ChipWhisperer VM installation issues

Embedded Security ChipWhisperer Hardware
1

Hi.

  • VirtualBox 7.0.22 (Win10 host)
  • Extension Pack 7.1.4 (unable to install - under investigation)
  • ChipWhisperer Lite 2 XMEGA

Question 1:
Do I need the Extension Pack?

When connecting CW to PC, the Win10 Device Manager sees it in “Ports (COM & LPT)” as “USB Serial Device (COM4)”.

Question 2:
Reading through the NewEA docs, I believe it should be listed in “Universal Serial Bus devices”?

Next, I run zadig.exe (List All Devices), but I don’t have a ChipWhisperer entry. However I see “USB Serial Device” (usbser, 03eb, 6124). This driver is already installed (“Install Driver” not possible to select).

Question 3:
Should I reinstall the driver to make appear within “Universal Serial Bus devices”?

I use the ChipWhisperer.Jupyter.7z guest for VirtualBox.
All I see from CW in the USB Settings is: “Atmel Corp. at91sam SAMBA bootloader [0110]”
The guest (lsusb) only shows ID 03eb:6124 (ATSAM Bootloader).

Question 4:
I believe I should see ID 2b3e:ace2 as well, right?

Running Jupyter, I get:

import chipwhisperer as cw
scope = cw.scope()

> OSError: Could not find ChipWhisperer. Is it connected?

What am I missing?

2

The extension pack is required, as noted here.

You don’t need to do anything related to drivers on the Windows side.

1 Like
3

The problem was, that the VB version 7.0.22 …
File > Check for Updates… … showed … Nothing to update …
However the latest VB version was 7.1.4, not 7.0.22. I installed 7.1.4 and the Extension Pack installation went fine. So, the reason for the issue was the version mismatch between VB and Extension Pack.

Nevertheless the final error is still present.

File ~/work/projects/chipwhisperer/software/chipwhisperer/common/utils/util.py:578, in get_cw_type(sn, idProduct, hw_location, **kwargs)
    575     possible_ids = [0xace0, 0xace2, 0xace3, 0xace5, 0xace6]
    577 cwusb = NAEUSB_Backend()
--> 578 device = cwusb.find(serial_number=sn, idProduct=possible_ids, hw_location=hw_location)
    579 name = device.getProduct()
    580 cwusb.usb_ctx.close()
...
> OSError: Could not find ChipWhisperer. Is it connected?

This sounds obvious since the VM/USB doesn’t show ID 2b3e:ace2, but ID 03eb:6124 (Atmel Corp. at91sam SAMBA bootloader [0110]).
util.py is looking for this product ID and doesn’t find it.

capture

4

Looks like your CW is in bootloader mode; try:

import chipwhisperer as cw
cw.program_sam_firmware(hardware_type='cwlite')
1 Like
5

That worked !!!

>>> import chipwhisperer as cw
>>> cw.program_sam_firmware(hardware_type='cwlite')
Found /dev/ttyACM1
Loading cwlite firmware...
Opened!
Connecting...
Connected!
Erasing...
Erased!
Programming file SAM3U_CW1173.bin...
Programmed!
Verifying...
Verify OK!
Resetting...
Upgrade successful

>>> import chipwhisperer as cw
>>> scope = cw.scope()
>>> scope.upgrade_firmware()
Entering bootloader mode...
Detected com port /dev/ttyACM1
Loading cwlite firmware...
Opened!
Connecting...
Connected!
Erasing...
Erased!
Programming file SAM3U_CW1173.bin...
Programmed!
Verifying...
Verify OK!
Resetting...
Upgrade successful

Many thanks !!!

1 Like