Entering the world of STM32: Hex program burning

During the Light Cube event, a small number of netizens said that they did not know how to burn the HEX program into the STM32 chip. In order to start the STM32 series basic tutorial that they had wanted to start for a long time, they began to "enter the STM32 world" on this rainy night in Beijing.

Most 51 MCU (STC series MCU) beginners know that when the 51 MCU is powered on, the program can be directed to the bootloader through the PC host software, so that the hex file of the new program can be downloaded to the MCU to complete the program upgrade or update. The STM32 MCU under the 32-bit Cortex-M3 core can also do this. This host software is called "Flash loader demonstrator"; after short-circuiting boot0 and VCC, it will enter the upgrade mode (System memory boot loader) after resetting again.

We need to download the chip burning tool software Flashloader demonstrator first. After downloading, we unzip and install this file, then we find STMicroelectronics flash loader.exe, this program is one of our protagonists - burning software. Another protagonist is our USB to serial port tool. Let me introduce how to use the software:

Prerequisites

Insert the USB to serial port tool into the computer and check the serial port number of the virtual serial port in the "Device Manager".

The programming process can be divided into six steps, namely, chip connection page, flash status page, chip information page, operation configuration page, option word configuration page, and operation progress bar page.

Step 1: Connect to the chip page

On this page, we mainly configure the serial port number, and the rest of the parameters can use the default values. Before clicking next, be sure to set the boot0 pin high and reset it. If everything is normal, the software will turn to the next page. Of course, if an error occurs, you need to repeat the above operation.

 

 

hint:

"Cannot open the COMport": Check whether the correct serial port number is selected and confirm that this serial port is not used by other software.

“Unrecognized device”: Restarting the microprocessor may solve the problem.

"No response from the target": This error is caused by abnormal chip power supply or connection problem. In rare cases, the chip is broken.

Step 2: Display flash storage status

As can be seen from the above picture, if the chip's flash is not read or write protected, the "Remove protection" button is gray; if the chip's flash is XX, then I don't need to say more about the function of this button^_^

Step 3: Chip information display

This page is basically read-only, just take a look. For our beginner level netizens, just quickly skip it for now.

Step 4: Operation Configuration

This page is our main operation page. The entire flash programming and erasing is concentrated in this page. In this page, we can erase the existing flash content of the chip. We can download the hex program to the chip flash, we can also enable/remove the chip protection (disable/enable) function, or configure the advanced function of the option word.

Here is a brief explanation. The erase function can choose to erase all (All) or to erase some sectors (selection). Click it and the page of the corresponding block will pop up.

Download flash (download), the software supports Intel hex, binary and S19 Motorola formats. For the rest, we can use the default settings.

Upload the internal flash content of the chip (upload). This function can read the internal flash of the chip and save it in the corresponding format. The format supports the three formats mentioned above.

Option word configuration, we will not use this configuration for the time being, and leave it for later advanced applications, and then we will come back to carefully study its powerful role and far-reaching significance.

Step 6: Progress bar display

In step 5, we will skip the option word configuration directly, so when it comes to step 6, there is nothing much to say about this page, just look at it.

If a green progress bar appears and prompts that the download is successful, then congratulations! The program has been successfully downloaded into the chip. At this time, you need to set boot0 low, reset the microprocessor, and then the microprocessor will execute the new program!

Summarize:

The use of the software adheres to the concept of one-click service, and the chip operation can be completed by clicking next all the way. In addition, the second active serial port download pin has been marked in the PCB silk screen. When connecting with the USB to serial port, a cross connection must be made, that is, the Rxd of the PCB board is connected to the Txd of the USB to serial port; the Txd of the PCB board is connected to the Rxd of the USB to serial port; and the GND of the two must be connected.