[hpsdr] Another Metis down

Mon Feb 28 19:17:16 PST 2011

If it's any help, I also ran into the same scenario...  Or failure mode
myself..  But I thought it was something on my end.

I had been using the Metis board just fine for several days.

Then I decided to use the Metis board to update my Penelope and Mercury
boards, and the process worked quite well, and very fast.

However, when I tried to put Metis back to normal, I was not able to get it
to respond to any connection request.

Even with a fixed IP address, and a cable from the PC to the Metis card,
still nothing.

I re-flashed the Metis board, and everything returned to normal.

Walter/K5WH ... 

-----Original Message-----
From: hpsdr-bounces at lists.openhpsdr.org
[mailto:hpsdr-bounces at lists.openhpsdr.org] On Behalf Of Phil Harman
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 8:44 PM
To: K1rqg at aol.com
Cc: hpsdr at lists.openhpsdr.org
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Another Metis down

***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your feedback regarding using Metis to program other HPSDR
boards.

I've just re-read the instructions in the Metis User Manual regarding the
procedure to use, in particular to JP1, and it seems correct to me.

With JP1 installed, and the power cycled, then Metis will start in
BootLoader mode. This uses a different, fixed, MAC address to that normally
assigned to the board.

In which case I can't see how it would be able to erase or corrupt its own
flash memory.

You can check that the board is in BootLoader mode since the indicator LEDs
have a different pattern.

Perhaps when you re-program you board you could run through the steps again
and see if you can reproduce the problem.

73 Phil...VK6APH

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
> My Metis failed with the same symptoms as K5SO had. End result was 
> only the 4 power LEDs lit and no other activity and of course, I could 
> not recover. Boot loader did not work.
>
> Previous to this failure, I was able to use HPSDRProgrammer to update 
> Metis code on XP 32 bit machine. It never worked on WIN 7-64 bit PC.
>
> At the time of failure, I was NOT updating Metis code, but attempting  
> to load latest FPGA code in a spare Penelope board. I used the 
> procedure in the "How it is done" document "JTAG Programmer. I 
> followed the 5 step process, which as I recall was missing reference 
> to JP1, but  this was displayed in the Programmer process. All went 
> well and the  process reported no errors and programing complete. 
> Cycled power, and Metis went dormant, nothing referenced in any of the 
> documents would allow recovery. No boot loader, no other activity.
>
> I am certain this was self inflicted, but I cannot see anywhere along 
> the process that an error was either encountered or displayed.  I 
> believe  it is related to JP1 function and/or sequence of when to use it!
>
> The only difference that I can tell you is that I was using a 3 slot  
> EU Atlas board vs the 6 slot US board. I always keep this connected to 
> my XP PC for testing and FPGA upgrades, and keep the 6 slot Atlas on 
> the WIN 7-64 PC for on air operation.
>
> I am currently running Diversity 18 (K5SO) code with fantastic  results.
> I have developed some hardware interface systems to integrate 3 RF 
> probe antennas (plus 2 horizontal antennas) with 2 Mercury boards, and 
> have phenomenal performance, especially at LF and VLF  frequencies.
>
> I am in the process of documenting the hardware that I have  
> incorporated including software control of the antennas via the I2C 
> buss from  Mercury to the HiZ amplifiers at the RF probes.
>
> I have also encountered some issues with the transmit audio chain in  
> the latest W5WC software, but not quite sure how to explain it, until  
> further use.
>
> Thanks to ALL of you that have developed this great HPSDR project and 
> all the ongoing improvements, etc.
>
> 73 de Joe
> K1RQG
>
>
> In a message dated 2/22/2011 12:03:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
> scotty at tonks.com writes:
>
> *****  High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> Hi  Joe,
>
> The reason that you could not recover from your "fault" is that  the 
> bootloader code also resides in the PROM alongside the operating code.  
> If the PROM contents get scrambled (which they apparently did), the 
> FPGA does not load either of the two images from the PROM and nothing 
> works, not even the bootloader.
>
> It is hard to imagine  what could have messed up the image in the 
> PROM, but we'll all be looking  to see if this happens again or to 
> anyone else.
>
> Dan and I powered up  and down literally hundreds of Metis boards and 
> never saw that  failure.
>
> 73,
> Scotty  WA2DFI
>
>
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