VS Code Freezing when board connected (nrf9160dk)

[FlashBack123]

Hi,

So, my issue is weird. Just followed SDK course, installed everything as described, setup, all good, working, updating board etc, couple time freezed but recovered after restart of VSCode.

By the lesson 3 it started to freeze almost all the time when board connected. Once I try to flash board - it can't finish build anymore or it takes few minutes (while before issues start build was few seconds). Terminal output lags and freezes etc.

But sometimes it may work and issue happens again after reboot or restart of VSCode. 

Tried removing unnecessary apps from my laptop, no change. Installed fully fresh windows, no other IDEs or programmer drivers beside supplied SEGGER, still same.

Please advice, 4 days trying to fix that with no success..

[Charlie]

Hi Grigor,

Sorry to hear your struggle. This sounds really weird.

From your description, it is not clear either "flash" or "build" are effected. I assume it is only related to "flash" action, since "build" action does not need to have nRF9160DK connected. Is this correct? Are you able to do a test on another DK(cloud be any other nRF DKs if you have one) or new PC or switch USB port to check if the issue is related to your nRF9160DK or PC?

Best regards,

Charlie

[FlashBack123]

Thanks for quick response.

Whole extension was freezing, no way to build after beginning of issue and so on, so build was not happening or slow, no way to edit build configuration and random errors from VS Code. 

But I found root of the problem and it is where I didn't expect that (or at least not like that)....

USB cable was the reason. It detects perfectly and always, but had that weird issues I described above (still device was not disappearing from system). Replaced with thicker cable and now it looks perfectly stable. Such a relief and disappointment at the same time, 4 days just to find that.

[Charlie]

Great to hear you find the cause! Thanks for sharing.  The weird issues are normally simple. 

Best regards,

Charlie

[FlashBack123]

Looks I too rushed for conclusion. Worked fine for some time and it's back. Tried different cables, dev boards and USB ports. Once board is connected all starts to fall apart, getting errors on Intellisense, C++ server, freezing and lagging...

[Charlie]

Hi Grigor,

Have you tried on another PC?

I am not sure if you are using Mac, just solve one issue about Mac cause by MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1 update.

(+) On connecting any Nordic DK board to my Mac, the link volume starts mounting and unmounting forever. - Nordic Q&A - Nordic DevZone - Nordic DevZone (nordicsemi.com)

Best regards,

Charlie

[FlashBack123]

I haven't tried other PC as I need this one to work (and on hardware it's perfectly sound and fresh). But I tried reinstalling everything, including Windows, on this one. Thinking to try older VSCode (older nRF extension didn't help).

[FlashBack123]

Ok, now I am even more confused but feels I got a clue of a reason for issue. When you connect board there is mass storage device and when it appears windows is asking for default action. I always postponed selection. Now I tried to set it to no action, so that windows won't popup again and it looks to be working back fine...

[Charlie]

Hi Grigor,

Thanks for the update.

It is true that MSD is enabled on nRF9160DK by default, you can disable it with J-LINK command.

MSD (nordicsemi.com)

Best regards,

Charlie

[FlashBack123]

Thank you! That is definitely best solution.