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And did using the DC power separate from USB alleviate your problems?
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I don't quite understand what you mean "the bootloader destroys itself". Please comment.

JW

A separate DC power doesn't solve the problem, in order to work I have to make changes to the development board: include a reset to the FTDI chip or include a oscillator based on an external crystal.

The bootloader has code in "user" program memory ... that code deletes itself after determining the baud rate, it does it very well from any garbage generated from the FTDI ... if the chip gets garbage from the serial port or Vdd is not 5.0V, that portion of code is deleted and a parallel programmer is required to recover. Furthermore bootloader v7 is only available for ISP upgrade, only v5 is available from NXP site.
What I will do asap is to modify the bootloader in order to be able to use 40 chips, or redesign a smaller development board with standard RS-232.
For the boards that I have now, and still intend to use (we have around 150 of these), I will buy parts from other manufacturer.

I attached the schematic of the circuit.

Regards,
JCabral

Hi Jan,

The board has a DC power in as well. With the P89C it worked with the USB power only ...
What I found very strange is that the bootloader "destroys" itself.

I have been looking for other manufacturers and I found that some have new bootloaders similar to this one, but they still keep the hardware ISP entry mode.


Regards,
jcabral

just a suggestion

while I am not familiar with your ftdi chip, how about a switch or jumper that hold the ftdi in reset.  If the chip require CTS like the vinc, then configure the board so that signal is false during reset/bootload

Erik

One of the problems is the FTDI chip. In our board we did not use the reset neither the CTS RTS lines in order to automatically enter the ISP mode. We used a jumper in the PSEN with the reset ... it worked fine
The FTDI chip only generates the oscillator after detecting communications with a PC ...
The other problem is the power, using the USB to power the board doesn't seems to work properly with 89V51 (in my case!!!).

Finally, I have to say that the new part is disappointing. It is surreal that the microcontroller enters in ISP mode and even worst it cleans up the internal flash memory contents (part of the original boot code is placed there) before making sure that a proper communication is achieved with the PC.

I finalize by giving my thanks to you all for your suggestions and congratulate Andy for a very nice tool. One of the reasons I choose the P89C51RD2 was  due to the simplicity and efficiency of FlashMagic.

Sorry, the bootloader comes from NXP, not us, so we don't directly support configuring it.

Andy

No problem, I will parallel program the parts with the bootloader from NXP site, there is a version there to upgrade to v5 by parallel programmer. I will make a prototype board this week in order to upgrade by ISP to v7 and them program by FM the ISP entry by GPIO. Hopefully I will them be able to "copy" the bootloader to the rest of the chips.

Yes, the latest bootloader allows you to configure a pin for ISP entry. However I believe you have to specify that configuration via ISP.

Andy

...
Ok, those are good news.
I downloaded the v7 from falshmagic forum.
Can one of you supply me a .hex or .bin file to parallel program the 89v51 with the configuration already set (any P2 pin high or low)? Know that I'm being lazy but it will save me the work of building a prototype that uses a true RS-232 port.

Thank you for the reply

[C]

P89C51RD2 are if not already going obsolete.
P89V51RD2 has significant difference in the programming of P89V to the P89C.
P89V looks at the UART Rx data line after reset (if 'U' char then invoke bootloader).... where as P89C uses /PSEN and RESET

The development board was "built" for P89C51 and uses the FTD232R chip. It has the advantage of allowing students to use their personal laptops.
Unfortunately, the FTD232R generates a bit of garbage at power-up and I'm using the clock output as the xtal2 for the microcontroller, so in order to make the 89V51 work with the board I'll need to reprogram the bootloader.


Yes - It is possible using a profesional programmer to reload the bootloader in to block1 of a P89V51 (block0 is user code).
Finally managed, needed a Capacitor between Vcc and Vss, in order to my programmer to work.


If your first bit of code is an NoTouch algorithm  then yes it is possible to invoke the boot loader by looking at GPIO activity.... BUT.... why would you if you can invoke the bootloader after reset by sending 'U' char's to the UART Rx.
Due to the limitations of the board we use (FTD232R chip generates garbage and bootloader "gets confused").

Edited ... Thanks for the answer Joe

It is the FT232R. After trying and "erasing" a few bootloaders, I decided to read a little in the forums ... too late to change the orders, unfortunately.

I even tried to press and hold the reset button during the power-up of the board. Used FM (it does send trails of 'U''s) and release reset after, the part sends something back, but the only speed where I got something meaningfully (3 bytes that look alike the  Device ID) was at 115200 bps. Them it simple "crashes" ... bootloader is erased or whatever.

I will try to parallel program the device again tomorrow.

But the question still remains, is it possible to replace the bootloader by one where the ISP mode is set by pulling a P2.x pin during reset?

Regards

We have developed a board to program (via ISP - FM) the P89C51RD2.

The board has a USB interface through a FTDI chip and a "normal" RS-232 interface and is used in students labs.
After some time we "run out" of P89C51RD2.
I read a post in Keil forum, http://www.keil.com/forum/docs/thread10439.asp by erik malund, about the replacement part, since I cannot manage myself in the NXP site. In that post the 89V51RD2 was mentioned. Placed an order ... waited a long while ... and tested the parts to no success at all.

Found information in this forum about the new bootloader and I do suspect that the FTDI chip is generating some garbage at power on that simple makes the 89V51 to go crazy.
Also this afternoon tried to program the parts with the v7 bootloader using a parallel programmer, unfortunately I wasn't able to program more than a few bytes (around 300) in block 1. Could be adapter related or programmer problem, will have to check it again.

My questions are, if I manage to program the v7 bootloader will I be able to configure it using the "true RS-232" port using FM in order to be able to enter ISP through pulling a pin high during reset?
Should I forget about these parts and buy the 89cv51rd2 instead?
Is there anyway of parallel programming the part in order to change the bootloader to enter ISP directly if pin P2.x is pulled (low or high) during a reset?

Thanks in advance