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Info
titleTerminology: USB FX2 unresponsive aka USB FX2 microcontroller stall

USB FX2 microcontroller stall term/definition is used to describe the situation where your TE USB FX2 module's FPGA works normally (you are still able to connect to FPGA using JTAG connection) but you are unable to connect to it via USB connection despite having the correct USB drivers installed.

TE USB FX2 modules are industrial products and if wrong firmware is written in EEPROM (=> USB unresponsive but FPGA's working) it can easily corrected (without using JTAG connection) with EEPROM switch and USB connection: the solution is quite easy and fast (5-10 seconds) under Windows (implicit two-step recovery boot) and it is also possible under Linux (explicit two steps -step recovery boot).

Tip
titleIf the user is unsure about new firmware, he/she could run the firmware in RAM

If the user is unsure about the suitability of a new firmware (wherever it is the source), it's a good idea to load it into RAM first to make sure it is not totally broken.

A reference firmware (from Trenz Electronic GitHub) is suitalble and tested; it can be used to test the functionality of TE USB FX2 module and SW APIs. The only possible problem with reference firmware files is the corruption of the downloaded .iic file. If the user have problem with reference .iic file should consider to check the integrity of the file and/or download a new copy of desired .iic file from Trenz Electronic GitHub.

Tip
titleRecovery boot: bring back a TE USB FX2 module's USB connection from stall

Writing wrong (or corrupted) firmware to EEPROM will bring the USB FX2 microcontroller to stall. To bring it back out of a stall, the firmware recovery procedure differs upon the host operating system:

  • use an implicit two-step recovery boot (Windows);
  • use an explicit two steps -step recovery boot (Linux or Windows).

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  • In the case of (IMPLICIT two-step) recovery boot (at this time, only Windows) the 2nd stage (boot)loader firmware is loaded without the explicit intervention of the user.
  • In the case of (EXPLICIT two-step) recovery boot (mainly Linux) the 2nd stage (boot)loader firmware is loaded with the explicit intervention of the user.

Both recovery boots use exactly the same procedure (under the hood, they are one and the same), but in Windows OS case the 2nd stage (boot)loader firmware step is HIDDEN in loadEEPROM() function used by CyConsole, CyControl and OpenFutNet.

(Implicit Two-Step) Recovery Boot

Info
titleSecond step (bootloader Vend_ax in RAM) is hidden

The 2nd stage loader firmware is loaded automatically without the explicit intervention of the user. At this time, it is only possible with Windows OS

In an implicit two-step recovery boot (see here) the user should (the necessary device driver is assumed already installed)

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Note
The CyConsole's "S EEPROM" button is used to program 256-byte EEPROMs. When this button is clicked, the user is prompted to select a (.iic) file to load into the EEPROM. This button first downloads the Vend_Ax(_Fx2).bix file, then sends the 0xA2 vendor request to program the EEPROM. This button should not be used.

(Explicit Two-Step) Recovery Boot

 

 

(Explicit Two-Step) Recovery Boot

Info
Explicit two steps -step recovery boot could be carried out with both Windows and Linux OSes.

In an explicit two-step recovery boot, the user should (the necessary device driver is assumed already installed):

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Info
titlefxload and Linux distribution

fxload is already distributed with included in some Linux distributiondistributions.

Unfortunately, the fxload of this distribution these distributions does not normally include a good second-stage boot loader for all vendor specific commands 0xAx and hence cannot directly be used to program EEPROM storage. However, such a bootloader is available separately if you dig around on the Cypress page; it is Vend_Ax.hex but it should be manually retrieved/downloaded. (Note: This "second stage bootloader" is sometimes called also called "third stage").

In order to make user live life easier to users, in this link exist page provides a download software package which contains the Cypress second stage bootloader called Vend_Ax.hex and the fxload source from of 2008-10-13 (newest latest version at the time of writing). This version has also a patch which allows to "erase" the EEPROM again and which sets the default vendor and product IDs in the EEPROM when flashing.