Unable to update firmware using Bossac

[pbrizzolari]

I tried to update my Duet3 board to 3.3RC1 today to take a look at it. The update failed over the browser interface and DWC couldn't connect to it afterwards. When trying to run the bossac update from the raspberry pi I can see the duet and get the info as shown below but writing a firmware file fails. (Freshly downloaded 3.2.2)

pi@duet3:~ $ ~/BOSSA/bin/bossac -i
Device : ATSAME70x20
Version : v1.2 Jan 6 2016 09:57:32
Address : 0x400000
Pages : 2048
Page Size : 512 bytes
Total Size : 1024KB
Planes : 1
Lock Regions : 64
Locked : none
Security : false
Boot Flash : false
pi@duet3:~ $ ~/BOSSA/bin/bossac -e -w -v -b /opt/dsf/sd/sys/Duet3Firmware_MB6HC.bin -R
Erase flash

Done in 3.753 seconds
Write 655036 bytes to flash (1280 pages)
[ ] 0% (0/1280 pages)
SAM-BA operation failed

Has anybody seen this before?

[dc42]

@pbrizzolari I haven't seen this when using a Pi, but I have seen this when trying to flash a Duet 3 MB6HC from a PC. Unfortunately the bootloader in the SAME70 processor ROM puts the USB port into high speed mode, and that makes it very sensitive to the USB cable you use and to the USB port you connect it to. So try a different USB cable, or a different port on the Pi, or try flashing it from a PC.

[pbrizzolari]

@dc42 I’ve tried 3 cables already with the same results each time but I’ll buy a new cable tomorrow and confirm if it’s still the same.

The cable I’m using right now is the one I’ve been using for all my embedded projects so I’m pretty sure it’s not the issue but you can never have too many good cables!

[pbrizzolari]

@dc42 I got lucky and happened to find another new cable I recently received. You were of course right and that fixed the issue.

Thanks for the assistance.