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Topic: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity (Read 3720 times) previous topic - next topic

Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

I found a Bus Pirate v2go! Actually, I bought it back in 2009 to support the project and then promptly forgot about it until today. So I'm trying to get it running as I'd like to use it for some SPI stuff. Today is the first time it has been powered up since I received it in 2009.

I plug it into my MBP via USB and it creates /dev/tty.usbserial-A7004q3B. The PWR LED shows red, and the MODE LED shows green. The VREG LED is off.

Using /usr/bin/screen on OSX10.11, I try to start up a serial session:

$ screen /dev/tty.usbserial-A7004q3B 115200 8N1

No activity. No response to any keyboard input.

I've tried without the 8N1 option too.

I tried shorting PGC and PGD then powering up, to see if that made any difference, but it doesn't seem to.

I'm fairly sure my cable is OK, as I have been using it to monitor the serial console of a RPi. I tried a second cable just in case.

What do you think has happened to it? Do I need to (re)program the bootloader?

EDIT: I've now tried it from a Linux PC too - same result, no serial port activity.

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #1 –
Ok, it's possible that my v2go was one of those that shipped without firmware - it was a Hack-a-Day fundraiser one after all.

Can I install the latest firmware on a v2go, or is there an older version that represents "final support" for this board?

EDIT: on the firmware download page it says things like "v4 bootloader only" or "v4+ bootloader only" - I highly doubt I have bootloader v4 on this board (how can I tell?) so I'm not sure how I'd get from 2009 bootloader to 2016 firmware.

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #2 –
Ok, I was able to load the 2.1 firmware successfully and now I have activity (and a menu) on my serial port. The self-test completes successfully (after adding the two jumpers).

I imagine it makes sense to upgrade to even newer firmware. I've seen the warnings about how to upgrade to a v4 bootloader:

http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/V2_to_v4_upgrades

Is this the most up-to-date info? Is there anything else I should know that isn't mentioned on that page?

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #3 –
The wiki says that the v2go shipped with v2 of the bootloader, yet when I run
Code: [Select]
P24qp.py -i
(the one that shipped with the v2tov41-bootloader-update-va3 package) it reports
Code: [Select]
Bootloader Version: 1.2

Sometimes I've seen people refer to 1.x as "version x" - so is that the case here? Does 1.2 mean "version 2"? Is it safe to use this updater with this version of the bootloader?

I currently have firmware version 2.1 installed.

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #4 –
I dived in and updated the bootloader to v4.1, then the firmware to 5.10. I wasn't able to update to firmware v7.0 because of a "checksum error", even after renaming the hex file as upper case.

So it looks like I'm in business. Would be nice to try the v7.0 firmware once a valid hex file is ready.

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #5 –
Hi meowsqueak.
Unfortunately firmware release 7.0 does not supports the Bus Pirate v2go.
Please take a look here:
 
https://github.com/BusPirate/Bus_Pirate/issues/6
 
Thanks.
 
Be seeing you.
 
U.Sb

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #6 –
Ok, thanks for letting me know. Was there a stable version prior to that commit that at least ran on the v2go, in case I want to try maintaining support myself?

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #7 –
Hi meowsqueak.
So have you had success in upgrading the bootloader of your Bus Pirate v2go? (http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/V2_to_v4_upgrades)
If the answer is yes, then you can use firmware stock revision 6.0, 6.1, 6.2 or 6.3.

v6.0RC (r572) -> viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1702#p17536

v6.1 -> https://storage.googleapis.com/google-c ... e.v6.1.zip

v6.1 -> https://storage.googleapis.com/google-c ... 7.v6.1.zip

v6.1 -> https://storage.googleapis.com/google-c ... 676.v1.zip

v6.2 -> https://storage.googleapis.com/google-c ... -beta1.zip

v6.3 -> dangerousprototypes.com/forum/download/file.php?id=11261

or

v6.3 -> https://github.com/DangerousPrototypes/Bus_Pirate  (the most recent revision v6.3 but you need to build by yourself)

Good luck!

Be seeing you.

U.Sb

Re: Bus Pirate v2go - no serial activity

Reply #8 –
Hi meowsqueak.
Without anything else that is better and just to make some attempt these are specifically for the v2go:
 
https://github.com/jevinskie/bus-pirate ... Pv3%26v2go
 
Be seeing you.
 
U.Sb