NMP Timeout when attempting to flash board

Barliesque

Hi, I’m attempting to flash a Sparkfun Thing Plus nRF9160 for the first time (first time for it, and for me) but running into an NMP Timeout error.

$ newtmgr -c serial image upload build/zephyr/app_update.bin
0 B / 63.48 KiB 0.00%Error: NMP timeout

What does NMP stand for? I’d like to understand this message a little better.
I’m connecting to the board via USB-C to my Windows 10 PC, USB-A 3.0 slot.
Any recommendations to get past this hurdle, greatly appreciated.

jaredwolff

Hey Barliesque

You may want to check this out:
https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-programming-and-debugging.html?highlight=newtmgr#bootloader-use

Make sure you’ve configured with 1M BAUD and that you’re using the correct COM port.

Barliesque

I did check to see which port it was on, and just verified it’s still on COM4. I configured the board with:

$ newtmgr conn add serial type=serial connstring=“dev=COM4,baud=1000000”

In Device Manager, the board appears as “Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM4)”
Tried doing a reset with newtmgr, but got an NMP timeout.

jaredwolff

Barliesque is your device in bootloader mode? (blue LED solid?)

That should be in the getting started guide from Sparkfun. Also here for your reference:

https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-programming-and-debugging.html?highlight=mode%20button#using-newtmgr

Barliesque

Yes. I meant to add that: Solid blue LED.

jaredwolff

When you reset the board, is the blue LED blinking and can you see debug output using a serial program or LTE Link Monitor?

What version of the SDK are you using?

jaredwolff

jaredwolff When you reset the board, is the blue LED blinking and can you see debug output using a serial program or LTE Link Monitor?

If you do have LTE Link Monitor open, can you issue commands? (A simple AT should do it)

Barliesque

jaredwolff

Yes, resetting the board via the on-board button sets the blue LED blinking.
I’ve installed nRF Connect SDK v1.4.1

Didn’t have LTE Link Monitor installed, until now. Pressing “Select Device” it says “No supported devices connected”.

jaredwolff

Barliesque check out this section on LTE link monitor to make sure it’s set up correctly

https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-nrf-connect-desktop.html?highlight=lte%20link#using-with-lte-link-monitor

Barliesque

When it says to modify the prj.conf am I correct to modify the one inside of the Blinky folder – the test project I’m trying to flash?

Barliesque

I’m thinking that maybe newtmgr isn’t set up correctly, or an environment variable isn’t right for it?
But then, that wouldn’t explain why LTE Link Monitor doesn’t see the device. Or would it?

jaredwolff

Ensure that Flow Control is turned off, and Auto device/port filter is also unchecked.

Did you make sure these are correct?

Barliesque

In LTE Link Monitor (v2.0.0) I’ve deselected Flow Control and “Show only supported devices” –I don’t see anything labeled “Auto device/port filter”

Now clicking on Select Device, it shows two items, both labeled “Unknown”. Selecting either of these and trying to send an AT command always results in a timeout error.

Barliesque

Ah! Okay, one of those devices is on COM4, so I’m going with that.
Pressing RST on the board, LTE Monitor has come to life!
Now, sending AT commands it responds OK.

Barliesque

…still can’t flash the board, though.

jaredwolff

If it responds, that means comms are ok.

Not sure what’s going on with newtmgr though.

What’s the output of newtmgr conn show?

Barliesque

$ newtmgr conn show
Connection profiles:
serial: type=serial, connstring=‘dev=COM4,baud=1000000’

jaredwolff

Another thing that will trip the bootloader process up is if you have COM4 open somewhere else. newtmgr needs full access to the COM port or else it times out/fails.

Your configuration settings look ok though.

Barliesque

Is there some way to find out if another process is connected to COM4 that I was unaware of?

jaredwolff

Barliesque Generally you need to open up a terminal program to do something like that. But I don’t know what’s installed on your machine that could be stealing away the COM port. If you’re able to connect using the LTE Link Monitor then my best guess is that your board (somehow) doesn’t have the correct bootloader.

Do you have a nRF9160 or NRF53-DK handy? You can re-flash the bootloader so you can get going on your project.