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Hot Topic (More than 8 Replies) ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz (Read 697 times)
StephenB
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ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Apr 16th, 2025 at 1:11pm
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I am trying to set-up onboard debugging using a S3N16R8 board.

I have a board.txt file per the website.(attached).

The debugging throws an error:at setCpuFrequencyMhz

"C:\Users\steph\Pictures\Screenshots\Screenshot2025-04-16135625.png"


The same program debugs using platformio. The driver for interface 2 is libusbK (v3.1.0.0) I.e. the Expressif driver
« Last Edit: Apr 16th, 2025 at 1:16pm by StephenB »  

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StephenB
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #1 - Apr 16th, 2025 at 1:14pm
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here is the output from the build.

"C:\Users\steph\Pictures\Screenshots\Screenshot2025-04-16135625.png"
« Last Edit: Apr 16th, 2025 at 1:18pm by StephenB »  

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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #2 - Apr 16th, 2025 at 2:58pm
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Thanks for the report and the logs, I have a setup currently running with the debugger on the ESP32S3.

So we can understand the issue in more detail can you attach the below two logs:
C: / Users/ steph/ AppData/ Local/ Temp/ VMBuilds/ JTAG_Test/ esp32_esp32s3/ Debug/ JTAG_Test.ino_DebugOpenOCD.log
C: / Users/ steph/ AppData/ Local/ Temp/ VMBuilds/ JTAG_Test/ esp32_esp32s3/ Debug/ JTAG_Test.ino_DebugGDB.log

Is your sketch just a simple "Blink" type sketch currently or something more advanced, if you can share the INO file we can test on our board here as well.
« Last Edit: Apr 16th, 2025 at 3:00pm by Simon@Visual Micro »  
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StephenB
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #3 - Apr 16th, 2025 at 3:49pm
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the sketch is using the onboard neopixel

Code
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void setup() {
    // No need to initialize the RGB LED
    Serial.begin(115200);
}

// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop() {
#ifdef RGB_BUILTIN
    digitalWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, HIGH);   // Turn the RGB LED white
    delay(1000);
    digitalWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, LOW);    // Turn the RGB LED off
    delay(1000);

    neopixelWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, RGB_BRIGHTNESS, 0, 0); // Red
    delay(1000);
    neopixelWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, 0, RGB_BRIGHTNESS, 0); // Green
    delay(1000);
    neopixelWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, 0, 0, RGB_BRIGHTNESS); // Blue
    delay(1000);
    neopixelWrite(RGB_BUILTIN, 0, 0, 0); // Off / black
    delay(1000);
    Serial.println("end cycle");
#endif
}
 

  

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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #4 - Apr 17th, 2025 at 9:35am
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Thanks for the update and detail.

Can you try reducing the number of breakpoints in the sketch to 1, and try debugging again?

The logs posted previously show it is failing to insert some of the breakpoints.
  
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StephenB
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #5 - Apr 17th, 2025 at 12:16pm
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It works if there is only 1 breakpoint, but not if there are any more. Is that a known limitation that I missed?

Is there some setting etc to remove that limitation?
The same sketch on VSC and Platformio works with multiple break points
  
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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #6 - Apr 17th, 2025 at 12:40pm
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Thanks for confirming we are reproducing the same issue.

We will release an updated version of OpenOCD and I'll attach the new override configurations for the local board.txt when this is fully tested.
« Last Edit: Apr 17th, 2025 at 12:59pm by Simon@Visual Micro »  
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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #7 - Apr 17th, 2025 at 2:43pm
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Quote:
The same sketch on VSC and Platformio works with multiple break points


Can you confirm which package you are using in PIO so we can compare the GDB/OpenOCD versions/configurations here.

Using vMicro if you roll back to board package v3.0.5 then the breakpoints all work as expected.
  
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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #8 - Apr 22nd, 2025 at 3:31pm
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Just to update on our findings so far:

PIO Uses the older IDF 4.4 integration, which is the same in the ESP32 cores for Arduino/vMicro before 3.x.

The 3.x cores bring in the IDF v5 packages which require further fine tuning (and potentially other changes to linker scripts etc) to allow more than 1 breakpoint to be used (2 are available, however one is reserved by the system for crash handling, hence only having one available to you in the sketch).

We will continue to investigate this and update as soon as we have a working solution.
  
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StephenB
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #9 - Apr 22nd, 2025 at 4:37pm
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Thank you for the update.
It is probably no help but the Platformio framework is expressif32 Version 6.10.0

PACKAGES:
- framework-arduinoespressif32 @ 3.20017.241212+sha.dcc1105b
- tool-esptoolpy @ 1.40501.0 (4.5.1)
- toolchain-riscv32-esp @ 8.4.0+2021r2-patch5
- toolchain-xtensa-esp32s3 @ 8.4.0+2021r2-patch5

Looking at the debug output I note:
Open On-Chip Debugger  v0.11.0-esp32-20220706 (2022-07-06-15:48)

Regards.
« Last Edit: Apr 22nd, 2025 at 4:40pm by StephenB »  
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Simon@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #10 - Apr 22nd, 2025 at 4:40pm
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Thanks for the update.

The IDF Version integrated within that is the old 4.4 version (I used the same PIO package today), so in Visual Micro you need to roll back to a board package version before 3.x to get the same IDF integration.

The IDF changes are the root cause of the breakpoint limitations, as before the 3.x Board Package the Soft breakpoints worked correctly (in general) however since the changes to the core these no longer work due to the changes within IDF and the prebuild Arduino libraries.

We will ask Espressif more about this as it is a shared limitation with the Arduino IDE which is frustrating for many users.
  
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spineytoad
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #11 - Aug 1st, 2025 at 10:00pm
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Is there a solution to this issue in the works yet?
I am now having the same issue.
thanks
  
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Tim@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #12 - Aug 3rd, 2025 at 6:10pm
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Hello,

Did you see the previous comment with explaination of how to resolve?

PIO is using an older esp toolchain. The latest one does not support multi breakpoints for some reason.

The solution is to use board manage to downgrade your toolchain.

Does this make sense?

  
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #13 - Aug 8th, 2025 at 12:10am
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I did see that and tried the workaround mentioned but it broke everything, unless I downgraded the wrong thing. In the board manager I have installed version 3.3.0 for esp32, the only one before 3.0.0 is 2.0.17, that's when everything went sideways, put the newer 3.3.0 back and it worked, so that is why I asked. After googling so many variations of this issue, I came here to ask.  Let me know if that was the wrong thing to downgrade, thanks
  
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Tim@Visual Micro
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Re: ESP32S3 onboard debugging exception at setCpuFrequencyMhz
Reply #14 - Aug 8th, 2025 at 10:45pm
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That means you are using a different esp32 board index file to the standard one.

In the platform explorer you can click IDE locations. Remove the esp32 _index.json from the "optional additional board manager urls" and add this one or install it from the discovery list in the "board manager packages list". https://espressif.github.io/arduino-esp32/package_esp32_index.json

If your code uses libraries or code that is specific to later esp32 toolchains the build won't work. 

The problem is an esp32 issue, not related to Visual Micro so we can only try to offer suggestions.

If you do have a build issue then provide the information requested in yellow at the top of this page. Thanks
  
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