Product

• Trendsetter NEWS - MCE
• Trendsetter 400/800 base, AL, Spectrum - MCE

Machines affected

MCE output devices

Error

Machine electronics failed power on self-tests - error message in Print Console

Symptoms

In some cases, when you use the "set" command to change an NVS parameter, the firmware may crash.
Errors on startup can include, but are not limited to:

• NVS SRAM Verification FAILED
• BBRAM Nvs Found: Addr:00C90000h Size:16384 bytes IS CORRUPT!

Cause

The cause of this problem is not known at this time. It is a random occurrence that happens most often in the BBRAM. The corruption appears to happen in an unused portion of the NVS.

Solution

Possible solutions to the problem are:

1. Load the backups of the NVS parameters (just the file for the corrupted BBRAM memory)
   
   Note: This will only work if the backup is not corrupt. By uploading a corrupted set of NVS parameters from the MCE board, you will end up with a corrupted file.
2. For BBRAM corruption:
   • Backup the current NVS
   • Run the RecoverCorruptBBRAM.spt recovery script
   
   Note: The recovery script only works for a very specific set of corruptions for BBRAM. If the BBRAM is too corrupt the script may not help.
3. If the NVS is too corrupt and you have no backups, you have to erase the NVS parameters for the corrupted memory and do a startup on the device:
   • If you can still run main firmware:
     • dump the current NVS using prm all
     • save this dump to a text file on disk
       Note: this command lists all parameters, including those in flash.
   • Go into POST by pressing ESC while POST is starting up or type reset post
   • Type stg erase ram for the specific memory
   • Restart the device and again dump the NVS parameters using prm all
   • Compare this NVS dump with the first dump and restore any parameters that have been reset because of the erase.
     Because the corruption only affects unused portions of BBRAM the parameters that were dumped when the BBRAM was corruption will still be valid
   • Test the device and ensure it is working in proper order.
   • Make backups of the newly restored NVS
   
   
   Note: Use these commands only as a last resort as they will erase ALL your parameters. If you are not familiar with the startup/gc of the device you may be creating larger problems.

See also

Flash/BBRAM NVS corruption on MCE boards

Technical contact(s)

José Delgado

Submitted by

Dan Lefrancois

Date submitted

10 Dec 2003