Bricking and Recovering OpenSDA Boards in Windows 8 and 10

Getting a board from a distributor like Farnell/Element14/Mouser (add your own distributor) means that chances are high that the default firmware on it is written years from now because the inventory has not been updated, or because boards are still produced with that original firmware (because of testing?). So what happens if I use board with a firmware developed pre-Windows 8/10 area?

Freshly Unboxed NXP FRDM-KL25Z Board

Freshly Unboxed NXP FRDM-KL25Z Board

It might work, but chances are high that the bootloader and firmware is not ready for the ‘modern age’, and as a result the board might be bricked. If you still have a Windows 7 machine around (I do!), you are lucky. If not, then you need to read this article….

Continue reading

Illustrated Step-by-Step Instructions: Updating the Freescale Freedom Board Firmware

I have received a bunch of Freescale FRDM boards to be used in an Embedded Systems programming crash course. There are multiple issues with the boards coming from the factory:

  1. They come with an old bootloader which is not compatible with Windows 8.x
  2. They have an old and outdated firmware on the board only supports a MSD bootloader

This post is a step-by-step instruction how to update Freescale FRDM boards (e.g. FRDM-KL25Z) to the latest firmware.

FRDM Board

FRDM Board

Continue reading

Review: New FRDM-KL26Z Board

I probably would have missed the fact that Freescale has released a new Freedom board, if I would not have visited my local distributor site to order a replacement for one of my first FRDM-KL25Z boards. So surprise, surprise: there is a new Freedom board: the FRDM-KL26Z!

FRDM-KL26Z Board

FRDM-KL26Z Board

So instead ordering again a FRDM-KL25Z, I decided to order that new FRDM-KL26Z instead. And it arrived right before Christmas, and now I had time to check it out. Nope, I did *not* use it as a blinking gadget on a Christmas tree, even if that would have been a nice idea ;-).

Continue reading