V2 Black Box Logging - Beta Release

[Blacky]

The internal testing phase of BB logging on FlashScan V2 has run into some problems. Nothing major but enough to make me concerned that I may not get it released by this weekend.

There are two outstanding problems with the new BB logging firmware:

1. FlashScan takes about 30 seconds to power up under USB power. Not sure why at this stage but my focus is on the CPU boot speed. It is possibly being set extremely low (i.e. 1MHz instead of 40MHz). Which would cause all the timing routines (and timeouts) to take 40 times longer. I'm about to go measure the CPU boot speed now...

2. The flash file system randomly dissapears from flash memory. At this stage I am not sure why, it could just be a faulty flash chip in the test device. I will be working on getting the SD card memory working instead. Then I can go back and re-visit the internal flash memory problem.

I may get these issues solved by Friday night, I may not. If I don't then I won't be posting the beta software until after we return from SEMA around mid Novemeber.

Regards
Paul

[ScarabEpic22]

Good luck Paul! We know you can do it man!

Ohh, and have fun at SEMA, Ive never been but it sounds like a blast.

[Blacky]

1. FlashScan takes about 30 seconds to power up under USB power. Not sure why at this stage but my focus is on the CPU boot speed. It is possibly being set extremely low (i.e. 1MHz instead of 40MHz). Which would cause all the timing routines (and timeouts) to take 40 times longer. I'm about to go measure the CPU boot speed now...

Problem 1 solved. The bus timing for the RAM chip addressing was out by 25 nanoseconds. That's fixed now

Now problem 2 to go.... (could be the same cause as problem 1)

Regards
Paul

[Jasondt2001]

Problem 1 solved. The bus timing for the RAM chip addressing was out by 25 nanoseconds. That's fixed now

Now problem 2 to go.... (could be the same cause as problem 1)

Regards
Paul

Jeez man, are you an electronics engineer or a programmer???
Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do!

[Blacky]

I'm not an electronics engineer's bootlace (Ross can verify that!).

This is what actually happened...
When the V2 was first designed, the real engineers mapped out the bus timings. The CPU that we use allows me to configure the external bus controller to the nearest 25 nanoseconds to match the memory hardware we are using.

The CPU defines the number of wait states for the bus read and write lines using a bit encoded value where 0=25ns, 1=50ns, 2=75ns etc...
In the V2.5 firmware I incorrectly used 1=25ns, 2=50ns, 3=75ns etc...

So I ended up running the RAM and Flash memory chips too fast for their design. By the way, the bus timing correction also solved the flash file system disappearing problem.

So it wasn't really rocket science, it just took me a while to find my mistake.

Regards
Paul

Jeez man, are you an electronics engineer or a programmer???
Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do!

[Blacky]

Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do!

You have no idea how relieved I was to find the mistake in the firmware, and that it was not a hardware problem. Hardware problems are orders of magnitude more complex and time consuming to fix.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm pretty sure I can get some BB logging test firmware out tomorrow...
It won't be the "prettiest" thing you've ever seen but it will do BB logging.

Regards
Paul

[Biggsy]

You have no idea how relieved I was to find the mistake in the firmware, and that it was not a hardware problem. Hardware problems are orders of magnitude more complex and time consuming to fix.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm pretty sure I can get some BB logging test firmware out tomorrow...
It won't be the "prettiest" thing you've ever seen but it will do BB logging.

Regards
Paul

Well done Paul

We ALL appreciate what you are doing, anything new to play with (even if it isn't "pretty"), will be embraced by everyone.

Keep the coffee flow'n, you're almost there!

Thanks

[ScarabEpic22]

Sweet man! Glad it was something as simple as that and not a hardware issue.

[Blacky]

Well, it got sooooo close to being done.

- The VPW BB logging at 10 frames per second works perfectly. I've done hours of on-road testing.
- The CAN logging at 40 frames per second works but the FlashScan firmware is not keeping up with the high speed data from the ECM. The code needs to be optimized (I haven't done that yet) but that won't happen tonight. I'm jumping on the plane in a few hours so it will have to wait until I get back - mid Nov.

I really am disappointed that I did not get it completed before I leave for SEMA. But I need some sleep before I get there or I'll be nodding off at the booth.

Regards
Paul

[JoshH]

Well, it got sooooo close to being done.

- The VPW BB logging at 10 frames per second works perfectly. I've done hours of on-road testing.
- The CAN logging at 40 frames per second works but the FlashScan firmware is not keeping up with the high speed data from the ECM. The code needs to be optimized (I haven't done that yet) but that won't happen tonight. I'm jumping on the plane in a few hours so it will have to wait until I get back - mid Nov.

I really am disappointed that I did not get it completed before I leave for SEMA. But I need some sleep before I get there or I'll be nodding off at the booth.

Regards
Paul

No worries Paul. I think everyone is just excited that it's so close to being a reality. We know once it's released it will be worth the wait. Have fun in Vegas