nrfjprog shows ERROR: Unable to connect to a debugger

[Rahav]

Trying to evaluate Nordic nRF52840 but it refuses to work.

nrfjprog -f nrf52 --sectorerase --program build/nrf52840/dk/hello-world.hex
[error] [ Client] - Encountered error -105: Command connect_to_emu_with_snr executed for 217 milliseconds with result -105
ERROR: Unable to connect to a debugger.
[error] [ Worker] - JLinkARM.dll Open returned error 'Cannot connect to J-Link.'
ERROR: The JLinkARM DLL timed out while communicating to the J-Link probe.
ERROR: If the error condition persists, run the same command again with
ERROR: argument -- log, contact Nordic Semiconductor and provide the generated
ERROR: log.log file to them.
NOTE: For additional output, try running again with logging enabled (--log).
NOTE: Any generated log error messages will be displayed.

Adding `--log` creates an empty `log.log` file. And I'm not finding error 105 in the docs.

The following does not work either

nrfjprog --recover
[error] [ Client] - Encountered error -105: Command connect_to_emu_with_snr executed for 264 milliseconds with result -105
ERROR: Unable to connect to a debugger.
[error] [ Worker] - JLinkARM.dll Open returned error 'Cannot connect to J-Link.'
ERROR: The JLinkARM DLL timed out while communicating to the J-Link probe.
ERROR: If the error condition persists, run the same command again with
ERROR: argument -- log, contact Nordic Semiconductor and provide the generated
ERROR: log.log file to them.
NOTE: For additional output, try running again with logging enabled (--log).
NOTE: Any generated log error messages will be displayed.

Details on the environment:

nrfjprog -v
nrfjprog version: 10.22.0 external
JLinkARM.dll version: 7.80c

running on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS

[Rahav]

The problem was solved by https://github.com/pjonsson. When the nRF commands run from the Contiki-NG OS container, and the nRF tools are not installed on the host OS, it will fail as I reported. The solution is to install the tools on the host. This makes the Contiki container, not fully ready, or not self contained and ready to benefit from Nordic motes, but it work.

Until the problem is fixed, to use Nordic motes with Contiki OS, one must install the nRF tools also outside of the container, on the host OS. Following are the instructions to doing so:

On the host computer (not inside the Contiki container), download the version for your host OS from Nordic nRF Command Line Tools. Then,

Install it:

sudo dpkg -i Downloads/nrf-command-line-tools_10.23.0_amd64.deb

Install SEGGER J-Link:

sudo apt install /opt/nrf-command-line-tools/share/JLink_Linux_V788j_x86_64.deb --fix-broken

Maybe Alex Stanoev can shed some light on the reasons for that, or inform about future plans to fix this.

[dejans]

Hi,

Thank you for providing your solution.

Best regards,
Dejan