Interpreting CC3000 test results

[lukeweston]

Thanks for the code :)

I'm currently using your test to help debug a problematic custom-made CC3000 board.

I'm consistently getting first packet success and second packet failure.

The second (bad) packet is consistently all high up until the last byte, and this last byte tends to be variable when the test is repeated multiple times.

Do you have any ideas about interpreting this, or what it might mean for locating the fault?

Testing first packet:
Expected: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Received: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Testing second packet:
Expected: 2 0 0 0 5 4 0 40 1 0
Received: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF E0
PROBLEMS WITH THE SECOND PACKET!

Testing first packet:
Expected: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Received: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Testing second packet:
Expected: 2 0 0 0 5 4 0 40 1 0
Received: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FC
PROBLEMS WITH THE SECOND PACKET!

[cmagagna]

Are you using hardware or software SPI? If hardware, have you tried tweaking the mode etc. settings to see if that helps?

[lukeweston]

Hardware SPI. To be honest I just kind of trusted that you (and adafruit) are setting the SPI modes to the right mode in the example code I've been trying.

[lukeweston]

TI's documentation says that CPOL=0 and CPHA=1, in other words, it's Mode 1 SPI, and MSB first, just like your code is correctly set to use.

I tried changing your code to USE_HARDWARE_SPI = false, with software bitbanging and handcrafted loving grace, with interesting results.

It is still consistently successful on the first packet and consistently failing on the second packet, but the erroneous second packet is now consistently the same each time and it is different from what it was before, where hardware SPI was used.

Confirming WLAN_IRQ is high...
Turning CC3000 on...
Waiting for the CC3000 to boot...

Testing first packet:
Expected: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Received: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Testing second packet:
Expected: 2 0 0 0 5 4 0 40 1 0
Received: 82 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PROBLEMS WITH THE SECOND PACKET!
Confirming WLAN_IRQ is high...
Turning CC3000 on...
Waiting for the CC3000 to boot...

Testing first packet:
Expected: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Received: 2 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Testing second packet:
Expected: 2 0 0 0 5 4 0 40 1 0
Received: 82 0 FF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PROBLEMS WITH THE SECOND PACKET!

[jamesbowman]

OK, I got exactly the same symptoms, using Adafruit's CC3000's breakout.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-cc3000-wifi/cc3000-breakout

The issue is power.

I had connected the Arduino's 3V3 output to the breakout's VIN pin.
This is incorrect.
To power the breakout, you can either

• supply 5V to the breakout's VIN pin
• supply 3.3V to the breakout's 3V3 pin

With either of these modifications, the code works perfectly.