Objective

This page contains a basic general exception code example for the PIC32MZ MCU.

The project implements a custom _general_exception_handler() function that is triggered by either a trap exception, or an illegal address exception, depending on which line of "bad" code is un-commented in main.c.

Simply uncomment one of the "bad" lines of code, then build/run in debug mode. The project contains a while(1); loop inside the general exception handler. When this is reached, the code can be halted, and the "Watches" window may be examined to view the Cause, Status and EPC registers to determine the cause of the exception. The disassembly listing output file should also be examined to verify the EPC value.

The hardware for this project uses the Arduino^TM compatible chipKIT Wi-FIRE board from Digilent Inc.

 Materials

Hardware Tools (Optional)

Tool	‍ About	‍ Purchase
chipKIT™ Wi-FIRE Development Board	‍	‍
PICkit™ 3 In-Circuit Debugger	‍	‍
TPROG001 PICkit 3 Programming Cable Kit	‍	‍
AC002014 9V Wall Mount Power Supply	‍	‍

Software Tools

Exercise Files

 Procedure

Attach the debugger to the Wi-Fire board. Power up the board. Start MPLAB X.

1

Open the project

2

Un-comment either line 168 or 169 in main.c (line 168 will trigger an "write to illegal address" exception, while line 169 will trigger a "divide-by-zero trap" exception)

3

Build/Debug the project

4

Run the project

5

Halt the project

 Results

Error 1 (Illegal Address Exception - main.c - line 168 executed)

LED LD1 will light up, to indicate the occurrence of this exception:

In MPLAB® X, open the Watches Window window and add the Status, Cause and EPC CP0 registers to the view:

The Status register reads 0x05000002. Ignore the leading 0x05 for now and focus on the last nibble 0x2 (Status_EXL = 1). Per the PIC32 Datasheet, this indicates that we've encountered an error.

The Cause register reads 0x00800014. Ignore the leading 0x0080 for now. The LSB value of 0x14 is tricky since it isn't properly aligned within the LSB to directly represent the EXCCODE value. We need to convert this number to the true value of the structure within Cause_EXCCODE.

Right shift 0x14 twice, and we get the value 0x05. Looking at the exception cause table in the PIC32MZ CPU Family Reference Manual, we see that this equates to ADDRESS ERROR EXCEPTION (STORE):

​

Cause_EXCCODE<4:0>:

Exception Code Bits:

Indicates what kind of exception happened. Used by the _general_exception_handler() to determine the cause of the exception and branch to the appropriate handler code.

Note: On PIC32MZ, Interrupt Exceptions all have their own dedicated entry point and therefore, their handlers do not need to need to consult Cause_EXCCODE.

The EPC register reads 0x9D000630. This is the address of the instruction which the CPU will resume processing after returning from exception. We can confirm this by displaying the disassembly listing file (in MPLAB X, select Window»Output»Disassembly Listing File):

Error 2 (Trap Exception - main.c - line 169 executed)

LED LD2 will light up, to indicate the occurrence of this exception:

In MPLAB® X, open the Watches Window window and add the Status, Cause and EPC CP0 registers to the view:

The Status register reads 0x05000002. Ignore the leading 0x05 for now and focus on the last nibble 0x2 (Status_EXL = 1). Per the PIC32 Datasheet, this indicates that we've encountered an error.

The Cause register reads 0x00800034. Right shift the LSB 0x34 twice, and we get the value 0x0D. Looking at the exception cause table in the PIC32MZ CPU Family Reference Manual, we see that this equates to a TRAP EXCEPTION.

The EPC register reads 0x9D000634. This is the address of the instruction which the CPU will resume processing after returning from exception. We can confirm this by displaying the disassembly listing file (in MPLAB X, select Window»Output»Disassembly Listing File):

 Conclusions

This project has provided an example of how to implement a custom general exception handler on the PIC32MZ MCU. For more information on the steps required to setup and configure interrupts and exceptions on the PIC32MZ, please visit the PIC32MZ Interrupt and Exception Usage page.