The EB006v9 features a bootloader to allow for easy field upgrades to the on-board firmware should we discover a bug or want to add in a new feature.

The bootloader mode is indicated by the Prog LED on the EB006 flashing at a fairly slow rate.

The bootloader mode is triggered by a high signal on port pin A0 when the board is powered up. This has caused some problems for example on our solutions where there is a sensor board plugged into PortA and the light sensor is on pin A0. To get around this we moved the bootloader pin to pin E0 but this still has not completely resolved the issue. The target chip can also hold the pin high which triggers the bootloader mode.

If the bootloader mode fires up with the USB cable connected to the PC then it should last for 10 seconds before resuming normal operation.

If the bootloader mode fires up without the USB cable connected then it can be approx ten minutes before the bootloader will exit and normal operation will resume.

If the bootloader mode fire up and then stays on for half an hour or more then chances are you have corrupted the EB006 firmware and need to reprogram it.

We have fixed the issue by moving the bootloader trigger away from the target port pins and this works very well. However to do this on your own hardware you will need a PICkit 3 to reflash the bootloader firmware itself.

To reflash the bootloader or restore the firmware download the attached file and there is a document to guide you through the process in the zip file.

EB006 Reflash Instructions