Problem with UART

GoogleGroups
1

I'm a newbie as far as Beagleboard is concerned. I'm currently using a
B5 revision of the board, purchased directly from TI. My short-term
goal is to be able to set up and run Angstrom on the Beagleboard.

When I power-on the board using an external 5V source, the three power
LEDs are turned on as expected, but when I try to serially interact
with the board from a PC console (using the 11520 8N1 settings), the
bootloader does not appear to have run, and there is no response
visible on the screen. I tried connecting to the PC from the board's
RS232 using a UART cable, as well as a null modem cable, but neither
seem to be working although the cables appear to be fine. I'm guessing
it might be a problem with one of the board components.

I spoke with a TI (Bangalore) employee about this, and he tested the
board with his own cables and confirmed that it is a UART problem, and
even suggested that this is a common problem with a lot of Bx version
boards.

Does anyone have any idea whether I might be able to get the board
repaired locally (in India)? If not, would it still be possible to
have it repaired/replaced in the US? Apparently, the warranty has
expired.

Thanks,
Suhas

2

I am curious as to where you purchased the board as TI does not sell the BeagleBoard. As to the UART issue, you can refer to section 13 of the System Reference Manual to make sure that you have the correct cable configuration. This is typically the issue with UART communication. The Rev B5 did have an issue with the level translator failing so this could be your issue. After going through the System Reference Manual if you still are unable to get it to work, I suggest you request and RMA. There are no repair facilities in India and the board cannot be manually repaired.

Gerald

3

Thanks for the suggestions, Gerald. The company I'm involved with,
Silvan Labs, was started by a few ex-TI employees so I'm guessing TI
might have supplied them with the board somehow. I'll definitely go
through the reference manual, and see if we can put it right.

About request and RMA, will they be willing to service the request if
the warranty period has passed? Apparently, the board was purchased
around 8 months ago!

Suhas

4

They will repair the board.

Gerald