[Discuss-gnuradio] Bricking and recovery of N210

[Vladimir Negnevitsky]

Hi folks,

We've recently received an N210. I updated the firmware successfully a
few times, but then usrp_n2xx_net_burner.py crashed. I immediately
tried rewriting the image, and all seemed to go fine, however both
default and backup booting (holding S2 during powerup) failed. I
directly programmed the FPGA over JTAG using iMPACT and a Xilinx
platform cable, and the firmware loaded correctly. At this point I ran
usrp_n2xx_net_burner.py twice with both the default and the
--overwrite-safe options. Rebooting into both the default and safe
images worked fine and FLASH burns have worked since then.

I have a feeling I was very lucky. Since I only reprogrammed the FPGA,
it would have searched the FLASH for working ZPU firmware, which must
have been intact. My question is, is there any technique to recover
the N210 in the event that both the FPGA and ZPU firmware are corrupt?
I've seen it alluded to in old posts where the CPU and FPGA firmware
were accidentally written into each other's locations. The technique
would be very useful if a similar crash happens again and it *does*
overwrite the CPU firmware this time. I'd also like to hear others'
success (or failure) stories.

Best regards, and thanks for your help.

Vlad