[ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[Olaf Peters]

Hello all,

I'm trying to bring up my EDB7211 board for eCos development. I downloaded
an eCos snapshot from 26 januari 2001 and created the edb7xxx gdbrom stubs.
Than I programmed the gdb_module.bin file into the EDB7211 flash.

With this gdb_module.bin I get all kinds of errors when I try to debug the
hello.c example program ("arm-elf-gdb -nw hello.exe" from a cygwin prompt on
win2000). I download the hello.exe program via the gdb load cmd and than do
e.g. stepi or cont. In both cases (stepi and cont) I get random results,
sometimes a SIGTRAP, sometimes a SIGBUS, and I also experienced some
'Spurious interrupt' messages.

Any ideas or hints?

Is there a site where I can download a working gdb_module.bin for the
EDB7211?

Tia,
Olaf.

Re: [ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[Lewin A.R.W. Edwards]

Hello Olaf,

>an eCos snapshot from 26 januari 2001 and created the edb7xxx gdbrom stubs.
>Than I programmed the gdb_module.bin file into the EDB7211 flash.

You might find it easier, as I did, to start with the "official release" of 
eCos, 1.3.1 rather than a snapshot. The 1.3.1 release comes with a 
pre-compiled binary ready to flash.

At least that will provide a useful starting point. I have not yet been 
able to get the current eCos snapshot compiled, let alone running, on the 
EDB7209 (EP7212).

=== Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Embedded Engineer)
Work: http://www.digi-frame.com/
Personal: http://www.zws.com/ and http://www.larwe.com/

"Und setzet ihr nicht das Leben ein,
Nie wird euch das Leben gewonnen sein."

Re: [ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[Wilson Kwan]

Hi Olaf,

> With this gdb_module.bin I get all kinds of errors when I try to debug the
> hello.c example program ("arm-elf-gdb -nw hello.exe" from a cygwin prompt
on
> win2000). I download the hello.exe program via the gdb load cmd and than
do
> e.g. stepi or cont. In both cases (stepi and cont) I get random results,
> sometimes a SIGTRAP, sometimes a SIGBUS, and I also experienced some
> 'Spurious interrupt' messages.

I also had problems like this. To fix this problem you should build the
stubs as one target and the main eCos kernel library as another (ie. two
configuration files). This will create two sets of directories for your
targets. I found that sometimes things behaved strangely if I used the same
configuration for both the library and stub builds. You can also try
deleting the <target>_build, <target>_install, and <target>_mlt directories
before you do a rebuild. This often fixes things for me. It seems the clean
option doesn't fully clean things out but I haven't verified this.

On the hardware side make sure you turn the board off and on again after a
SIGBUS error. This seems to help for me when I get this error.

Good luck,

Wilson

RE: [ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[Olaf Peters]

Lewin,

Thanks for your help so far.

> >an eCos snapshot from 26 januari 2001 and created the edb7xxx
> gdbrom stubs.
> >Than I programmed the gdb_module.bin file into the EDB7211 flash.
>
> You might find it easier, as I did, to start with the "official
> release" of
> eCos, 1.3.1 rather than a snapshot. The 1.3.1 release comes with a
> pre-compiled binary ready to flash.

The pre-compiled binary seems to work fine on my EDB7211 board.
But now comes the real problem: I have an EDB7211 alike
custom board, build around the EP7211 (flash, ram and ethernet controller
are the same). For this board I need to do some
additional hardware initialisations at start-up, so I need to be able to
compile
the EDB7211 GDB rom stub.
I tried to built the EDB7211 gdb stubs with eCos 1.3.1, but it
doesn't work (I followed the guidelines in the ecos-tutorial-arm.pdf file).
Any suggestions why the EDB7211 GDB stubs I built myself with eCos 1.3.1
don't work and the shipped images do work?

Tia,
Olaf.

RE: [ECOS] GDB stubs on EDB7211

[Lewin A.R.W. Edwards]

Hello Olaf,

>Thanks for your help so far.

Well, I actually haven't helped you yet :)

>I tried to built the EDB7211 gdb stubs with eCos 1.3.1, but it
>doesn't work (I followed the guidelines in the ecos-tutorial-arm.pdf file).
>Any suggestions why the EDB7211 GDB stubs I built myself with eCos 1.3.1
>don't work and the shipped images do work?

One thing I discovered recently with help from the Red Hat guys is that if 
you make a global change to your eCos configuration (such as switching from 
RAM to ROM startup), it is advisable to delete the build tree completely 
rather than just doing a make clean. Perhaps that issue has bitten you?

Also, what tools are you using? (I have an ulterior motive in asking, btw ;)

I have not tried to build stubs. However I _have_ built ROM-bootable 
applications, so I know that much is possible. I have also noticed some 
bizarre behavior on the EDB7209 board [with EP7212 on it], perhaps you 
might get a better result if you follow the exact steps of:

* power down board, fit JP2
* power up board, press and hold RESET for several seconds
* press and hold WAKEUP for at least a second
* download .bin file
* power down board, remove JP2
* wait a few minutes
* power up board, press and hold RESET for a few seconds
* press and hold WAKEUP for at least a second
* board may not start up immediately, it may require several resets and 
"time out" sitting powered off

When you try your stub on the EDB, does the "DIAG" LED come on?

=== Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Embedded Engineer)
Work: http://www.digi-frame.com/
Personal: http://www.zws.com/ and http://www.larwe.com/

"Und setzet ihr nicht das Leben ein,
Nie wird euch das Leben gewonnen sein."