Hi. I'm working with a board that has an AT91SAM7X512 on it. I erased the flash so now all it should have is the "AT91SAM Boot Program" in internal ROM. And if I use SAM-BA to talk to the card, it seems fine.
My question is: (re: Atmel AT91SAM7X512/256/128 (doc. 6120I), sec. 21 "ATSAM Boot Program") Shouldn't I be able to send command to the "SAM-BA Boot" program directly on the serial port (i.e., DBGU) (for example, the commands in table 21-1)?

With the SAM7S there was a trick with ERASE/TST to get the SAM-BA code into flash. I don't think that works here.

With the SAM7X you have to get GPNVM bit 2 set to ZERO for it to boot into ROM, and go into SAM-BA mode. At that point you should be able to jabber to the chip using the auto-baud and then the commands and xmodem functionality of the SAM-BA protocol.

If GPNVM bit 2 is set on ONE, it's going to try and run a blank FLASH, and probably crash.

"Setting the GPNVM Bit 2 selects the boot from the Flash. Asserting ERASE clears the GPNVM Bit 2 and thus selects the boot from the ROM by default."

Thanks.
But I'm pretty sure GPNVMb2 is clear. Otherwise, SAM-BA wouldn't be able to talk to the SAM7X. (right?)
What I'm trying to do here is to have the option of sending commands (and files) directly from TeraTerm or HyperTerminal (i.e, to have the option of NOT always needing SAM-BA on the PC). It's not that I don't like SAM-BA, but for shorter make-load-run-repeat cycles, it would be nice it I could just stay connected with TeraTerm and send commands/files without having to quit TeraTerm and restart SAM-BA.
And what exactly do you mean "jabber the chip?" It looks like it wants 0x80 0x80 '#'. How do I send a 0x80 from TeraTerm?
Thanks and regards,
Tom

I imagine you could send 0x80 by holding the ALT key, and then typing 1 2 8 on the numeric pad. This is the classic keyboard control for getting special 8-bit character codes input.

The protocol is designed for automated interaction rather than user terminal input. It's not really a command line monitor, and not tolerant of mistypes, or backspaces.

I can understand not wanting the SAM-BA host side application, it has grown rather big and clumsy over the years. On the other hand, I'd probably be writing a simple Win32 console app that talked to the COM port directly.

Some of the SAM9 docs might provide a better review of the protocol, and the binary vs terminal modes.

Personally I found this reasonably helpful
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/l ... ion:SAM-BA