[hpsdr] Metis quit working (I killed it???)

[Jeremy McDermond]

On Apr 25, 2011, at 6:34 PM, Joe Martin K5SO wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> Hi Mike,
> 2)  Keep in mind that JP1 should NOT be in place when trying to update Metis firmware but JP1 MUST be in place when updating Mercury or Penelope firmware.
> 
> 3)  Metis will not work normally if JP1 is kept in place after updating Mercury or Penelope, remove JP1 for normal operation and for updating Metis firmware.

This isn't necessarily true.  Metis can be updated with either JP1 on or JP1 off.  HPSDRProgrammer's mode must match Metis's though.  This is very much on purpose so that if Metis's firmware is somehow corrupted, you can use the "bootloader" mode to recover.

Since there seems to still be confusion on the architecture, maybe an explanation is in order.

The flash chip on Metis contains two FPGA images: the "bootloader" and the "normal" image.  Which image the FPGA loads is determined by the position of JP1.  With JP1 off the FPGA loads the "normal" image.  With JP1 on it loads the "bootloader" image.  The "bootloader" image is protected such that it can't be written with the standard tools we have provided.  Again, this is because one of the functions of the bootloader image is to recover Metis if the "normal" firmware is somehow corrupted.

The bootloader image is a bare-bones image and doesn't have a lot of functionality.  This means that the bootloader does not have any TCP/IP capability and speaks over raw ethernet frames.  This is why you have to have libpcap installed to use the bootloader mode of HPSDRProgrammer.  This is also why HPSDRProgrammer has two "modes."  It has to be able to talk correctly to Metis in each mode.  The bootloader is limited to doing the following things:

	*  Setting a static IP address on Metis
	*  Setting Metis to use DHCP
	*  Programming a new "normal" image on Metis
	*  Programming a new image on Penelope or Mercury
	*  Getting the Metis MAC address (this is burned in hardware and not able to be modified)

These are the only functions that the "bootloader" mode with JP1 installed is able to perform.  When you are using it in this mode, HPSDRProgrammer's mode has to match by choosing the "Metis Boot Loader" tab.  Note this makes the "Discover" option disappear.  This is because you cannot discover a Metis when it is in bootloader mode.  A quick way to check to see if you can see a Metis in bootloader mode is to choose the "MAC Address" tab in HPSDRProgrammer and click "Read."  If your Metis is properly configured with JP1, you will see a MAC address appear in the field beside the button.

When Metis is in bootloader mode, it uses a fixed MAC address.  This means that you *cannot* have more than one Metis on the network in bootloader mode.  It will cause things to break.

Note that the other tab of HPSDRProgrammer, "Metis Programmer" is designed to work with Metis in "normal" mode, without JP1 installed.  The only functions available in this mode are to program Metis, and to erase the Metis flash (the non-bootloader image).  Note that this is not able to program Mercury or Penelope.

For those Mac geeks out there using my software, the easy thing to remember is that if you're using Flynn, you *must* have JP1 installed.  Flynn will not work unless Metis is in "bootloader" mode.  For any function that's in "normal" mode, you use Heterodyne itself.  I made this decision to try to make things less confusing.

Hopefully this clears some things up and explains the difference in the "bootloader" mode and "normal" mode of Metis.

> If these above items are not the problem ask again and I'm sure we can figure out what is wrong.
> 
> 73,  Joe K5SO
> 
> On Apr 25, 2011, at 6:05 PM, Mike F wrote:
> 
>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>> 
>> Help
>> 
>> I was upgrading firmware and successfully updated Metis to 1.2.  Not finding detailed instructions for the use of HPSDRprogrammer, I thought I would do a similar action and update Mercury to 6.4.  After attempting to do this, HPSDRprogrammer said it could not find Metis.  Also PSDR gave the same type of message.  I replaced Metis with Ozy and PSDR worked with no problems.  Mercury is still at rev 2.9.  Nothing I have tried will allow HPSDRprogrammer to find Metis.  Also, I failed to record the MAC address for Metis.
>> 
>> Help
>> 
>> Thanks in advance and 73
>> 
>> Mike Fager, K7SR
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--
Jeremy McDermond (NH6Z)
Xenotropic Systems
mcdermj at xenotropic.com




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