Using J-link to program nrf9160

SilasValera

Hi
I have my nrf9160 custom board assembled and ready to program. I am trying to program the nrf9160 module using j-link. In the j-link commander window selecting core M33, and using SWD interface, it does detect the Cortex M33 but then it gives me error as in the attached image
I use the j-link external programmer for other ARM devices and it works fine. Does it need any firmware update to support ARMv8-M?
please help ..
thanks

SilasValera

how do I upload an image? or attach image with the post??

SilasValera

I am copying below the output in the j-link commander window:

`Please specify target interface:
J) JTAG (Default)
S) SWD
T) cJTAG
TIF>s
Specify target interface speed [kHz]. <Default>: 4000 kHz
Speed>
Device “CORTEX-M33” selected.

Connecting to target via SWD
Found SW-DP with ID 0×6BA02477
Scanning AP map to find all available APs
AP[7]: Stopped AP scan as end of AP map has been reached
AP[0]: AHB-AP (IDR: 0×84770001)
AP[1]: AHB-AP (IDR: 0×24770011)
AP[2]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0×12880000)
AP[3]: APB-AP (IDR: 0×54770002)
AP[4]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0×12880000)
AP[5]: JTAG-AP (IDR: 0×12880000)
AP[6]: CUSTOM-AP (IDR: 0×128800A1)
Iterating through AP map to find AHB-AP to use
AP[0]: Core found
AP[0]: AHB-AP ROM base: 0xE00FF000
CPUID register: 0×410FD212. Implementer code: 0×41 (ARM)
Found Cortex-M33 r0p2, Little endian.

****** Error: Specific core setup failed.
Cannot connect to target.
`

It gives error:
The connected j-link [s/n xxx] does not support the ARMv8-M architecture debugging is not possible

jaredwolff

The best thing to do is installed the Nordic Command Line tools and use nrfjprog or use the west flash command. I describe west flash here.

SilasValera

Running nrfjprog gives me DLL error:

nrfjprog -f nrf91 --reset ERROR: JLinkARM DLL reported an error. Try again. If error condition

Also tried through nrfConnect - Programmer - that also gives error:

2020-12-20T18:17:39.570Z INFO Using nrfjprog library 10.12.1, pc-nrfjprog-js 1.7.6 2020-12-20T18:17:42.382Z INFO Using nrfjprog to communicate with target 2020-12-20T18:17:42.713Z ERROR Could not fetch memory size of target devkit: Error: Error occured when get library info. Errorcode: CouldNotOpenDevice (0x4) Lowlevel error: JLINKARM_DLL_ERROR (ffffff9a)

Finally, I found that my j-link programmer is version V8 and I would need V9 / V10, those support M33
I have ordered V9, will try to program my custom board once I have that.

Thank you so much!

jaredwolff

SilasValera Since this is a custom board, I won’t be able to help you much more. I will say that the JLINKARM_DLL_ERROR is common when the nRF9160 is:

Not powered correctly
Or there’s a bad connection

I would inspect the pins in a microscope to make sure your power, ground and SWD pins are connected properly to your board.

jaredwolff

Also, a nRF53DK or nRF9160-DK works well as a programmer. I know that both of those work for sure in doing my testing here. The J-link Mini Edu also works with the caveat that your project is for education only.

SilasValera

Hi Jared

I could program nrf9160 🙂

Here is what I did: I had some old STM32 Nucleo boards, these boards come with ST-Link programmer. I flashed the firmware of this programmer to J-Link (using this on Segger) so that it could be used as j-link programmer. And then testing my custom board using j-link commander to connect. It connected fine without any issue/error.
And then using the NRF Connect Programmer I uploaded the modem FW. That worked perfectly fine.

Now next step is to upload the lte modem application code to nRF module. How can I do that? One way is to use the serial port pins - like nRF Feather board. I do have a serial port pins available on my custom board. But is there a way to use nRF Connect Programmer to upload the code?

Thank you so much for your help

jaredwolff

SilasValera Now next step is to upload the lte modem application code to nRF module. How can I do that? One way is to use the serial port pins - like nRF Feather board. I do have a serial port pins available on my custom board. But is there a way to use nRF Connect Programmer to upload the code?

Use the nRF Connect Desktop Programmer:

More details here: https://docs.jaredwolff.com/nrf9160-nrf-connect-desktop.html?highlight=modem,firmware#updating-modem-firmware

SilasValera

Hi Jared,

I could load the application code to the nRF9160 module. And I could test my custom board, it works as expected :}

Only one issue, it does not work for sending data over UDP connections. I think the SLM version seems different. But that is a different issue, will look for the right version on GitHub.

Thank you so much for your help!