Re: MSP430 in-circuit firmware upgrade question

From: Weiyang Zhou (weiyangz_at_vpinc.biz)
Date: 11/08/04 

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:15:38 -0700

I still don't quite understand what you mean by make the interrupt vector
table
point to a table of pointers (in RAM) to the appropriate routine, may I have
a little
more details?

In our hardware design, not all pins required foe bootstrap loader are
available.
There is not JTAG connector either. We need to program the chip before put
it on
the board. How can I do this?

Thanks
Weiyang

"Paul Burke" <paul@scazon.com> wrote in message
news:2v41lbF2gfaq1U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Weiyang Zhou wrote:
>> I am trying to implement the in-circuit firmware upgrade feature on a
>> MSP430148 based system. The firmware consists of a boot loader and
>> application. boot loader will be able to receive new application firmware
>> over UART and program it into the flash to replace the older application.
>>
>> I have a few questions related to this:
>> 1. Can the boot loader program flash while executing in flash? Or does it
>> have to be copied to RAM first?
>
> While you are programming the flash, it can't execute from it, so it
> automatically executes marching on the spot until the write is finished.
> So you have two choices: copy your loader to RAM, or turn off all
> interrupts while actually writing.
>
>> 2. Both of my boot loader and application need to communicate over UART,
>> how
>> do I change the interrupt handler at run time?
>
> Just a flag to steer to mthe appropriate routine from the interrupt. Or
> make the interrupt vector table point to a table of pointers (in RAM) to
> the approriate routine.
>
>> 4. When build the application firmware for field upgrade, what link
>> output
>> format should I choose that's good for download and flash programming?
>
> Something with checking would probably be better than the Texas .txt
> format. OPerhaps add a CRC to each block.
>
>> 5. When the system goes to production, how do I get a complete flash
>> image
>> so we can program it on MSP430 chips before populate it on the board?
>
> Don't. All the flash MSP430s have a built in serial bootloader, for the
> cost of 4 extra pins on the board (tx, rx, reset, gnd). Or use the JTAG if
> serial is too slow.
>
> Paul Burke
>

Relevant Pages

  • Re: MSP430 in-circuit firmware upgrade question
    ... The firmware consists of a boot loader and ... boot loader will be able to receive new application firmware ... > over UART and program it into the flash to replace the older application. ... Just a flag to steer to mthe appropriate routine from the interrupt. ...
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