PIC32-MZ-DA starter kit and debugging

[SpacedCowboy]

So I'm starting with a fresh microcontroller-type in these supply-constrained times, and on paper this little chip seems to have everything I want - USB2 with a boot-loader, plenty of pins, built-in DDR2, SPI, UARTs etc and an LCD display controller. Pretty much perfect...

Except I can't get the IDE to actually talk to the starter-kit board. I bought the board so it'd be a gentle introduction to the chip, a known-good starting point before I start making my own, but MPLAB-X won't see the supposedly-built-in debug port.

The Mac sees the USB ports as active (see 'USB-devices' below), but the IDE doesn't see anything in its debug-tool menu (see 'no-debug-tool')

... and in the 'Dashboard', I see "Debug tool: None (VID , PID)" - so presumably missing where the VID and PID would go.

I looked in the PDF manual (well, all else had failed) and checked that the pins on the debug-connector (JP17) were set to 1-connects-to-3 and 2-connects-to-4 (they weren't initially, I was *so* convinced that was going to be it!) and now (being unfamiliar with the dev-environment) I'm not sure what to try next. I did try enabling 'Show All' and going through all the enabled tools then clicking on make-and-program, just to see if I could force it, but no dice.

So do I need to buy a pickit or is there some magic I have to do to get the IDE to notice the USB device ? Any help from more-seasoned PIC-people much appreciated, I've never used them before...

I did register on the Microchip forums, but my registration seems to have got lost in the post... Or at least, a moderator hasn't approved it yet...

Cheers

[benSTmax]

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago with a Curiosity PIC32MZEF kit.
I found a solution somewhere and it worked in my case
In Mplabx go to Tools->Options, then Embedded tab. Scroll down till you find the "Exclude device checks for kits" and enable the option.
Another typical Mplabx blunder in which the IDE cannot recognize its kits 

[SpacedCowboy]

Thanks for the quick reply

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to help in my case. I have the option set ('embedded-config' below) but it still won't program, and shows an error saying it doesn't recognize the kit type in 'project-properties' (ok, so now we've turned off that requirement, that shouldn't matter, right ? ...)

But it still won't program - I get the 'tool-not-found' image below. I can see there's a PKOB device with a serial number, but I can't select it, so I'm trying to use PKOB4. Maybe that's the issue, and I need to find out how to make the un-selectable device the active one. The 'dashboard' (below) is still showing me there's nothing on the VID/PID, but the Mac can see the USB device... Frustrating...

The starter kit user-guide does mention the 'debug' USB interface and says 'This connector supports debugging/programming by MPLAB tools through PKOB® interface.' - so I figure this is the right type to use.

[benSTmax]

Are you sure you selected the correct part for your kit?
I am seeing PIC32MZ1025DAR169 in your project properties while the manual states these options

You've mentioned in the beginning the internal DDR, so the options would reduce to:
PIC32MZ2064DAG169
PIC32MZ2064DAH169

[SpacedCowboy]

Aaaand that was it. Thank you

The device on the board is a PIC32MZ2064DAR169 - I had set it to 1025DAR because that's what I could find at the supplier, and then not reset it to the 2064 when I got the board a few days later (I'd been experimenting to try and get to grips with the IDE).

It looks like the manual might be out of date wrt what they supply though, this is definitely a DAR part...

[benSTmax]

You're welcome. Happy to see it works