NMP Timeout when attempting to flash board

Barliesque · 2021-11-05T18:15:05+00:00

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. $ newtm...

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.

jaredwolff

A J-Link EDU programmer would work too I believe.

Barliesque

Haven’t got any hardware other than this.

jaredwolff

You can also check with another computer. May be worth double checking that it’s not the machine you’re using right now. (Virtual Machines work well too)

Barliesque

My company sent me a second board to work with which I didn’t have any problem with. So, definitely seems there’s an issue with that board. Anyway, thank you for your help with this!

jrherheim

HI, I have the same situiation as above and worked through all the steps, so not fully ready out of the box. I have a nrf91 DK, but not the required cable. Are there any reference of which cable to use when updating the bootloader using the DK?
Thanks.

jaredwolff

You can use a Tag Connect cable as outlined in the documentation here: https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-programming-and-debugging.html?highlight=tag%20connect#debugging-in-visual-code

Hope that helps!

P.S. since this is an old thread feel free to make a new one if you have any other questions.