I spent most of today trying to get Venus running. The Jtag does not recognize the device. Tried replacing the CPU - a daunting task but my last resort. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem. Took out the scope and started probing the interface. Found that the resetline was a hard zero. Found a short where the reset trace went under a decoupling cap and it was shorted by the cap leads or the solder. Cut the line and wired around the short which fixed the problem. Used the scope to set the timer so that I now have a one second heartbeat. Next step will be to get the Uarts running.
We went to Trader Joes to get ribs and raspberry orange cake for desert. Both were yummy. We had a bottle of Shiraz with the meal. Went up to bed early to read my T Boone Pickens book.