to the TAP)

[ronco]

We checked all of our Ethernet TAP Kits in inventory and confirmed they all have 5VDC power supplies.  If you found a 9VDC power supply in your Ethernet TAP Kit I'd really like to see a close-up photo of it that shows the part-number and other details.

Thanks,

Ron

[alad]

I'll get hold of a camera and upload the photo. Meanwhile, below are details

PHIHONG switching power supply

Model: PSA05R-090

A sticker on back has number: P65103404A1

Input 100-240V~0.25A 50-60Hz

DC Output: +9.0V ~ 0.56A

[gmnelson]

This situation is very strange.   It's been a year, but I believe I may have tried it with a 5V 1A supply I got with the M52259EVB board, and that got the Ethernet TAP to power-up properly.  I requested a new Ethernet TAP, however, because hooking up the device to an incorrect supply (9V) may have caused some problems down the road.  I didn't want to take the chance on such an expensive tool. 

Freescale Support shipped me out a brand new Ethernet TAP with a 5V 1A supply.

[ronco]

If by "flashes RED" you mean the HEARTBEAT LED blinks about once a second then this is not normal and indicates a significant hardware problem.  You should see this LED show red for a couple of seconds upon power-up and then start blinking yellow/orange, indicating the Ethernet TAP is looking for its IP address from the DHCP server (factory configuration.)

If you're still not seeing any activity on your serial terminal from the Ethernet TAP's CONFIG port (not the TARGET port!), make sure your serial terminal is set for no flow-control.  Also, try using a null-modem adapter.

The RUN/PAUSE LED will do nothing until you start the CodeWarrior debugger.  I suspect the activity you see on this LED is really just optical bleedthrough from the neighboring HEARTBEAT LED.  Be sure to look straight down onto the Ethernet TAP to get a better view.  I hope this helps.

-Ron

[alad]

Hi,

I received a replacement TAP today with 5V supply and not able to make it work :smileysad:

TAP powers on with HEARTBEAT LED, SOLID RED for a second and then blinks ORANGE once a second for a minute. After that it blinks RED once a second. The TAP is connected to network with dhcp server but the hearbeat LED never goes green

There is no output on Config Serial port also. I tried with supplied RJ-11 cable and adapter, all settings are fine and flow control off. I also tried with a NULL modem adapter but no success

Any help

sigh.... :-(((

[ronco]

We're not doing too well for you here, are we?  The HEARTBEAT light is behaving normally at least.  The query for the DHCP-provided IP address times out after a minute, after which you see the blinking red HEARTBEAT.   Do you see LED activity on the RJ-45 network connector?  Be sure you're not using the cross-over ethernet cable.

The lack of data from the Config port has me concerned.  To review, your serial terminal needs to be set to 9600bps, 8N1, no flow control.  Do you have DB-9 serial adapters such that you can try using both the male and female RJ-12/DB-9 adapters, with and without the null modem?  Something's gotta work.

-Ron

[alad]

phew....

our DHCP server was rejecting the request so now DHCP is all fine.

For serial, I had to used a faulty NULL modem adapter. I used a different one and serial is fine too. So I need a RJ-11->Female DB9->Null Modem->PC Com port

Surprisingly, it's not mentioned anywhere in the User Guide to use the NULL modem adapter and it's not included in the kit too..

Thanks for your help

[gmnelson]

That's strange because I didn't have to use a NULL modem adapter with my Ethernet TAP.

Perhaps you are using a 'cross over' phone cable.

I'm using RJ11->Female DB9 (from TAP kit p/n 210-12503-01 Rev B)->straight thru serial cable to PC.

I just double checked the TAP kit and my setup ....

It seems the 7' phone cable that came with the Ethernet TAP is a 'crossover' type cable meaning the Red on one end goes to Green on the other and Black on one end goes to Yellow, etc.  At the time I didn't feel like having a 7' phone cable strung out on my desk so I replaced it with a 12" 'patch' phone cable.  Well the stubby phone cable is a straight-thru type pinned-out 1-1, Red-Red, Green-Green, etc.  So I guess I got lucky not needing a NULL modem adapter in the DB9 part of my connection using this stubby phone cable.

I'm not sure about the standards for RJ11 phone cables. but I know that you can connect a phone using either cross-over or straight-thru RJ11 cables and it still seems to work.  Perhaps the designers of the Ethernet TAP had originally intended to use a straight-thru RJ11 cable and somewhere along the line their purchasing got a better price on a cable from another manufacturer (not realizing the cable was a cross-over type).  That's purely speculation on my part, but one that might explain this.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents again.

Gary

[alad]

You caught that !!

It's a cross over cable!!

I hope Freescale will make a note and correct this (or include a NULL modem adapter in the kit...)

Thanks

[J2MEJediMaster]

You can help make the changes happen by filing a service request and explaining in detail what was missing or wrong in the documentation. Click here to submit a service request. Choose Technical Request for the Category and Documentation for the Topic.

---Tom