nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Nishant Gaurav — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 06:41:50 GMT

i have also faced this problem , but after reset board just after flashing AT Command program it start working .

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Mon, 19 May 2025 06:59:40 GMT

[quote user="Aydogan"]I really do not understand the cause of the problem and could not find a solution. Anyway, Thank you so much for your time and help.[/quote]

I agree, this was a very strange case. Hopefully the new board will work better and allow you continue with your work. Let's close this case and if you do have any new issues just open a new DevZone ticket

Kind regards,
Øyvind

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Thu, 15 May 2025 11:36:30 GMT

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535477"]Are there any solder bridges that have been cut or soldered? Is the jumper on the SIM measurement header next to the SIM connector?[/quote]

No, there isn't any solder bridges and cuts on the board. The jumper is on the header too.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535477"]I would suggest to contact our sales for a replacement.[/quote]

One of field application engineer already contacted me about that.

I really do not understand the cause of the problem and could not find a solution. Anyway, Thank you so much for your time and help.

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Thu, 15 May 2025 08:14:12 GMT

Can you provide a detailed image of the DK?

Are there any solder bridges that have been cut or soldered? Is the jumper on the SIM measurement header next to the SIM connector? If there are no solder bridges changed and the SIM connector is still on I would suggest to contact our sales for a replacement.

Kind regards,
Øyvind

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Thu, 15 May 2025 07:19:54 GMT

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535279"]Is this the Onomondo SIM? Do you have an iBasis SIM to test with as well? If both SIM fail then it could be an issue with the SIM slot.[/quote]

I have tested 3 different SIMs, two of them are Onomondo and one of them is Vodafone. I get the same error for all SIMs.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535279"]What commands did you test with from the SLM? Please note that this could be an issue with the fact that SLM is using RTT by default, see this link for more info.[/quote]

I use basic AT commands, like AT, AT+CFUN=0 and AT+CFUN?

I have updated the configurations of the application to enable UART communication as per below setup. Using this configurations I also built and flashed the application with Visual Studio.

# Segger RTT
CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT=n
CONFIG_RTT_CONSOLE=n
CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_RTT=n
CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_UART=y

Could you also tell me whether UART is disabled in the pre-built application? If it is, could that be the reason for the board not communicating through serial terminal?

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Wed, 14 May 2025 08:49:56 GMT

[quote user="Aydogan"]I have updated the serial monitor settings as shown below, and now I can receive response from the modem.[/quote]

Glad to hear that you found the solution.

[quote user="Aydogan"]However, AT%XSIM? still returns a USIM card failure error.[/quote]

Is this the Onomondo SIM? Do you have an iBasis SIM to test with as well? If both SIM fail then it could be an issue with the SIM slot.

[quote user="Aydogan"] The result is the same when building and flashing the SLM application using Visual Studio.[/quote]

What commands did you test with from the SLM? Please note that this could be an issue with the fact that SLM is using RTT by default, see this link for more info.

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Tue, 13 May 2025 14:50:53 GMT

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535087"]Did you test with the SLM version included in the precompiled package? [/quote]

Yes I have tested, but still not response too.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535087"]Did this also include the SLM? Could you test with the AT client sample as well?[/quote]

Yes, I have also built and flashed the SLM application. But, I could not receive a message from the modem using this method either.
I have attached the serial terminal view while flashing the SLM application using the QuickStart option.

As per your suggestion, I have built and flashed the AT client sample application using Visual Studio. You can see the serial terminal below while I flash the application.

But after resetting the device using the Reset button on the board, I receive a "Ready" message, but it does not respond to the AT commands.

EDIT:

The serial terminal settings were not correctly configured, which was the reason for the inability to communicate with the AT tracker application. I have updated the serial monitor settings as shown below, and now I can receive response from the modem. However, AT%XSIM? still returns a USIM card failure error.

I also retried communicating with the modem with correct serial terminal settings while flashing the SLM prebuilt application, but it does not respond in the same way as the AT client application. The result is the same when building and flashing the SLM application using Visual Studio.

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:55:09 GMT

[quote user="Aydogan"]:\Users\UserFolder\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\pc-nrfconnect-cellularmonitor\firmware\slm-with-trace.hex[/quote]

Did you test with the SLM version included in the precompiled package?

[quote user="Aydogan"]Yes, I have built the applications for the nRF9160DK board.[/quote]

Did this also include the SLM? Could you test with the AT client sample as well?

Here is what it looks like on my side when programming the Serial LTE Modem application through Quick Start:

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:29:54 GMT

The screenshot of the serial terminal is attached for your review. I also tried pressing the Reset button on the board while serial terminal is connected to the board, but it didn't change anything.

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:22:10 GMT

Thanks for confirming. Can you please retry with the serial terminal and provide a screenshot of the serial terminal? Did you try to press reset button while running SLM in serial terminal?

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Tue, 13 May 2025 09:07:29 GMT

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535045"]But both Blinky and Echo Bot UART applications does give output through UART?[/quote]

Yes that is correct.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535045"]On the nRF9160 DK, is switch SW10 set to nRF91? What is SW9 VDD IO set to?[/quote]

SW10 is set to nRF91 side and SW9 is set to 1V8. I have also tried to 3V position for SW9 and the result did not change.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535045"]Did you build these for the board file nRF9160DK/nrf9160/ns?

You could also test with our precompiled package from the nRF9160DK product page[/quote]

Yes, I have built the applications for the nRF9160DK board.

I have flashed the prebuilt file using programmer in nRF Connect but modem still not responding for AT commands.

I am not quite sure if it is different or the same, but I have also tried the prebuilt application located below.

C:\Users\UserFolder\AppData\Roaming\nrfconnect\pc-nrfconnect-cellularmonitor\firmware\slm-with-trace.hex

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Tue, 13 May 2025 08:25:19 GMT

[quote user="Aydogan"]No, I do not get any response from the device through UART communication.[/quote]

But both Blinky and Echo Bot UART applications does give output through UART?

[quote user="Aydogan"] I have tried to build and flash the application to the DK, but I get the same result: no response at al[/quote]

On the nRF9160 DK, is switch SW10 set to nRF91? What is SW9 VDD IO set to?

[quote user="Aydogan"] I have tried to build and flash the application to the DK, but I get the same result: no response at all.[/quote]

Did you build these for the board file nRF9160DK/nrf9160/ns?

You could also test with our precompiled package from the nRF9160DK product page

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Aydogan — Tue, 13 May 2025 08:06:45 GMT

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535027"]Do you get any output at all from the device?[/quote]

No, I do not get any response from the device through UART communication.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535027"]This rules out that the board is unusable. The SIM card does not make any difference. [/quote]

Okay, that is good to know.

[quote userid="77062" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121408/nrf9160-dk-not-responding-to-the-at-commands/535027"]Did you try to program the Serial LTE Modem or the AT Client using the same method? I.e. build the application and flash to the DK?[/quote]

Yes, I have tried to build and flash the application to the DK, but I get the same result: no response at all.

RE: nRF9160 DK not responding to the AT commands

Øyvind — Tue, 13 May 2025 07:37:30 GMT

Hello,

[quote user=""]

After flashing the modem, I also attempted to communicate with it using a serial monitor, but it does not respond to AT commands.

[/quote]

Do you get any output at all from the device?

[quote user=""] tried flashing the Shell Command Line Interface application onto the board using Quick Start. With this application, I am able to communicate using AT commands. However, in this case, the SIM card (Onomondo) is not recognized by the board (I am using a different SIM card instead of the iBasis card).[/quote]

This rules out that the board is unusable. The SIM card does not make any difference.

[quote user=""]nRF Connect in Visual Studio Code, and both applications function as expected.[/quote]

Did you try to program the Serial LTE Modem or the AT Client using the same method? I.e. build the application and flash to the DK?

Kind regards,
Øyvind