The board seems to have wrong firmware

HiFive1 Rev B
1

I just got this HiFive1 RevB board which I got through sifive.com, but it was delivered from mouser.com,

It looks like the board has wrong fimrware:

  • it does not print the message shown in the ‘getting started’ guide, this is what it prints instead:
rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x12 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:5552
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load:0x40078000,len:0
load:0x40078000,len:13756
entry 0x40078fb4
I (30) boot: ESP-IDF v3.0.1 2nd stage bootloader
...
I (709) wifi: mode : null
E (710) HSPI-AT: Cannot get read data address.
I (711) wifi: mode : sta (3c:71:bf:b9:81:bc) + softAP (3c:71:bf:b9:81:bd)
I (720) wifi: mode : null
I (1543) wifi: flush txq
I (1544) wifi: stop sw txq
I (1544) wifi: lmac stop hw txq

It does show up as a removable storage device in the File manager window, but attempts to open it result in an error pop up "Could not display /media/{USER}/HiFive. The location is not a folder’

Is there any way to revive this?

2

Hi,
There are two serial devices visible to a host machine connected to HiFive1 revB via USB. Please check the serial output from the other serial device (the lower enumerated device).

3

Ah, you are rgiht! I thought I checked both, but I guess not.

So, I see the advertized output on ACM0, but still see the “The location is not a folder” error.

How is this supposed to work - the firmware implements USB storage device?

4

Hi,

Good to hear that the board is working for you and thanks for reaching out for help.

You can drag-n-drop a hex file to write the flash on the board. First compile a program and create a hex file, then you can drag-n-drop the hex file using a file explorer on the host machine to program the board.

5

I don’t seem to be able to copy the program to the board using GUI, I get the same “The destination is not a folder” error

6

Ah, never mind, after I tried to upload a program using e-sdk a window popped up suggesting to update the board firmware which I allowed, and then I was able to load the test program to the board.

Thank you for your help Jim

7

One more question: do I get it right that there is no external RAM on HiFive1 RevB, and all there is is the onchip 16KB?

8

That’s right. You could add more RAM via SPI (for example). The FE310-G002 has three SPI interfaces. One is used for the flash, one for communication with the ESP32, and one is available on Arduino GPIO pins 2,3,4,5,9,10. I don’t know which pin is which – I think it’s got multiple chip-select pins.

You’d have to fully manage copying things back and forth to external RAM yourself.