To summarize my problems, I think I made two mistakes:
I connected the FTDI’s RTS pin to the Toniebox’s RST pin because I thought it did the same as a DTR pin. But it didin’t. It held the Toniebox all the time in reset state.
The CP2103 board even has separate RTS and DTR connectors.
When I tried reading without “–reset dtr” I didn’t handle the RST manualy because I thought it is enough to connect SOP2 to VCC.
But it was necessary to connect RST to GND when powering up the Toniebox.
When the Toniebox had started, I disconnected RST from GND.
With correct handling of RST I had no problems to communicate with the Toniebox.
Had the same issue with reset connected to RTS. The reset did not trigger that way if using --reset dtr. However, found out that --reset rts is also valid and works.
I tried two different UART / USB-C adapters (actually three different adapter boards, two from one type and one from another), but no luck. They are both FTDI232 (FT32RL), configured to use 3.3V for sure.
Cables are kept short (< 25cm) and are soldered directly to the PCB of the TonieBox. Connections were verified using a mulimeter.
D:\TonieBox>cc3200tool -p COM7 --reset dtr read_flash ExtractedFromBox/backup.bin
2025-06-03 00:00:30,012 -- Connecting to target...
2025-06-03 00:00:32,214 -- timed out while waiting for ack
2025-06-03 00:00:34,428 -- timed out while waiting for ack
2025-06-03 00:00:36,633 -- timed out while waiting for ack
2025-06-03 00:00:38,845 -- timed out while waiting for ack
2025-06-03 00:00:41,060 -- timed out while waiting for ack
2025-06-03 00:00:41,061 -- Could not connect to target: Did not get ACK on break condition
I did not only try different UART adapters, but also different reset methods:
Reset via --reset dtr
Manual reset by connecting RST to GND
Different reset timings (in relation to the power-up and the command execution
I did also try different methods to pull the SOP2 high:
bridging SOP2 to VCC of the TonieBox
connecting SOP2 to RTS and adding --sop2 ~rts
connecting SOP2 to VCC of the UART adapter
The SOP2 voltage was measured with a simple multimeter and it was 3.25V.
I tried with the battery and with the power supply. Both lead to the same effect.
In general, I apply the following sequence:
Connect UART adapter to TonieBox
Connect USB-C of the UART adapter to the PC
Connect power (battery or power supply) → TonieBox LED goes to permanent green
Execute command → RX LED of the UART adapter lights up for maybe 0.5s and then goes off again
I did also try without pulling SOP2 high with Putty and a Baudrate of 921600. I received the following from the bootloader:
Any idea what else I could try or what I’m doing wrong? I even ordered a second TonieBox today to see if it’s me or the box… Hahaha
Yes, they are. Not sure if it’s allowed to post links to the product page here, but they are both rated very well on the largest American marketplace platform starting with “A”. But I guess in the end, they are all from China.
I got yours as Usb-C version and it’s linked with usbC->UsbA with logi or OnePlus data cabel and on my Laptop with usbC->UsbC ocetea or Samsung data cabel.
Direkt on Front or Mainbord Panel.
Thanks for the fast reply, I ordered the one you have now. Let’s see if that solves the problem. The other two models I tried previously (the USB-C ones) are those:
