Bricked PCA10056 nrf52840 DK

[cheston2]

I have recently bought two nrf52840dk, version 3.0.0, unboxed and plugged into usb. One would show up with a usb storage on the side and in vscode a J-link window prompted for a device update on the interface nrf5340 chip on the dk, but the other one doesn't have either. How can I factory reset the non working one? Here are some logs to show.

lsusb:

Working one:

Bus 003 Device 045: ID 1366:1061 SEGGER J-Link

Non working one:

Bus 003 Device 056: ID 1366:0101 SEGGER J-Link PLUS

dmesg messages:

Working one:

usb 3-1: new full-speed USB device number 21 using xhci_hcd

usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1366, idProduct=1051, bcdDevice= 1.00

usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

usb 3-1: Product: J-Link

usb 3-1: Manufacturer: SEGGER

usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 001050220349

cdc_acm 3-1:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

cdc_acm 3-1:1.2: ttyACM1: USB ACM device

usb-storage 3-1:1.5: USB Mass Storage device detected

scsi host0: usb-storage 3-1:1.5

scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access SEGGER MSD Volume 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4

sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 21829 512-byte logical blocks: (11.2 MB/10.7 MiB)

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 0b 00 00 08

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through

sda:

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk

usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 21

umount: attempt to access beyond end of device

sda: rw=0, sector=0, nr_sectors = 1 limit=0

FAT-fs (sda): unable to read boot sector to mark fs as dirty

Non working one:

usb 3-1: new full-speed USB device number 23 using xhci_hcd

usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1366, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.00

usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

usb 3-1: Product: J-Link

usb 3-1: Manufacturer: SEGGER

usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 001050261048

usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 23

VSCode nrf connect extension

Working one:

Non-working one:

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

We have two versions of the On-Board debugger. One with the sticker on the chip (the old one), and one with the sticker directly on the PCB (The new version).

This will work for the new version, which should be the one that you got:

Hold the reset button while plugging in the USB of the DK. You will see no change, but the On-Board Debugger should now be in recovery mode.

Run "nrfutil device x-update-debug-probe-firmware"

This should update the firmware on the On-Board Debugger. So if it is a software problem, then this should fix it.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[cheston2]

3.0.0 is the newer version. Holding reset button doesn't really work. What else could I do?

```
$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 010: ID 1366:0101 SEGGER J-Link PLUS
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
$ nrfutil device x-update-debug-probe-firmware
Error: One or more update debug probe firmware tasks failed:
 * 1050261048: Timed out waiting for response from worker. (Generic)

```

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

cheston2 said:

Is there not a way to revive it by any button?

Not other than the trick I told you in my first comment no.

cheston2 said:

Also I notice that the DK reset itself after this spin. Does it tell anything?

This looks interesting. Can you try "nrfjrprog --reset"?

Also, it could be the USB cable. Have you tried the same USB cable with both DKs?

Can you send an image of the non-working DK?

[cheston2]

I only have one usb cable and am using it with the working one (top). Bottom is not working.

 

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Im just throwing suggestions at you right now, and hoping that maybe one of them works eventually.

After nrfjprog --reset, can you install nRF Connect For Dekstop and then open the Device Configurator application? Then see if that works at all

[cheston2]

I installed linux version of https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/Development-tools/nRF-Command-Line-Tools/Download but am having trouble getting nrfjprog command to work. I'll try the rest a few days later. Thank you.

[cheston2]

I finally have time to come back to try fixing. So I have nRF Connect for desktop installed and ran Quick Start 1.3.

Interesting to see that it can still be recognised as a nrf52840 DK but it will not go anywhere.

Does the log ring any bell?

2025-07-09T06:36:42.644Z INFO Initialising the bundled nrfutil device
2025-07-09T06:36:42.658Z DEBUG Started watching devices
2025-07-09T06:36:48.980Z INFO Using the bundled core version for nrfutil device: 8.0.0
2025-07-09T06:36:49.054Z DEBUG Selected device: nRF52840 DK
2025-07-09T06:36:49.094Z DEBUG Changed step: Info
2025-07-09T06:36:49.095Z INFO Using nrfutil-device version: 2.10.2
2025-07-09T06:36:49.096Z INFO Using nrf-device-lib version: 0.17.71
2025-07-09T06:36:49.096Z INFO Using nrf-probe version: 0.38.0
2025-07-09T06:36:49.096Z INFO Using JLink version: JLink_V8.18
2025-07-09T06:37:59.285Z DEBUG Changed step: Rename
2025-07-09T06:38:01.593Z DEBUG Changed step: Info
2025-07-09T06:38:04.841Z DEBUG Changed step: Rename
2025-07-09T06:38:06.285Z DEBUG Changed step: Program
2025-07-09T06:38:18.973Z ERROR [ProbeLib] [2025-07-09 06:38:18.955244Z] Failed to initialize worker: Timed out waiting for response from worker.
2025-07-09T06:38:23.142Z ERROR [ProbeLib] [2025-07-09 06:38:23.141505Z] Trace channel disconnected unexpectedly.
2025-07-09T06:38:23.143Z ERROR [ProbeLib] [2025-07-09 06:38:23.142954Z] Worker terminated by signal 9.
2025-07-09T06:38:23.143Z ERROR [ProbeLib] [2025-07-09 06:38:23.143028Z] Error output of terminated worker: