NI USRP 2940 R safe-mode button

[frcgnn]

Hi All,

I have a NI USRP 2940 R which is unreachble via ethernet (1 Gb) after a changing of a firmware. 

For changing the firmware I used the following command:

uhd_image_loader --args="type=x300,addr=192.168.10.2" --fpga-path="/usr/share/uhd/images/usrp_x310_fpga_XG.lvbitx"

The procedure seems like successfully completed:

-- Initializing FPGA loading...successful.
-- Loading HG FPGA image: 100% (121/121 sectors)
-- Finalizing image load...successful.
Power-cycle the USRP X310 to use the new image.

But after the power-cycle I cant able to ping the USRP and also the commands uhd_find_devices and uhd_usrp_probe say "No UHD Devices Found". Therefore I was thinking to put my NI USRP 2940 R in safe-mode. 

In the "GETTING STARTED GUIDE NI USRP-2940R/2942R/2943R Universal Software Radio Peripheral" (http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/375717f.pdf) in the section "Why Doesn't the Device IP Address Reset to the Default?", I found the procedure that says to locate the push-button switch (S2).

The problem is that unlike NI USRP 2920 in which the S2 button is easily to reach, I have not been able to find the safe-mode button inside the NI USRP 2940 R. I found only SW1 and SW3 buttons. 

Has anyone idea on what are the buttons SW1 and SW3? Or better, how to reset the NI USRP 2940 R? 

Thanks a lot for your attention.

Best Regards.

Francesco.

[alynch · Accepted solution]

The usrp_x310_fpga_XG.lvbitx image implements only 10GbE on the SFP ports, so you will not be able to communicate with the device over 1GbE while it is loaded.  You probably needed the usrp_x310_fpga_HG.lvbitx image which has one port at 1Gb and the other at 10Gb and is the image that the devices ship with.  See https://files.ettus.com/manual/page_usrp_x3x0.html#x3x0_load_fpga_imgs_fpga_flavours for information about the different FPGA images available.

There is no safe mode on the NI USRP 2940R, but there are various ways to load a new FPGA image that will work without a functional image already on the device. The PCIe connection on the device can load images temporarily to the device and update the persistant image in the flash even if there is no image already on it.  The USB JTAG connection on the front panel can also be used to temporarily load a new image so that you can access the device over Ethernet to update the persistant image.  You should also be able to use the device normally if you have a 10GbE connection to it. The page linked above has directions for all these methods of loading images.

[frcgnn]

Thanks a lot alynch!!! 

Best Regards!

Francesco.

[frcgnn]

Dear alynch,
I have on my pc-lab a 10Gb connection.
I tried to use these but unfortunately the USRP is still not reachable.

Any other suggestions?

Thansk a lot.

Best Regards.

Francesco.

[alynch]

If the 10Gb connection is not coming up at all, with no link or activity lights next to the SFP+ ports, then you will need to load the FPGA from either PCIe or USB JTAG, both of which are accessible independent of FPGA image.  If the connection is coming up, you may not have the correct device address.  The ports have different IP addresses when running at 10Gb than at 1Gb, with the defaults being 192.168.30.2 for port 0 and 192.168.40.2 for port 1.

[frcgnn]

Dear alynch,

Thanks a lot again for your help it was very helpful. Indeed i was wronging the address IP.

Now I can see my USRP. The NI-USRP Configuration Utility shows the USRP, but it has need of an update. Could you suggest me which firmware I have to install? I would use both type of ethernet connection, therefore the HG could be ok? right?

Thanks a lot.

Best Regards.

Francesco.

[alynch]

The HG (HGS in older versions) image is the correct one for providing both types of ethernet.  If you are using it with the NI-USRP driver in LabVIEW, compatible images are installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-USRP\images along with the driver.

[frcgnn]

Thanks a lot!!

Best Regards.

Francesco.

[frcgnn]

Dear alynch,

I need your help again. Now I have a NI USRP 2901. Can I install the B210 Ettus Firmware? What I have to use as FPGA firmware and FPGA image in the NI USRP Configuration Utility?

Thanks a lot again!!

Francesco.

[alynch]

The NI-USRP Configuration Utility does not support loading firmware or FPGA images onto USRP 290x/B2x0 devices since they have no persistant storage. The images are automatically loaded every time the device is used. The images are the same between NI and Ettus devices, but vary by driver version.  The NI compatible images should be installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-USRP\images and the Ettus compatible images in C:\Program Files\UHD\share\uhd\images. If the correct image is not automatically loaded when you run your application, you can use uhd_image_loader located in C:\Program Files\UHD\bin or C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-USRP\utilities to load the correct image for the corresponding driver. The images you need are usrp_b200_fw.hex and usrp_b210_fpga.bin.