I have come across this particular problem several times across several versions of the IAR embedded workbench (EW430 5.40.7 [EW 6.0], EW430 5.51.2 [EW 6.4], EW430 6.20.1 [EW 7.0]), but each time only after a long period of having no problems. The problem doesn't seem to have affected the other firmware developers in the office, so no help can be offered there. I'm currently on Windows 10, but the problems first occurred when I was on Windows 8.1 (same PC.)
The problem is that, for no obvious trigger, the IAR ide will start to hang until terminated (or it will just crash on one of the EW versions) on any attempt to change the active build configuration in MSP430 projects using the emulator.
From my testing, it appears to be directly related to something the IDE is doing with the emulator, as when the build configuration is changed, I can see the emulator menu in the menu bar disappear, then the hang happens. Under normal circumstances, the menu will disappear, but then reappear once the other debug configuration is completely loaded.
I have tried the default project "flashing the LED" to see if it was only my project - but if I select the msp430x4xx (C) - Debug, right click it and select "Set as Active" from the context menu, to make this the active project, the IDE also hung. I then reopened the EW IDE, and opened the LED flashing project again. The original 1xx asm project was the active project. I then changed the settings of the 4xx (C) Debug project (without making it the active project) from the emulator to the simulator, and clicked OK. The program did NOT crash. I then set the 4xx (C) Debug project as the active project and it did NOT crash. The simulator even runs without problems.
The version of the FET firmware didn't change from when the IDE worked correctly to when it didn't, and the FET is not even used at this point. It can be completely disconnected and the same results will occur.
I have tried the following, without success:
- erasing the files in my project folder's settings subfolder
- erasing the *.dep files in the project folder.
- deleting the IarIdePm.ini file from AppData\Roaming\IAR Embedded Workbench
- making sure none of the project files are read-only
- reinstalling the program to the same location
- removing and reinstalling the program to the same location.
What does solve the problem (until it reoccurs) is to reinstall the program, but to a different directory (for e.g., the default directory will be in program files (x86)\IAR Systems\Embedded Workbench x.x. Installing again into program files (x86)\IAR Systems\EWx (just so it is different) allowed that installation to work, but the old installation continued to fail.
Best advice so far (from our support person) has been to do the above, install to another directory and live with it, as it doesn't happen often. Since it has happened to me on 3 occasions with 3 different versions of the program, I would like to know how to fix or prevent it! If anyone could offer anything to try (or even better, a straight solution :)) that would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers!
Since newer versions and updates on W10, it seems that old compatibilities are being removed from this OS. I have no direct solution for this problem since Microsoft does not promise support for old software and hardware. Even I tried to find a solution for that problem, and I found on the IAR website a list of IDE's and their compatible versions. (remember, old versions are not compatible)
( https://www.iar.com/knowledge/support/technical-notes/ide/windows-10-and-iar-embedded-workbench/ )
You will need to update your IDE and program version to a newer version if you plan to continue to use this IDE natively on Windows 10 or you may use Virtual machines with an old operational system (like Windows 7) to compile your program on old IDE.
P.S.1 I manually uninstalled KB4592449 recently updated and the program return to work natively. Probably it will continue working until this update (or other similar) being installed again on the computer, but probably there is any vulnerability that the computer will be exposed to, and in this case, I'm paying the price.
P.S.2 KB4580325 promotes the same behavior in IAR 5.11 on windows 10. Both KB's implement securities about the flash player - that I Don't use - then, I can securely uninstall it.
P.S.3 Since I updated my windows up to Windows 10 version 21H1 (compilation 19043.1165) AND I configured Windows defender to not be monitoring IAR IDE (IarIdePM.exe) disabling all protections available, everything works fine. But Remember: my program is original, not cracked or altered by anything, then I am secure to do what I did.