[hpsdr] Bootloader issues

[Dave Larsen]

John--

I am a the maintainer of HPSDRBootloader and HPSDRProgrammer
You seem to have tried things in a logical manner.

Just to help you understand, these two programs look similar but function
in very different ways.

HPSDRProgrammer is a program that uses UDP to talk to the Metis board.
There needs to be a compatible firmware already installed  in the Metis
board.

HPSDRBootloader is a program that talks to the board with raw ethernet
using the pcap library.  It does not use the url to address just the board
MAC address.  It requires that the board be put in the bootloader mode with
the jumper J1 on the Metis board.  The pcap library need to be loaded with
apt-get on Linux or winpcap on windows.  The license for winpcap does not
allow us to redistribute winpcap but you can download it for free. You will
also have to be administrator for the machine to run the software.

The problems you mention could come from not having pcap available or no
bootloader firmware on the metis board.

TAPR boards were loaded with a bootloader.rbf by Scotty and Dan during the
testing phase.  People that build their own boards have to load this their
self.
I have worked on a couple of boards where the owner tried to use Quartus
to load the firmware.  The memory has a bootloader.rbf loaded in the first
section of the Metis board memory and the Metis.rbf loaded in the  second
half of the flash memory.  The process is possible with Quartus but
complicated and it is explained in the Metis manual.  Often these people
erase the bootloader and load the Metis firmware in the first half of the
flash memory.  On these boards the firmware appears to work but it can not
be updated with the HPSDRBootloader as there is not bootloader firmware to
talk to.

If this is the problem the easiest solution is to use Quartus to load the
bootloader.rbf firmware.

Then use the HPSDRBootloader software to find the board and program the
Metis firmware into the second have of the flash memory.

I hope this helps you find the problem.

Dave KV0S

On Sat, Apr 18, 2015 at 3:27 PM, John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com> wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> I just don't seem to be able to get the knack of HPSDR firmware update.
>
> I'm trying to update a Metis/Mercury/Pennylane system.  PowerSDR
> recognizes it just fine.  HPSDRProgrammer recognizes it just fine.  I've
> been able to update Metis to firmware 3.0 via the programmer.
>
> But HPSDRBootloader fails instantly with a MAC timeout error (or
> interrogation timeout error if I push that button).  There's no indication
> that bootloader ever finds Metis.  The "timeout" error occurs within a
> fraction of a second after I push the button (which seems odd...)  I *have*
> put the J1 jumper on.
>
> Because the computer has two interfaces with my Hermes normally on the
> other one, I thought network issues might be the problem.  I've made sure
> the Hermes unit is turned off, of course.
>
> So, I've (a) swapped NICs and IP networks, (b) disabled the unused NIC;
> (c) reverted from latest bootloader version back to 2.0.4.0; (d) tried
> another Metis card; and (e) downloaded and tried the Linux version of
> bootloader on another machine on the network.
>
> In each case, the only result is that the bootloader instantly fails and
> tells me that I need to install J1.
>
> So, I've basically swapped out everything except Atlas and LPU, with the
> same results.  (Other info: Running Windows 7.  I've set bootloader to run
> with admin privileges via the "compatibility" tab in the shortcut.)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> John
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-- 
KV0S - Dave Larsen
Columbia, MO, USA
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