Getting started with 32F469IDISCOVERY

[alw]

It looks like I have the 32F469IDISCOVERY board that looks to be powered ok via USB connector CN13, however the board doesn't appear to have demo software preloaded. COM LED LD6 flashes red.

I note on the ST website that there is the 32F469IDISCOVERY compiled demo binary, which I have downloaded.

The Readme says: The QSPI external flash loader is not integrated with supported toolchains, it ís only supported with
STM32 ST-Link Utility V3.7 or later.

But the ST website says that the ST-Link Utility is NRND and to use STM32CubeProg instead. I've tried the latest version of STM32CubeProg and it can't connect to the board via USB:

Error: Establishing connection with device failed.

What is the best way of programming the board with this file please?

Kind regards,

Al

[mƎALLEm]

Hello,

Why are you using CN13 to connect to the board? CN13 is used for USB of the chip.

If you need to power the board with USB, you need to close JP2 on 3-4 position.

 

And you need to connect to CN1 over ST-LINK to connect to the board.

[Andrew Neil]

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@alw wrote:

It looks like I have the 32F469IDISCOVERY board

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If you're not sure what you have, you could post some good, clear photos of it - both sides.

Full details can be found on the Product Page:

• There's the User Manual, etc, on the 'Documentation' tab:
  https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/32f469idiscovery.html#documentation
   
• Schematics are available on the 'CAD Resources' tab:
  https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/32f469idiscovery.html#cad-resources

 

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@alw wrote:

looks to be powered ok via USB connector CN13

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Full details of the powering options are in the User Manual:

https://www.st.com/resource/en/user_manual/um1932-discovery-kit-with-stm32f469ni-mcu-stmicroelectronics.pdf#page=12

 

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@alw wrote:

What is the best way of programming the board with this file please?

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Indeed, STM32CubeProgrammer is the tool to use now.

Also STM32CubeIDE - for software development, loading, and debugging.

For programming and/or debugging, use the built-in ST-Link on CN1:

 

PS:

If connection issues persist:

How to solve connection errors when connecting and programming the STM32 target board.

How to solve debugger connection issues

[Ozone]

> I note on the ST website that there is the 32F469IDISCOVERY compiled demo binary, which I have downloaded.
> The Readme says: The QSPI external flash loader is not integrated with supported toolchains, it ís only supported with STM32 ST-Link Utility V3.7 or later.

This board was released 2015, when the SPL was still "state of the art".
Consequently, the demo is originally based upon SPL code.
You will probably still find the "legacy" firmware package including this demo, the SPL, and peripheral examples in source code on ST's website.

Not sure if this demo was ever ported to Cube/HAL code, or if there ever was a Cube package specifically for this board. I don't have such a board, and for a reason.
Those "feature-rich" boards, often including an onboard LCD and external memory, have many otherwise useful pins tied to exactly those special features. This makes the board itself relatively useless for many other use cases, especially considering the price.

Not to dissuade you, but a point to consider.
The other end of the spectrum are Nucleo boards, which come with a bare minimum of onboard stuff, routing most of the GPIOs to external connectors, and thus support a wide range of use cases.
Whatever works best in your case.

[Andrew Neil]

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@Ozone wrote:

This board was released 2015, when the SPL was still "state of the art".

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@alw  Probably also before TouchGFX came along - which is now ST's standard for graphic displays

 

I also tend to find that all the bells & whistles on this type of board tend to get in the way of actual development ...

[mƎALLEm]

@Andrew Neil 

If I remember well, that demo was indeed using TouchGFX. At that time TouchGFX is not part of ST offer and it belonged to another Danemark company..

[alw]

Thanks very much for all the comments and feedback. For clarity it is a 32F469IDISCOVERY board.

I am powering via CN13 with jumper JP2 in the correct position. I have done this to ensure that adequate power is provided to the board in all circumstances, such as during initial USB enumeration.

I am looking to use this board primarily for TouchGFX development, with a minimal external I/O requirement that can be accommodated by the Arduino headers. I have plenty of NUCLEO boards that I use on other projects with STM32CubeMX and STM32CubeIDE.

I was just looking for clarity on how to load the demo binary just to try out the board's capabilities in the first instance, as the current version of STM32CubeProg couldn't establish a connection over USB. This board is not marked as obsolete by ST, so should in theory at least be supported by current STM32 development tools.

Kind regards,

Al

[Ozone]

> I am powering via CN13 with jumper JP2 in the correct position. I have done this to ensure that adequate power is provided to the board in all circumstances, such as during initial USB enumeration.

You could try to power the board from the mentioned CN6 input (6..9V).
The default USB current limit is 100mA, the higher 500mA supply must be "negotiated" by the driver after registtration. You can run into trouble when the board draws more than that during this phase. I had such issues occasionally with boards that had a LCD screen.

Another option would be to prevent the target application from starting up (and initializing the screen), e.g. by setting a BOOT0 jumper.
If the ST-Link comes up in this configuration, you probably have a supply issue.

Some PCs (and USB ports) might be more tolerant than others in such cases, by the way.

[alw]

Thanks @Ozone 

Will try powering with the CN6 input and report back.

Kind regards,

Al

[mƎALLEm]

Hello ,

Please confirm that: are you able to connect to the board over CN1 (STLINK-USB)? forget about VIN, and other power supply sources for now..

We need to avoid unnecessary ping pongs.

[alw]

Hi @mƎALLEm 

It doesn't work with powering via CN1 (ST-LINK USB) either via a USB power adapter, or connected to my Mac as it doesn't connect to STM32CubeProg regardless of whether I select UART, ST-LINK, J-Link/Flasher or USB. 

Neither does anything appear to be functioning if I try to do an ST-LINK firmware upgrade via STM32CubeProg.

Kind regards,

Al

 

 

[mƎALLEm]

OK.

So let's summarize: 

1- You have a brand new 32F469IDISCOVERY board.

2- You are not able to connect to the MCU with STM32CubeProgrammer over CN1 (ST-LINK USB)

Could you confirm the two points? Am I correct?

[alw]

Both are correct, I received the board some months back but it's the first time I've tried using it.

Kind regards,

Al