msp430: mspgcc tool chain and iar kickstart question

newbie question: i've got a device (a radio control transmitter for model airplanes/helicopters) with 'f149. the pads for the jtag are present and we know the fuse is not burned. i'd like to read the contents of the flash (the firmware), make some edits, and upload the changes.

does the mspgcc tool chain include a means to read the flash memory as well as a disassembler? can the IAR kickstart do this? are their other free tools that might do this? many thanks.

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4MLA1FN
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Yes. The msp430-jtag utility can do that.

Yes. GDB includes a dissassembler, and the msp43-objdump also has a disassembler feature. Neither is particularly well suited to a reverse engineering effort (if that's where you're headed). I have seen 8086 dissassemblers that were intended for reverse-engineering: they allowed the user to interactively add labels, comments, and mark regions as code vs. data.

I've never seen such a beast for the '430.

I would guess so, but I don't know.

Rowley's CrossWorks has a free trial version, and a personal license is only US$149:

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I'm having
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Reply to
Grant Edwards

I should mention that of course GDB can as well...

msp430-objdump

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  My mind is a potato
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Reply to
Grant Edwards

many thanks for your reply. that was very helpful. i don't think what i'm hoping to do would be considered reverse engineering. there are bug and desired features that the manufacturer seems unwilling or unable to fix/add in a timely manner. i'd like to make these tweaks and additions for my own device and to give freely to anyone who may be interested if i succeed.

anyway, it sounds like i'll have my bases covered with mspgcc or kickstart or the commercial product you suggested. thanks again.

Reply to
4MLA1FN

it looks like objdump requires the input file to be in a particular format; e.g. tekhex, binary, ihex, etc. google hasn't help me find a spec for those formats.

Reply to
4MLA1FN

It expects an .elf file. msp430-objcopy can convert from various formats (srec, ihex, etc.) to elf.

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  My mind is a potato
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Reply to
Grant Edwards

thanks grant. before i saw your response, i posted a question about converting my raw hex dump to one of those formats. so far, i can only find a spec for the srec format, so i guess i'll start writing a converter for it. thanks.

Reply to
4MLA1FN

msp430-jtag will create either an ihex or binary file, and objcopy can convert either.

How did you get a raw hex dump?

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Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  Are we live or
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Reply to
Grant Edwards

my device and be reflashed via my pc. i used a serial port monitor to sniff and record the firmware update that was sent to the device.

Reply to
4MLA1FN

i very much appreciate your help grant. if you don't mind, let's continue this discussion on the "msp430: disassembling raw binary" thread. thanks.

Reply to
4MLA1FN

Look up "info binutils" or "man binutils". I believe it depends on the BFD package to decode file types.

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Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net)
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CBFalconer

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