I am making a custom board basing on the arduino due schematics, i remove the programming port and instead will use the native port,
When i soldered the bare minimum, my computer is throwing an error that it cant get the device descriptor of the chip, There could be several problems that could be aside from faulty soldering so i want to eliminate the variables. It could be the usb c cable i am using, i only have one so i cant confirm.
I want to know if the chip is good using a J-link mini edu, that i have, i do have Jtag ports on my circuit but i have no idea how to use the j link to check if the chip is okay.
If the SAM3x does not have any software in it you cannot connect it through USB. The Arduino Due has a bootloader in it that handles USB and writes new programs into memory and starts them. You will need to install that bootloader into your chip. I am not sure where you can get the bootloader, but somebody in the forum will be able to tell you.
To use the J-Link EDU mini you will need to install a development environment that supports it e.g. Segger, maybe ARM Keil MDK or IAR.
When you connect the board in the IDE you should be able to see whether the chip is connected. This depends on the IDE you have. Once the chip is connected you can actually write values into RAM memory without a program, because the SAM3x has a ARM Cortex-M processor and the Debug Access Port allows direct memory access.
Klaus_K:
If the SAM3x does not have any software in it you cannot connect it through USB. The Arduino Due has a bootloader in it that handles USB and writes new programs into memory and starts them.
I though the sam3x does not need a bootloader and the chip connected to the programming port is the one that needs the bootloader, anyway have not reached that point yet, i first want to confirm if i have soldered correctly the components,
I have downloaded the segger embedded studio, but i could not find where are the "connected devices list" . CUrrently playing with atmel studio, since it seems to be able to use the j-link mini.
The SAM3x does not need a bootloader if you connect and program trough the J-Link.
But if you want to connect trough USB you will need some software that configures the USB port and handles the protocol from an application point of view.
If you are using a J-Link EDU mini there are several ways to check. One that i have found is using the Atmel Studio 7. Upon opening the program navigate to Tools > Device Programing or Ctrl + Shift + P. Then select the tool to J-Link ( assuming you have installed the drivers already for jlink), Device to ATSAM3X8E, Interface to JTAG. You may then click the "read" button on the device signature. to test your chip.
Although unreleated to the question but, what happened why windows could not get device discriptor is because i mistakenly seat the chip by 90 degrees. Turns out its not the big circle that is the indicator for pin 1 but there is a smaller circle on a different side.
Guys, there is NO NEED FOR A BOOTLOADER if you are using the native port, i can even upload using the arduino IDE. Though you have to erase the code with a push button to upload a new one.
John41234:
Guys, there is NO NEED FOR A BOOTLOADER if you are using the native port, i can even upload using the arduino IDE. Though you have to erase the code with a push button to upload a new one.
Actually it does, but it is build in. I missed that one when looking at the datasheet. Learned something new. Thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your project.
Klaus_K:
Actually it does, but it is build in. I missed that one when looking at the datasheet. Learned something new. Thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your project.