MPLAB hangs in Ubuntu - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: rubidium
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2022, 06:51:18 pm
content: This topic is raised in a number of places on the web, but there are really no solutions suggested. So I thought I'd try here. Running MPLAB under Ubuntu with AVR processors is generally fine, but calling up the Code Configurator (MCC) is hit or miss. Sometimes it comes up fine and functions fine, but more often than not it doesn't come up at all and hangs the entire IDE in the process. I have to kill the process, either from the System monitor or from a terminal window, to close it out. Once that hang occurs at random, reloading the IDE and trying to run MCC always results in similar hangs thereafter. To have a fighting chance of getting the MCC to properly activate, I need to completely reboot the OS.If anyone has any real solution to share, please do, as this is very frustrating.Jim

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2022, 09:56:49 pm
content: What version? Try mplabx 5.50, I had some slowdowns and crashes when 6.00 came out.Might be fixed already, but didn't use it since then.

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 01, 2022, 09:58:16 pm
content: No solutions, but I have the same issue with old and new versions of MPLABX/MCC.MCC works the first time but not subsequent times. This is on Mint, a Ubuntu based distro.

author: bidrohini
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2022, 07:38:47 am
content: Somebody faced a similar problem. You can see the answers here:https://www.microchip.com/forums/m1128990.aspx

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2022, 09:14:06 am
content: That story and the comments in the Microchip forum are like a deja vu to me. For various mostly mechanical reasons, I changed from the 16F1829 group to a 16F1789. I still program with MPLab 8.92 and Assembly and never had a problem with the 16F18xx or other chips. First clue was that the .inc file for 16F1789 had an error -- easily fixed. Shortly later, after closing for the day and reopening the project, it would sometimes freeze or give this: ICD3 ERR target doesn't match expected device. Opened a Microchip ticket, but there was no help. Removed and reloaded MPLab 8.92, and it worked again. Problem solved? No. The problem recurred. More web reading and came to the conclusion it was the current .jam file, which in MPLab has device specific information. Dug out an older .jam and installed it. Problem went away. Microchip did eventually help and gave me a link to some older .jam files. My correspondence with Microchip started on March 3, 2022 and ended on May 19,2022. It was a trying journey.While most of that may be OT, there are some similarities:1) Such failures by Microchip tools may be chip specific;2) Failures can occur with updated firmware that don't occur with earlier versions;3) It can be extremely frustrating and finding the root cause may be impossible -- be happy with an empirical solution; and4) Microchip service is responsive to specific requests but is of little value in trouble shooting problems with its tools.

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2022, 01:23:21 pm
content: I think the MCC issue is Linux specific though, as it works with Win10.

author: Ground_Loop
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2022, 10:04:20 pm
content: Have you tried running the stand alone MCC version? Not the most convenient way, but it might be an option.

author: rubidium
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 12, 2022, 05:48:02 pm
content: I'm running MPLAB X IDE v6.00. I tried going back to 5.50, but the same issue raised its ugly head. It appears to be totally random. Sometimes it's fine, other times impossible to get into MCC more than once in a session - even after killing the IDE and restarting, Deciding to add a pin while MCC is open is risky, also. After reading everything I could on the problem, the only solution that appears to work in terms of getting access to MCC - at least for a while - is a complete OS restart. Frustrating to be waist-deep in a project and having that as your only recourse.Another mildly-frustrating observation I made is the occasional failure to program via UPDI, with the message:An unknown failure occurred. (255)Programming did not complete.PDI physical timed out. (25)When that happens, fortunately a second consecutive attempt to program the device ALWAYS succeeds. Weird. BTW, I'm using the AVR128DB28 @ 5V, with the UPDI line strictly reserved for programming, and I have no pull-up on that line. My programmer is Atmel-ICE.

author: rubidium
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2022, 03:06:57 pm
content: Just a quick follow-up. There just doesn't seem to be a reliable solution to this, and the only practical way out of this seems to be turning to the Windows version. I already had a Win-7 virtual machine (running on VirtualBox under Ubuntu) on which I ran Studio-7. So I brought that back up and installed MPLAB. No hangs, no delays - it just works. Windows is not my preferred OS for general work but, in this case, it seems to be the only workable solution. Pity the Microchip developers left the Linux version half-baked.Cheers,Jim

author: woofy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2022, 03:54:29 pm
content: Fortunately, I don't use MCC too much. Just for installing the USB stack on a new project.But still, It would be nice if it worked correctly.