corrupted Firmware - boot loader

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N1NDF
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corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Mon Feb 07, 2022 9:12 pm

In an effort to upgrade my Anan 100 to work with SDR Console 3.0 Beta ( which requires protocol 2) I flashed the firmware with Hermes_v3.3.rbf file using HPSD BOOT 2.0. All work well at this point ... was able to load and configure Thetis. Looked all was working perfectly however I was still unable to get SDRCONSOLE V3 to work with the Anan 100. My thought was it was because it did not have Protocol 2 firmware.
So I located Hermes_v10.2.rbf. I repeated the steps to flash this firmware . Now I can not located or assign an IP for the Anan. I also noticed that the activity light D6 on the front remains on which it use to shut off when the jumper at J12 was made. I have tried many thing to resolve this but my suspicion is that the firmware for the boot loader is corrupt. If some one would direct me to how to resolve this issue I would be greatly in debt to you. I do not see any instructions on where a JTAG programmer attaches and I don't have one. Please Help / Advise
Thank you DE Rich N1NDF ... 73 kn
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Feb 07, 2022 10:57 pm

If Bootloader finds your hardware then the Bootloader firmware on the Hermes is still absolutely fine and you have not bricked anything and will not need to use JTAG.

Does Bootloader find your board?
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Wed Feb 09, 2022 8:28 pm

It does Not see the the Anan anywhere. It was on the 10.0.0.X network I swept the entire range 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.255 Nothing there. Think that it might have defaulted to a 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.255 network node swept that also ... All connections done both through a router and directly from the computer with no connection ...Is there a default IP it will default to >>> I do see activity on the network jack ... bit can't seem to connect to it ,,, What am I missing ... ??
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Feb 09, 2022 9:46 pm

Bootloader does not need or care about an IP address to find the radio hardware. It uses raw Ethernet packets only.

Put the ANAN directly on your PC NIC. If the link lights are good at both ends the "Test for Bootloader" button should net you the MAC address of the ANAN.

No link lights might suggest a bad cable, a broken NIC, or a broken/bricked ANAN.

On a more "basic" question: you do have WinPCAP or NPCAP installed, correct? Without either of those Bootloader will not work.
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:33 pm

Per your instructions : no success Direct Connect from Computer to ANAN ... Nic Lights Left solid right blink ... J12 jumpered. D6 = status light stays on ... boot loader does nothing when test for bootloader is selected ... Tried putting in hermes _v3.3.rbt in the board programmer box and pressing program ...say it erasing device but never stops


??? I mentioned before that I successfully programed this with this firmware ... but wanted the new Protocol 2 firmware ... for use with SDR Console 3. When I tried this with Hermes_Protocol_2_v10.7.rbf it locked up and has refused to connect or do anything .

is there a way to get this back to working ?
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:57 pm

Forgot to mention that none of the lights near the FPGA Altera Cyclone are lit D10-D19 Are OFF - Not LIT
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Fri Feb 11, 2022 10:20 pm

You can't just throw code at it if the test for bootloader fails.

Does BOTH the PC and ANAN NIC lights show a link status?

Does Windows show a valid link on that NIC, and show speed to be 100Mbit/s?

Although you have successfully programmed this way before, perhaps it might be worth reinstalling WinPCAP (or NPCAP) and bootloader, just in case something got corrupted there.

Otherwise we are rapidly headed down the road of it being bricked somehow, which is very unusual.

I don't have the knowledge necessary to unbrick it, unfortunately, other than to know you'll need to load some Quartus software, get the bootloader image for that FPGA, and get a JTAG pod. You may have to contact US support.
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Mon Feb 14, 2022 2:31 pm

You can't just throw code at it if the test for bootloader fails.

Does BOTH the PC and ANAN NIC lights show a link status? Yes but I am not sure what you mean about Link status ? Left = Power light is on Right light blinks ....

Does Windows show a valid link on that NIC, and show speed to be 100Mbit/s? it's a 1 giga bit router ... link ..??? I'll try a 100 meg bit Router to see if it makes a difference

Although you have successfully programmed this way before, perhaps it might be worth reinstalling WinPCAP (or NPCAP) and bootloader, just in case something got corrupted there. WinPcap was uninstalled and reinstalled no luck Tried NPCAP... uninstalled WinPcap installed NPCAP no luck ...

Otherwise we are rapidly headed down the road of it being bricked somehow, which is very unusual.

I don't have the knowledge necessary to unbrick it, unfortunately, other than to know you'll need to load some Quartus software, get the bootloader image for that FPGA, and get a JTAG pod. You may have to contact US support. Do you have their number ?
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Feb 14, 2022 3:34 pm

Skip the router for now, connect the PC directly to the ANAN. You may have to wait a few minutes for link lights to appear. Once you get two good link lights, one on the PC and one on the ANAN, then you can try Bootloader.

As for Ethernet link lights: if you don't understand what these are then you are in a very early place on your learning curve. You do need to have some knowledge of networking, PC's and Windows to get these radios to work properly. It might be worth your time to sit down and study some of these subjects, particularly Windows and Ethernet networking.

Just about every Ethernet network interface port is equipped with two LEDs. The colors and the positions may be a little different, but they are almost always part of the port assembly. One LED will come on solid if the link is good. The other will blink when traffic is being received or transmitted.

Example:

phychar-5.gif
phychar-5.gif (3.53 KiB) Viewed 11514 times


If you do not see at least one solid LED illuminated at both ends of the Ethernet cable, then either one of the ports is broken, the cable is bad, or the ANAN is broken/bricked.

So, again, do you have good Ethernet link lights at both ends of the cable?

Do you know if you have WinPCAP or NPCAP loaded so that Bootloader will work properly?
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Tue Feb 15, 2022 12:38 pm

I think I mentioned that the lights blink. Power lights remain on on both ends (left light ) (right light) constantly blinks . winpcap was loaded each time ... Also tried NPCAP removing WinPCap first and then installing NPCAP. The activity light constantly blinks on both ends .
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:38 pm

Did you try my suggestion to skip the router and directly connect?
N1NDF
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby N1NDF » Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:28 pm

Yes I did try a direct connect without sucess ! Can anyone one answer me the following questions : ?

Because this began after successful flashing of firmware in the Anan 100 and shortly verifying that the new s_v3.2.rbf file using HPSD BOOT 2.0. would run Thetis software and the Anan 100 appeared to work as expected . However SDRCONSOLE would not. My thought was because SDRConsole requires Protocol II and would not work ... I thought I need to flash another ... firmware for Protocol II. Documentation stated that HPSD BOOT 2.0 should be able to do this. So since things worked correctly before I immediately flashed firmware that I thought was for protocol II without making any changes . After doing this I am where I am now . Unable to connect to the ANAN 100. I would like to at least get back to functional.

I have followed multiple suggestions and recommendation ... with no success.
Can anyone one answer me the following questions : ?

Can I recover this radio ?
It appears that something is running because the LED D6 Status light is lit on constantly NOT Blinking ... I believe( not Sure ) it did not ...before with the programming jumper j12 in? Is this normal ?
Also no other lights /LEDs are lit around the FPGA ... ? I would have expected some activities ...to light some of the LEDS Around the FPGA Is this normal ??
Because this program uses WinPcap Could I use Wireshark to tell me if the code is corrupted or perhaps why there is no connection by looking at the packets and seeing why there is no connection ? I assume there is something trying to either give a IP adress or read one since the activity light on the NIC jack changes ..


Did the upgraded firmware change From IP4 to IP6 ... I have only use IP4 .... And yes I have Gigabyte Switch and Cards Should I switch everything to 100Bt and try that ?

Any Help Would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Richard Chetley - N1NDF
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w-u-2-o
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:53 pm

N1NDF wrote:Yes I did try a direct connect without sucess ! Can anyone one answer me the following questions : ?

Because this began after successful flashing of firmware in the Anan 100 and shortly verifying that the new s_v3.2.rbf file using HPSD BOOT 2.0. would run Thetis software and the Anan 100 appeared to work as expected . However SDRCONSOLE would not. My thought was because SDRConsole requires Protocol II and would not work ... I thought I need to flash another ... firmware for Protocol II.


That is exactly correct.

Documentation stated that HPSD BOOT 2.0 should be able to do this.


That is also exactly correct.

Can I recover this radio ?


I don't know. It sure seems like the answer is "No". I'd recommend contacting US service.

It appears that something is running because the LED D6 Status light is lit on constantly NOT Blinking ... I believe( not Sure ) it did not ...before with the programming jumper j12 in? Is this normal ?


I don't know. I can tell you that with the jumper in, and the power cycled on the box, the FPGA should boot into bootloader mode, and if you check your PC (or router, depending on where it is connected), the connection should show a 100Mbit connection, NOT a GigE connection. Bootloader mode only runs at 100Mbit. Your PC and/or router should autospeed to match.

Also no other lights /LEDs are lit around the FPGA ... ? I would have expected some activities ...to light some of the LEDS Around the FPGA Is this normal ??


I don't know.

Because this program uses WinPcap Could I use Wireshark to tell me if the code is corrupted or perhaps why there is no connection by looking at the packets and seeing why there is no connection ? I assume there is something trying to either give a IP adress or read one since the activity light on the NIC jack changes


Wireshark doesn't care if what it is looking at uses WinPCAP (although WinPCAP, or NPCAP, is required for Wireshark itself).

As already mentioned, bootloader does not use TCP/IP or UDP. It uses raw Ethernet packets. You could use Wireshark to look for traffic to/from the MAC address of the ANAN. However, because bootloader sends a broadcast discovery packet and is not seeing any packets returning from the ANAN it is unlikely you will see anything on Wireshark.

I recommend you contact US service.
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n1gp
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Re: corrupted Firmware - boot loader

Postby n1gp » Wed Feb 16, 2022 6:35 pm

Hi Rich,

I have a bare Hermes board and I took a couple videos of it.
This one is with J12 installed (bootloader mode):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9f05we4kbx2gb4j/bootldrmode_j12off.wmv?dl=0
Notice that some of the LED D10-D19 are lit or blinking and D6 is blinking.


Here is the same board with J12 removed (regular firmware mode):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/un5bw1vot6o7s4z/fwmode_j12on.wmv?dl=0
Notice D10-D19 are off (per the latest version of P2 FW) but D6 is still blinking.

You should at least be able to replicate the first video (bootloader mode) and some some of
D10-D19 are lit or blinking and D6 is blinking. If not make sure you have proper voltages going to the board.

Maybe you could take a picture of your setup so we may be able to spot something that may not be right.

73's
-Rick / N1GP

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