FSP5.6.0 EK-RA8M1 ethernet issues

Hello Forum,

Im porting a working project from the RA6M4 to the RA8M1 dev board.  I have been struggling with the setup and getting the wired ethernet to work.  I have fallen back to trying to get a standard Renesas provide sample application to run to prove out things. I have tried the DHCP server and FTP server and all fail the same way for me. As I step though the code in the sample projects I get responses back from the calls to bring the ethernet up all coming back largely as 0, until it does the check status = nx_ip_status_check(&g_ip0, NX_IP_LINK_ENABLED, &current_state, WAIT_OPTION_NETWORK_RETRY);  This comes back with 0x43 basically NX not connected.    Maybe I have a defective RA8M1 board, but I am hoping that is not the case.  

With 5.6.0 on the RA8M1 boards has anyone else ran into any wired ethernet issues? 

I see the RA8M1 is using a Renesas PHY.  Has anyone who has gotten this to work or maybe needed to change the pin setup for this board.  Im going to go though the schematic and driver config next and make sure its properly hooked up.  I'm very surprised this does not work out of the box like most all of the other dev boards and sample code Renesas provides. if anyone has any ideas here please let me know. 

I was tempted to install a 5.5.0 fsp.  When I try to install this the installer wants me to use a different location instead of where the 5.6.0 is installed.  Is there a way to add the older fsp's onto a newer one with out having to uninstall all FSP and reinstalling them all oldest first? 

Thank you for any help and ideas.  

Parents
  • Hello sir,

    Thanks for reaching out Renesas Engineering Community:

    1. As far I can understand you use EK-RA8M1 not a custom board, is that correct? Can you confirm?

    2. Also you are using NetX Duo, have you tried to test initially this example which is for DHCP client getting and IPv4 address from DHCP server and as soon as it connects to network it pings the server to  to verify the received IP address.

    https://github.com/renesas/ra-fsp-examples/tree/master/example_projects/ek_ra8m1/NetX_dhcpv4_client/NetX_dhcpv4_client_ek_ra8m1_ep

    I would suggest to got through this example to test basic ethernet networking functionality using NetX Duo.

    3. In order to install multiple FSP versions in a single e2studio installation, you need to make sure you have an e2studio version that is compatible with the FSP version you want to install. You mentioned you have FSP 5.6.0 which means you have e2studio 2024-10 which is compatible also with FSP 5.6.0 and previous FSP versions.

    If you want to install a new FSP version on existing e2studio you can refer to this FAQ to do the process manually:

    https://en-support.renesas.com/knowledgeBase/20612472

    Or you can:

     1. Download the FSP Pack Installer: - Visit the GitHub page for the Flexible Software Package (FSP) for Renesas RA MCU Family: https://github.com/renesas/fsp/releases

    2.Find and download the latest FSP packs installer (e.g., FSP_Packs_<version>.exe`).

    3. Install the FSP Pack: Run the FSP packs installer. - Click "Next" to continue.

    - Accept the license agreement by clicking "I Agree."

    - Browse to the folder where e2 studio is installed (e.g., `C:\Renesas\e2_studio) and click "Install."

    - Click "Finish" to complete the installation.

    3. To verify that the packs for FSP version you want have been installed. Start e2studio and go to Help->CMSIS Packs Management-> Renesas RA and you will see all the FSP versions you have installed:

    Hope it helps.

    Best Regards,

    IK

  • Hello IK,

    Thank you for the response.  Yes this is on the Renesas EK-RA8M1 with the 5.6.0 fsp.  I found this very weird I was not able to get the demo code to work.  I have been using the projects I downloaded from the renesas website.  I just loaded the dhcp client ipv4 demo.  It ends up landing in an error trap. Below is the RTT.  The error translates to • ERROR_REVISION_MISMATCH (0xA5): Indicates that a revision level is not compatible with the requested operation.  I have tried setting up a static and I have not been able to get anything to work.  I have a RA6M4 board that I have not problems with configuring the ethernet.  So Im not sure what to make of this.  I did get the git hub version of the code downloaded, but did not get a chance to check it yet. Hopefully tomorrow.  I dont know if this error could be somehow related to my router and dhcp server?  Its a modern name branded enterprise router.  

    Thank you again.

    00>
    00> ********************************************************************************
    00> * Renesas FSP Example Project for NetX_dhcpv4_client Module *
    00> * Example Project Version 1.0 *
    00> * Flex Software Pack Version 5.6.0 *
    00> ********************************************************************************
    00> Refer to readme.txt file for more details on Example Project and
    00> FSP User's Manual for more information about NetX_dhcpv4_client driver
    00>
    00> This project demonstrates the basic functionality of Netx Duo DHCPv4 client
    00> with ethernet driver on Renesas RA MCUs based on Renesas FSP using AzureRTOS.
    00> DHCP Client is created and started. On successful receiving of IP address from
    00> DHCPv4 server, it pings the server to verify the received Ip address.
    00> On successful completion, the success status and IP address are displayed
    00> on RTT viewer. Error and info messages will be printed on JlinkRTTViewer.
    00>
    00>
    00>
    00>
    00> INFO : Network Initialization completed successfully.
    00>
    00>
    00> INFO : Checking Ethernet Link...
    00>
    00>
    00> INFO : Ethernet link is up.
    00>
    00>
    00> INFO : DHCP client is running.
    00>
    00>
    00> ERROR : nx_dhcp_client_get_record failed.
    00>
    00>
    00> ERROR : run_dhcp_client_session failed.
    00>
    00>
    00> Returned Error Code: 0xA5

  • Hello IK, 

    I got it figured out sort of.  Both of the two ethernet pin groups for the RMII work.  But the weird part is the J61 jumper that controls the bus switches u16-19 needs to be closed and then opened after the tcp inits for the pin group with P401 and P701.  When the Jumper is then opened it will start responding to pings.  If I switch to the other pin group with P308 etc I need to start with J61 open and then close it.  

    Is there some kind of interaction on P115 that the processor is suppose to me making or something that needs to be set in the config?  

    Thank you.

  • Hello Rupertm,

    If you will check the readme file of the example I have provided you it is mentioned that J61 jumper with the default configurations of the project  should be removed:

    Also in the schematics of the EK-RA8M1 please check the notes provided below:

    It is mentioned that if you want to use Ethernet B, which means using the ethernet RMII interface with pins of group B as in the example, I provided you J61 (P115 is high) should be removed so that the example will work.

    I tested the example with J61 removed and as you can see it succeeded:

    If J61 is closed it fails:

    If I have J61 to closed and I use in ethernet RMII pins of group A and basically ethernet A:

    The example is working fine without removing J61:

    This is also mentioned in the User Manual document of EK-RA8M1 (https://www.renesas.com/en/document/mat/ek-ra8m1-v1-users-manual?r=25447396)

    If you check this section:

    So this basically happens due to the schematic of EK-RA8M1 for the ethernet PHY chip.

    The pins of GroupA (Ethernet A) and the pins of Group B (Ethernet B) are all used as input that go to the final PHY chip and depending the configuration of pin P115 (J61) these pins are multiplexed and is decided which pins will be used finally for the communication with the PHY chip (Group A or Group B) available on the board.

    Hope this answers your question.

    Thanks and Regards,

    IK

  • Hello IK,

    Yep, Im able to produce that as you show.  So Im glad to know the hardware is working and the drivers and such work.  I just need to figure out how and why my code needs me to pull the jumper and then put it back on to get the networking to work.  Im struggling to understand how it is that I have to do that.  Im basically using Renesas demo code as a starting point.  Ill take it all apart and put it back together hopefully this weekend and see if I can clear up that issue.  Hopefully I can find something. 

    Something else I am noticing is Im having some packet loss to the device when I run Pings to it.  Im seeing a 1% packet loss.  I dont think I have any ethernet issues on my network, but I guess its possible.  I am seeing this with your example code minus the section at the bottom releasing the dhcp server.  I did not see this with the RA6 dev board.  

    Thank you for your help IK!!

Reply
  • Hello IK,

    Yep, Im able to produce that as you show.  So Im glad to know the hardware is working and the drivers and such work.  I just need to figure out how and why my code needs me to pull the jumper and then put it back on to get the networking to work.  Im struggling to understand how it is that I have to do that.  Im basically using Renesas demo code as a starting point.  Ill take it all apart and put it back together hopefully this weekend and see if I can clear up that issue.  Hopefully I can find something. 

    Something else I am noticing is Im having some packet loss to the device when I run Pings to it.  Im seeing a 1% packet loss.  I dont think I have any ethernet issues on my network, but I guess its possible.  I am seeing this with your example code minus the section at the bottom releasing the dhcp server.  I did not see this with the RA6 dev board.  

    Thank you for your help IK!!

Children
  • Both the NetX FTP Client and the NetX FTP Server example projects fails when I run them on the EK-RA8M1 with JP61 open, with :-


    ERROR : nx_ip_status_check api failed.

    Returned Error Code: 0x43


    because the timeout value passed to nx_ip_status_check() is far too short.

    in the case of the NetX FTP Client :-

     /* Wait for the link to be enabled. */

     status = nx_ip_status_check(&g_ip0, NX_IP_LINK_ENABLED, &current_state, NX_IP_PERIODIC_RATE);

    with

    #define NX_IP_PERIODIC_RATE 100


    and in the case of the NetX FTP Server EP :-

     status = nx_ip_status_check(&g_ip0, NX_IP_LINK_ENABLED, &current_state, WAIT_OPTION_NETWORK_RETRY);

    with

    #define WAIT_OPTION_NETWORK_RETRY      (50U)


    Increasing the timeout value passed to nx_ip_status_check() to a realistic timeout value makes the projects work as expected with JP61 in the Open position on the EK_RA8M1


    The NetX FTP Server EP project also fails on subsequent runs after the first time it is run, because this line :-

        err = fx_file_create(&g_fx_media0, "Epftp.txt");
        if (FX_SUCCESS !=err)
               return err;
               
    returns FX_ALREADY_CREATED

  • Thank you both for the response.  Upon further digging this weekend I have found something else.  In the stacks section under the g_ethernet_phy0 in the properties, I had the PHY-LSI address set to 0.  When I changed it to 5 like how it is in the dhcp demo, and also ET0_LINKSTA pin from none to P114 my issues largely went away.

    Im still getting some packet loss around 1%.  Any thoughts on the packet loss? 

    Thank you again for your help you guys.